Boards to Seek Cuts In Schools Budget

County Faces $350 Million Shortfall

Faced with declining local tax revenue, the Fairfax County School Board is preparing for a possible education spending freeze or a cut next year.

In a meeting this afternoon, the School Board and the Board of Supervisors will consider an unusual collaboration, with a resolution outlining an exhaustive examination of every department and service, educational or otherwise, to identify savings to help close a projected county shortfall of $350 million for the fiscal year that begins next July.

The boards are expected to decide, among other things, what level of savings they should target.

County departments have been asked to find potential spending cuts of 15 percent. Whether the school system, which with 165,700 students is the region's largest, agrees to take the same approach is an open question.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said the school system must share equally in the fiscal burdens faced by other sectors of government. School system spending reductions in past years, he said, have been "pretty anemic."

The school system is anticipating a $150 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year. Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence), chairman of the school board's budget committee, said he is telling other board members that there will be "zero growth . . . or worse." He said the board is committed to working with supervisors to create a budget "that is in the best interest of the community." The last time the school system received a decrease in county funding was in 1993.

Both boards are clearing their schedules for lengthy meetings in fall to comb through budget numbers. County and school officials are also planning more than a dozen meetings across the county to gather ideas about which areas or programs could be trimmed and which areas should be left intact.

Typically, public input does not come until spring, after a proposed budget is on the table, but officials are seeking input sooner.

"This year was difficult; next year is going to be even more so," said Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock), chairman of the Board of Supervisors' budget committee. She said that collaboration is going to be essential.

"Education is our highest priority, but it is 53 percent of the county's budget, so we have to look to the schools to find savings and reductions."

Steep declines in residential real estate values and the escalating cost of gasoline and utilities are causing the pinch. For fiscal 2009, which began July 1, residential assessments were down 3.38 percent. The assessments are projected to be down by 10 percent for fiscal 2010, said Edward L. Long Jr., a Fairfax County deputy county executive.

The county balanced a $3.3 billion budget for fiscal 2009 by making cuts to most department budgets and raising the property tax rate by 3 cents. To bridge the anticipated $350 million county shortfall for fiscal 2010 would require a 16-cent increase in the tax rate or far deeper reductions to services.

The school budget for fiscal 2009 increased even as the county's overall spending declined slightly. The School Board passed a $2.2 billion spending plan in the spring, up 1.6 percent overall, with a 2.5 percent increase in the county government's contribution. Still, the growth did not keep pace with rising enrollment and other expenses. That forced the School Board to raise average class size by half-a-student across the board and make reductions to summer school offerings to break even.

The school system is expected to have far less money to handle any potential enrollment increases and may struggle to keep teacher salaries competitive.

Niedzielski-Eichner said the School Board plans to study everything -- staffing formulas, transportation spending, library services -- to find savings. The joint effort by the two boards, he said, is a "precedent-setting" gesture of cooperation.