Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza speaks Nov. 25 at a joint meeting of the FCPS School Board and Board of Supervisors. Photo by Tim Peterson.
With Fairfax County Public Schools facing a projected Fiscal Year 2017 budget shortfall of $100 million, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen Garza established a task force to look at programs or services that may be eliminated to reduce some of that deficit.
According to an update from the Aug. 7 online newsletter from Fairfax County, the 36-member task force has already met four times since June and discussed ideas for balancing the budget that came from a community online forum.
Among the four and a half pages of preliminary suggestions drawn from community input are eliminating athletics and varsity sports programs, downsizing the Advanced Academic Program, energy-saving measures such as shortening the period that athletic fields are lit, and not implementing the planned later school start times.
Though no decisions have been made, the newsletter announcement said more suggestions will be posted online this month for community members to explore and offer feedback.
The school system also announced a pair of community meetings where more information on the budget process, task force work and the online feedback tool will be provided. Those meetings include:
Wednesday, Sep. 9, at South Lakes High School from 7 to 9 p.m.
Saturday, Sep. 12, at Mount Vernon High School from 10 a.m. to noon.
Final suggestions from the task force are scheduled to go to the superintendent in October and be shared with the School Board in November. Garza will formally present her budget to the school board Jan. 7, 2016.
For more information on the Task Force and Fiscal Year 2017 budget, visit www.fcps.edu/savefcps.