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Fairfax City schools propose $80.19 million FY2027 budget; tuition from FCPS cited as main driver
Summary
New superintendent Dustin Wright presented a proposed FY2027 budget of $80,189,606, saying an estimated Fairfax County Public Schools tuition bill (projected at just over $74 million) and Average Daily Membership (ADM) projections are the primary cost drivers; board members pressed for clarification on ADM projections and year‑end 'true up' impacts.
Dustin Wright, the City of Fairfax’s new superintendent, presented a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget totaling $80,189,606 at the school board’s Jan. 5 meeting, saying the largest anticipated increase comes from the tuition bill the division pays to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).
Wright said the budget is organized around three priorities: "strengthening the connections" between schools and community, "supporting and empowering our outstanding educators and staff members," and keeping "students at the center of all that we do." He described the School Services Agreement (SSA) with FCPS — in place since 1962 and renegotiated in 1978 — as a primary structural driver of the tuition calculation that affects the City’s budget.
"That ADM . . . impacts our state funding," Wright said, explaining the difference between September membership and Average Daily Membership, or ADM, which FCPS uses to model funding and the tuition bill. He presented a September membership figure of 2,942…
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