The two largest school systems in the region with two of the tightest budgets expect their student populations to rise even as costs increase and government resources shrink.

Nearly every school system in the D.C. metro area saw significant reductions to its budget for the coming academic year, but few were more publicized than Fairfax County, where nearly all summer schools were wiped out, and Montgomery County, where long-anticipated middle school reform has been slowed and a prized magnet program has been cut to the bone.