Fairfax County school officials, after being rebuffed by the Board of Supervisors on a plan to renovate and buy a new administrative building, are again seeking approval after reducing the cost by millions of dollars.
The School Board has renegotiated the price tag to acquire the Gatehouse II building from $110 million to $94.5 million. The board wants to use it to consolidate administrative offices scattered throughout the county, which they argue will save money long-term and free up much-needed space for instruction.
The structure sits near the existing Fairfax County Public Schools headquarters on Gatehouse Road in Falls Church.
Supervisors first shot down the proposal in September, citing the massive capital cost at a time when county revenues were swiftly shrinking. Since then, the county shortfall for the next fiscal year has expanded to $648 million, and at least two supervisors — Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay and Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity — remain wary of the Gatehouse proposal.
“The timing of this is really bad,” said McKay, a Democrat.
The school board earlier this month approved a fiscal 2010 budget that includes an employee salary freeze and increased class sizes; the Board of Supervisors have yet to approve the bulk of the public schools’ funding.
McKay said the move is particularly unwise when schools still don’t know how many jobs they will need to eliminate to help close the budget gap, leaving the need for new administrative space in flux.
Said Herrity, a Republican: “This competes directly with classroom construction and renovation.”
School Board Chairman Dan Storck argued just the opposite — the vacated administrative building will create much-needed school facilities. He said he thinks the Board of Supervisors will support the proposal now that the price tag has come down.
“It’s really a significant reduction from our last plan,” he said.
