The Fairfax County School Board approved revenue and expenditure adjustments for fiscal 2025 on July 17 as division leaders warned a federal pause on several education grant awards could force cuts or program changes for the coming school year.
The superintendent told the board that the federal Department of Education has frozen Title grants appropriated for FY26, including Title III funds largely used for multilingual-learner services, and that the division is using limited carryover to cover some costs while planning how to preserve services if the freeze continues. The board approved the year-end adjustments in a 10–1 vote.
Why it matters: Title grant funding supports services for multilingual learners, early literacy programs, hourly staff and other targeted services; a prolonged freeze would require redistribution of limited local funds or program reductions that affect students with higher needs.
At the meeting Superintendent Dr. Michelle Rhee said Title III funds amounted to about $4.5 million for multilingual learner services and that carryover across two grants totaled roughly $2.9 million that staff was evaluating for short-term use. She told the board some central-office positions funded by those grants might need to be reassigned to other roles in the division if the federal funds remain unavailable, but added staff were working to preserve classroom staffing where possible.
Board members asked detailed questions about several line items in the year-end package. School Board Vice Chair Karen Corbett-Sanders (note: person in transcript identified as questions by board members) and others pressed for clarification about a $2,000,000 line labeled for "SBO build-out"; staff explained $1.4 million was for school board assistance and $600,000 for a build-out of board office space. Other line items discussed included a recommended $30,000,000 transfer to the self‑insured health plan’s premium stabilization reserve and a recurring graduation expense that division staff said had been paid with year-end funds historically and now should be added to the base budget.
Board members also discussed the division’s beginning-balance set‑aside for FY27; staff recommended reserving $24,000,000, a reduction from $28,100,000 set aside the previous year, a change members said reflected hard choices driven by competing priorities and limited year-end funds.
Finance staff and the superintendent said they had reached out to the Virginia Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education but had not received new guidance on the federal pause; Dr. Rhee told the board that several states had filed suit seeking clarification of the federal action. "If the federal government's review doesn't finish soon so that they can unfreeze the previously appropriated money, we're going to have to streamline those multilingual services," she said.
Board action: The motion to "approve the revenue and expenditure adjustments as detailed in the agenda item" was made by Member Stella Sizemore Heizer and seconded by Member Rachna Dixit. The motion carried 10–1; one board member voted no and there were no recorded abstentions for that vote. (Transcript lists Dr. Anderson as the sole recorded opposing vote.)
What’s next: Staff said they would continue to use limited grant carryover to sustain programs for the short term and return with a clearer delineation of planned program realignments if funds remain frozen. The superintendent also said she would update the board as additional information about federal appropriations becomes available.
Ending: Board members and staff repeatedly described the situation as uncertain and urged elected state and federal officials to restore or clarify the appropriation so the division can plan without risking services to multilingual learners, early literacy programs and hourly personnel.