Friday, January 11, 2013
FY 2014 spending plan adds nearly 293 positions to accommodate 2,857 extra students -- but 'bare bones budget' falls short on some needs, Superintendent Jack Dale says.
Superintendent Jack Dale unveiled a $2.5 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2014 on Thursday — a budget $62.7 million larger than last year's spending plan largely driven by huge enrollment growth and the staffing needed to accommodate it. But the plan is "bare bones," Dale said, compared to an earlier Fairfax schools fiscal forecast that anticipated giving more compensation to teachers and reducing class sizes or creating a permanent line item for textbooks, among other program needs. "It's nothing extravagant but it does recognize some of the things Fairfax expects," Dale said Thursday morning after a meeting with reporters. The budget Dale presented to the school board Thursday finds $50 million in savings, but relies heavily on a proposed …
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Facing hundreds of millions in deficits in Fiscal Year 2014, Fairfax County leaders try to plan around federal sequestration, unpredictable revenue.
As the leaders of Fairfax County and its school system sat together Tuesday to stare down upcoming fiscal years threatened by larger-than-normal deficits and the potential impact of sequestration, both groups agreed they would have to take a new approach in future budget cycles, one that relies less on what has been done in the past and more on multi-year budgeting and reprioritizing wants and needs — a "new way of doing business." "I think we have to look at things very differently and we have to be willing to take some risk on things we haven't done before," County Executive Ed Long said during a joint meeting Tuesday afternoon between the Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County School Board. Combined with the loss of $61 million in one-…
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Board members explore new budget strategies, prepare for season at work session Monday
Fairfax County Public Schools will face a projected $147.9 million deficit in fiscal year 2014 — a gap that would require an 8.8 percent increase in the annual transfer it receives from the county. That amount does not include $90.8 million in identified program needs, such as restoring class size reductions, extended teacher contracts and textbooks — in all, the system would need $238.7 million to meet projected costs. The county's school board got an early look at the structural gap it faces over the next five years during a fiscal forecast presented during Monday's work session, created largely by the board's use of one-time money to meet ongoing needs, said FCPS Chief Financial Officer Susan Quinn, who gave the presentation, noting the…
Frederick C. Cassiday
10:00 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Property Tax increase coming soon to your neighborhood. more ›