Fairfax County school officials decreased their budget request to county supervisors by $80 million Tuesday, but spikes in class sizes and cuts to sports programs remain on the table as they grapple with funding for the county’s so-called crown jewel.
Superintendent Jack Dale told supervisors the school board is no longer seeking an $82 million bump in funding from the county, as the school board requested last month. Instead, the school system will use more than $100 million saved in contributions to the Virginia Retirement System — the state General Assembly eased payment requirements for counties in the budget it approved Sunday — to fill gaping holes for a school system routinely cited as the magnet for county residents.
Coupled with an expected surge in state funding, school officials say the budget isn’t as dire as feared and requested the county maintain the money provided this year.
“We’re plugging next year’s budget with one-time money,” said Dale, warning of fluctuations in the state’s formula for determining school aid.
Still, some supervisors said the school board isn’t doing enough to fix its financial woes, while Northern Virginia’s largest suburb is poised to lay off police, slash library hours and gut bus routes serving thousands of residents.
“I don’t think they’ve done an honest assessment on the school side,” said Supervisor Pat Herrity, R-Springfield. “It’s just throw out some popular programs and wait for the money to show up.”
Under the school board’s budget, most summer school programs would be eliminated, supplies and textbook funding cut by 15 percent, and employee salaries frozen.
School board members say if the county slashes schools funding by $16 million — as County Executive Anthony Griffin proposed last month — class sizes could grow.
Under the proposal, the county would spend $9,277 per student, down from $9,660 in fiscal 2009. It would mark the third straight year of budget cuts, highlighted by increasingly cramped classrooms, fewer Advanced Placement options and special education reductions.
Supervisors are scheduled to hold budget hearings next month, when they are expected to adopt Dale’s $2.3 billion budget.
