On May 22, the Fairfax County School Board unanimously adopted the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Approved Budget. The adopted budget, however, does not cover everything Superintendent Michelle Reid had asked for and adjustments had to be made. The adjustments were necessary to address a $121 million shortfall. In January, the school board unanimously approved the Fairfax Education Unions’ (FEU) collective bargaining agreement that was dependent on the overall FCPS budget, and in order to keep the salaries close to the 7% increase agreed to, other programs and staff had to be cut in order to get to a 6% salary increase.

Below are highlights of the approved budget as detailed by FCPS.

Staff Compensation 

• 6% increase for employees represented by the Fairfax Education Unions (FEU).
• 5% increase for non-FEU employees.

Employee Compensation Adjustment – ($33.4 million)
• The FY 2026 Advertised Budget included a compensation adjustment of 7.0 percent at a cost of $212.4 million. Due to funding constraints resulting from chronic state underfunding and a lower than requested county transfer, the collective bargaining agreement had to be renegotiated.
• Employees represented by Fairfax Education Union (FEU) will receive a 6.0 percent increase. Non-FEU represented employees (salary schedules C and SBA) and hourly pay bands will receive a 5.0 percent increase.
• To take advantage of a one-time state bonus for SOQ-funded positions in FY 2025, eligible employees will receive a $1,000 bonus prior to June 30, in part, to recognize the decline in compensation required to balance the FY 2026 Approved Budget.

Staffing Formula Adjustment – ($33.3 million, 275.3 positions)
• The divisors used to calculate the number of general education teaching positions allocated to elementary, middle, and high schools will each be increased by 1.0. These formula changes result in 275.3 fewer positions allocated, an average of less than 1.5 positions per school, at a savings of $33.3 million. This may adversely impact FCPS’ ranking of 5 of 8 in the region.

Staffing Formula Adjustment Elementary Special Education Department Chairs – ($9.3 million, 71.0 positions)
• The allocation of a 1.0 special education chair position for each elementary school will be reduced by a 0.5 per school for a total reduction of 71.0 positions and savings of $9.3 million.
• One of our more recent additions in the budget included adding a 1.0 out of ratio special education position at each elementary school to serve as the ES special education chair. Each elementary school will still be provided with a 0.5 out of ratio ES special education chair.

Central Office Department Reductions – ($7.5 million, TBD)
• As part of the budget reductions implemented to balance the FY 2026 budget, department budgets will be reduced by $7.5 million. This will result in reduced support to schools and responsiveness to the community.

Staffing Formula Adjustment AART – ($5.9 million, 48.0 positions)
• The current allocation of 155.5 advanced academic resource teacher positions will be reduced by 48.0 for a savings of $5.9 million. Title I elementary schools will continue to be staffed with 1.0 AART while all other elementary schools will be staffed with 0.5 AART and middle schools will continue to be staffed with 0.5 AART.

Strategic Budget Reductions

• Adjusting the staffing formula to reduce general education teacher positions (primarily through attrition)
• Eliminate funding for classroom monitors
• Delay Social Studies curriculum materials
• Reduce every central office department budget by 3%
• Reduce the school board office budget by 3%
• Pause funding for electric buses
• Cut non-local travel for professional development by 50%

Defer Social Studies Curriculum Materials – ($15.3 million)
• FCPS implemented a methodology to plan for and fund future instructional basal resource adoptions. The social studies basal resource adoption planned for FY 2026 will be deferred resulting in a savings of $15.3 million.

Reduce Post-Covid Classroom Monitor Funding – ($13.2 million)
• Funding for elementary classroom monitors will be reduced by $13.2 million. Monitors originally supported pandemic needs and have since provided flexibility to elementary schools as a means to address teacher vacancy rates, among other responsibilities. As a result of required reductions, elementary schools will unfortunately lose this flexibility.

Reduce EV Bus Funding – ($2.8 million)
• Funding for EV buses will be reduced resulting in a savings of $2.8 million that will limit FCPS’ ability to meet the Joint Environmental Task Force goals.

Reduce Nonlocal Travel – ($0.7 million)
• Non-mandated travel for professional development will be restricted. Nonlocal travel will be reduced by 50 percent resulting in a savings of $0.7 million.