Democrat Lawhorne Wins Alexandria Sheriff's Race

Excellent schools are a key selling point for the new communities that have made Loudoun the fastest-growing county in the country since the 2000 Census. New residents cite good schools as a top reason for moving to Loudoun, and longer-term residents say education is also their priority.

The high cost of new schools and other public facilities such as parks and roads needed to serve new residents has fueled a fevered growth debate in recent years. Voters unhappy about soaring government spending helped elect a Board of Supervisors in 2003 that has since moved to cut the county's tax rate.

But a majority of those supervisors also have voted to increase the already swift pace of home building in the county. That in turn has added a list of costly new projects that taxpayers will need to fund for decades to come. The board is also considering proposals to add tens of thousands of homes to that tally.

It is in this context that supervisors took the unusual step of breaking this year's list of eight school projects into eight questions on today's ballot. A ninth question concerned a fire and rescue station.

Supervisors who wanted a separate question on the ballot for each school were seeking to make a political point about high construction costs. A dispute about the future location of a high school in the less populated western part of Loudoun was also a factor.

But critics of breaking out the questions said that doing so threatened to pit community against community, and was contradictory, given the enthusiasm of some Loudoun supervisors for approving more subdivisions that will in turn require the construction of more schools.

In the past, Loudoun bundled its school projects together, as Fairfax did today. The Fairfax proposal created little controversy.

For decades, Fairfax has been building new schools to keep up with its own population boom. But Fairfax's population has topped 1 million -- about four times Loudoun's -- and the school population has leveled off. Fairfax officials say their new focus is on renovating older schools.

Of the $246.3 million in Fairfax school bonds, $32.8 million is for new construction, including $19 million for an elementary school on Coppermine Road; $35 million is for projects such as technology networks, security and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; and $177.1 million is for a range of costly renovations.

The renovation of Edison High School in the Alexandria section of Fairfax, for instance, is expected to total $63 million.

The biggest ticket item on the Loudoun school bond list was $63.5 million, to build and equip the new Western Loudoun Area High School.