Fairfax County School Board Adopts FY 2005 Budget, Reduces Class Size, Expands Full-Day Kindergarten
An increase in county revenue and state aid has enabled the Fairfax County School Board to adopt a FY 2005 budget that reduces elementary and middle school class size, expands the number of schools offering full-day kindergarten, and enables the Applied Behavior Analysis/Verbal Behavior (ABA/VB) program to be implemented for students with autism. The School Board approved the budget at its business meeting on June 10.
The FY 2005 budget includes a county transfer of 6.57 percent, or $1.32 billion, which is $38.8 million less than the School Board’s original request. State aid increased, however, by $28.4 million over the amount projected in the original budget, enabling the School Board to reexamine areas that have been underfunded because of budget cuts in the past several years. The School Board also applied funds saved in other areas to address these important instructional needs. Throughout the budget process the Board worked to apply any additional funding to nonrecurring costs.
“We are very grateful to the Virginia General Assembly and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for strongly supporting public education,” said Brad Draeger, FCPS Interim Superintendent. “Their actions have made it possible for us to reduce class size in elementary and middle schools, to fund much-needed after-school activities for students in grades 4 through 8, to eliminate student test fees for Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) tests as well as for certification and licensure exams for students taking Professional Technical Studies courses.”
Full-day kindergarten will be implemented at nine additional elementary schools—Camelot, Forestdale, Lake Anne, Lorton Station, North Springfield, Sleepy Hollow, Springfield Estates, Washington Mill, and Woodburn—and be fully funded at three Title I elementary schools—Crestwood, Lynbrook, and Garfield. Elementary school class size will be reduced by .25, resulting in the addition of 30 school-based positions and affecting students in kindergarten, grades 1-6, gifted and talented centers, and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). Elementary school staffing will be realigned, adding 54.5 teachers and 7.5 instructional assistants systemwide. Middle school class size will be reduced
by .5, resulting in the addition of 24.8 school-based positions.
The ABA/VB program will be implemented for some students with autism during the 2004-05 school year, resulting in the hiring of an administrator, 9 instructional coaches and 69 instructional assistants. Also approved was funding of $950,000 to develop after school activities for elementary and middle school students in grades 4-8 in collaboration with Fairfax County government.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that funding equal to 20 percent of the Title I allocation be set aside to fund transfer options that may be offered to students in Title I elementary schools that do not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for a second consecutive year. For FCPS, the required amount is $1.8 million to be used for transportation and other transfer-related costs. The school system lost $3,075,680 in federal Title I funds in March 2004.
Some departmental reductions, identified earlier in the year, have been restored. The costs saved in other areas will enable the school system to replace outdated equipment and buses, perform maintenance upgrades and facility modifications, and continue its teacher recruitment efforts.
Additional funding will enable five schools—Annandale, Stuart, and West Potomac High, Hayfield Secondary, and Glasgow Middle—to have increased hours for parent liaisons.
FCPS will pay higher prices for fuel and natural gas, requiring an additional $2 million, and Fairfax County landfill fees, anticipated to increase $120,000.
For more information, visit http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2005.htm .
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Note: For more information, contact Deirdra McLaughlin at 703-246-2811.
Last update:
June 11, 2004
Curator: Therese Payne, therese.payne@fcps.edu