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Friday, May 27, 2011
Fairfax County School Board Adopts FY 2012 Approved Budget
The Fairfax County School Board has adopted the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) FY 2012 Approved Budget of $2.2 billion, which includes a one percent market scale adjustment for all employees and step increases for all eligible employees, funding to expand full-day kindergarten to all elementary schools, and an athletic fee cap of two fees per student per school year.
The expansion of full-day kindergarten completes an earlier School Board commitment to expand the program to the remaining 36 FCPS elementary schools. That plan was placed on hold several years ago during the economic recession. A total of 152.2 positions—including teachers, instructional assistants, assistant principals, clerical staff members, and custodial staff members—will be required to implement the full-day kindergarten expansion.
“Over the past year, the Board committed to employee compensation as a priority,” said School Board Chairman Kathy Smith. “After asking employees to endure a salary freeze for two consecutive years, we felt it was important to include a salary increase this year.
“The Board also recognized the importance of setting a limit on the number of athletic fees a student would have to pay,” added Smith. “And we were pleased to be able to complete the rollout of full-day kindergarten, which is so important in preparing our children to achieve their potential.”
The School Board also voted to keep a reserve balance of $60.6 million to address future obligations to the Virginia Retirement System, and designated $0.5 million for discipline support recommendations. A total of $4.3 million was approved to help implement mandated online testing for Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) tests. The Board also voted to eliminate fees for Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) tests.
The FY 2012 budget includes $28.4 million to accommodate a projected increase of 2,333 students from the FY 2011 approved budget. FCPS projects a total enrollment of 177,629 students for the 2011-12 school year, including a 16.5 percent increase in students enrolled in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and an increase in the most intensive special education services. In FY 2012, FCPS projects that one of every four students will be eligible for free or reduced price meals.
For more information on the FY 2012 budget, visit http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2012.htm.
### Note: For more information, contact Kristen Michael at 571-423-3600 or kkmichael@fcps.edu.
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