Currently, Fairfax County is seeking money for FCPS as the last bit of pandemic relief money for the school division dries out. With the County and property taxes providing the majority of FCPS funding, the Board of Supervisors is expected to raise taxes on Fairfax County property owners over the next month, following a recent hike in the cigarette tax. The school board hopes that these changes go through to resolve longstanding funding issues.
“When we compare our current teacher salaries across the region, out of eight, I believe that we [FCPS] are ranked number eight in teacher pay,” at-large school board member Kyle McDaniel said. “The challenge is that a teacher in Fairfax County can go to Loudoun or Prince William County and not only will they get more pay, their cost of living will be lower.”
In an effort to address the issue FCPS has requested the largest budget increase in its history for the next fiscal year. FCPS is seeking $302 million, of which $254.03 million dollars will come from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
“Of the 300 million dollars, the vast majority will be spent on teacher salaries, contracts and benefits,” McDaniel said. “We’re trying to provide teachers with a 6% pay raise.”
On Feb. 20, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors presented its advertised budget for the next fiscal year, which includes funding for schools. 51.4% of the increased budget will go towards funding schools. To acquire the funding for this, the county has proposed raising the real-estate tax rate by 3.65%. This means that for every $100 of assessed property value, a resident will now have to pay $1.135 instead of the previous $1.095.
At the same time, the county is also increasing the real estate assessments of properties. The real estate assessment is the value of a property, including the land, as assessed by the county. The county predicts that on average, assessments for both residential and non-residential properties will increase by 2.73%. If the proposed budget is implemented, these factors combined will lead to a noticeable increase in property taxes.
However, even this increase in tax rate and assessments is not enough to immediately fulfill the requirements of the FCPS funding request. The county can only provide $165 million dollars towards the proposed budget increase. This 89 million dollar discrepancy will be a substantial obstacle to the FCPS because the money from the Board of Supervisors constitutes a significant portion of its funding. Without this money, it will be difficult for FCPS to implement the pay raise.
“[This gap] is really what the conversation for the next couple of months is going to be about,” McDaniel said. “The reality is that if we don’t get this extra 90 million dollars, the pay raise will be in jeopardy.”
On Feb. 27, the Board of Supervisors and the school board met, primarily to discuss the budget. School board members from all over the county, including Robyn Lady, who is the school board member representing the McLean area, provided their input and asked questions regarding the budget.
“We live in Fairfax County, one of the richest counties in the nation, and we can’t fund and pay compensation to our teachers,” Lady said. “We have to pay our teachers and we have to get our brand back to what it was.”
