Fairfax County Public Schools proposes cuts to close $121 million FY26 gap

On May 20, 2025, the Fairfax County School Board Budget Committee met to consider recommended adjustments intended to close an estimated $121,000,000 shortfall in the FY 2026 proposed budget, including reduced salary increases, a staffing-formula change that trims roughly 275 classroom teacher positions, elimination of temporary classroom monitors and a 3% reduction across central offices.

The adjustments were presented by Lee Burden, the division’s chief finance officer, and explained to the committee by Superintendent Dr. Reed as a package meant to protect classroom instruction while balancing contractual and statutory requirements. “The priorities that were considered, when developing the adjustments were protection of the classroom, give precedence to compensation, of course, and then remain in compliance with the Virginia Standards of Quality,” Burden told the committee. He outlined a recommended change to negotiated salary increases and to school staffing formulas as the largest pieces of the reduction plan.

Why this matters: The proposed changes would reduce operating and staffing capacity across the system in the near term. Board members spent hours asking how schools will keep core services, support staff and special education functions intact while preserving the merit of the division’s first collective-bargaining agreement.

Most important details first: Burden told the committee that reducing the FEU (instructional/operational union) salary increase from 7% to 6% and reducing the increase for other employees from 7% to 5% — a change the FEU agreed to — and increasing the divisor in the classroom staffing formula by one student together generate approximately $66,000,000 of the needed reduction. The staffing-formula change “results in a reduction of 275 classroom teacher positions,” Burden said, and he added the division will still meet Virginia Standards of Quality requirements.

Burden said the remaining approximately $55,000,000 of the gap is addressed primarily by eliminating funding for temporary classroom monitors that were put in place during the pandemic; those were hourly positions with no FTEs. “Those are temporary hourly again. So they don't have any FTEs associated with them. Those funds are being reduced,” Burden said.

Other recommended cuts and adjustments the committee reviewed include a 50% reduction in systemwide nonlocal travel, elimination of funding for electric buses, elimination of social studies curriculum materials purchases for the coming year, a 3% across‑the‑board reduction in central‑office department budgets, and reductions to non‑SOQ staffing formulas for some elementary specialist roles. To reduce immediate disruption at schools, staff proposed allowing elementary schools to carry forward up to 25% of selected logistical funds into FY27 (up from the current 10%) on a one‑time basis and relying on the staffing reserve for exceptional needs this year.

Questions and concerns from board members focused on how schools will implement the reductions and the likely effects on class size, school‑level services and staff retention. “The impact is class size will be, an impact for all of our schools,” Dr. Reed said, describing tradeoffs principals will need to make between positions they historically traded and the newly prioritized roles.

Staff said the division will instruct principals and regional assistants to prioritize two half‑time roles — elementary special education department chairs and Advanced Academic Resource Teachers (AARTs) at non‑Title I schools — when making site trades. If carryover and trades are insufficient at a given school, staff said the staffing reserve will be used this year only.

Board members also pressed for more information about carryover rules, year‑end encumbrances and one‑time funds. Staff said textbook and curriculum funds include multi‑year encumbrances that can make some line items appear large in a revised budget, and that some strategic initiative and achievement‑gap funds are already encumbered for projects that will be charged to the appropriate operating accounts when invoices arrive.

The committee did not take a final vote on these recommendations at the work session. Staff presented the recommended adjustments as the package that will be submitted for the school board’s final vote; the board chair told members to expect a full board vote on the final FY26 budget at the Thursday meeting. “Stay tuned for the vote on Thursday night,” the chair said as the meeting closed.

The board and staff repeatedly framed the package as an attempt to protect classroom instruction and prioritize compensation while acknowledging the changes will reduce capacity, services and training investments if the county and state do not provide additional support.

What happens next: The board will consider a final adoption vote at its regular meeting two days after the committee session. Staff and many board members urged broader, earlier collaboration with the Board of Supervisors and state lawmakers as a way to address recurring funding shortfalls rather than repeat year‑to‑year one‑time fixes.