Will the Falls Church School Board’s budget reduction affect you? The City Council decided not to fund $912,000 of the School Board’s operating budget request for the 2016-17 school year. Now it is set at $39.6 million, which still represents a growth of slightly under four percent, but that does not equal the pace of enrollment growth. The School Board is in intense discussions about what to shed off their original request. Will you be affected?

LASSO OPINION: The schools are worth your tax money.

The Lasso spoke to school board members Erin Gill and John Lawrence who helped us understand how students might be affected.

Things that probably won’t change

• Parking fees
• Although the Board is considering raising parking fees for Mason students, both Gill and Lawrence agreed that it isn’t likely to happen.
  • “Unless we raise it to a high number there isn’t going to be any gains. It would only cause more negativity in the public,” Gill said.
  • “The biggest concern with parking fees is that it is an unnecessary annoyance to kids and to be blunt it’s not going to bring in that much money. We have to balance the money and the annoyance factor,” Lawrence said.
  • Verdict: Parking Fees are most likely not going to increase as there is not enough revenue from them alone, and already it is a huge annoyance. When considering both of those factors the school board sees it illogical to increase these fees.

• 1 to 1 Program at Mason
• It’s likely that it will remain stable at GMHS. 
  • “I’d prefer to see cuts at the lower levels,” Gill said. “I think we need to support high schoolers before they move into college and the workforce.”
  • Verdict: Because of time plans for technology there will probably not be any cuts this year as we are facing an immediate problem not a future problem.

• The new track at GMHS 
• School Board doesn’t make this call to begin with and the payments have already been made. So even if we wanted to change, the plan is already paid for and set into motion by other forces.

Things that probably will change

• Class Size
  • “We can’t cut the number of teachers with the growing number of students,” said Lawrence.
  • Verdict: Yes, class sizes will increase. As the school system is expanding and the budget isn’t, there is a discrepancy, so we will see class sizes expanding especially at the lower level schools.

• Teacher Pay
• Teacher pay will be affected as the School Board has many expenses within teacher pay, such as insurance, which is ever increasing and the school board must fulfill. As of date of publishing, the plan is to reduce teacher pay increase by 20%.
  • “Pay is always a concern and I think that teachers are under compensated nationally. But I do think that there are other factors that play into the work environment,” said Gill. “Teachers may choose that the difference of a couple thousand dollars is not worth moving, but when we get into 10-15 thousand difference, we have to continue to be mindful of that and keep our salaries as competitive as possible,” said Gill.
  • “Our teachers love being here, they love the kids, they love the school and they love the community. It is tough when talking about these differences in salaries,” said Lawrence.
  • Verdict: Teachers will see a change in their income, however, the School Board does work hard to keep within competitive numbers of neighboring schools.

• Contingency Fund
• This is essentially the emergency debit card that parents give their kids. Only use when in critical need. This small pot of money that is for emergencies, will now be used to account for the City Councils’ budget cut request.

Things that may change

• MYP, PYP
• The MYP (at MEH and GMHS) and PYP (at Mt. Daniel and TJ) programs have not come without controversy, and ultimately the School Board needs to decide whether they are necessary… and it may not be at this point in time.
  • “If we can’t do it all the way and we can’t do it the right way and we can’t give the support to our teachers in terms of continuing education, I do question whether or not we should continue doing it if we don’t have the money to support this,” said Gill.
  • However, Lawrence believes that this decision this large cannot be made in the short time frame they have. “This is definitely a discussion point, but I don’t see the School Board touching it unless the community acts out,” said Lawrence.
  • Verdict: Could change. Some members think that there is a need to balance programs like MYP or PYP. People don’t move here just for that. However this is a huge topic and there may not even be enough time to make that call.

• Extra Week or hours of school
• Teachers and parents have written letters to School Board members expressing their desire to cut down the hours that we’re in school, since we’re over the Virginia state requirement. By not having students come to school, the schools could save thousands of dollars by not running buses or having to feed students.
  • “A teacher I won’t name did write me about this idea. We should discuss these extra operating days, as a change would not impact class sizes or teacher’s pay by that much,” said Gill.
  • Verdict: Definitely a possibility for the future. On the table of discussion as it is an easy change and doesn’t change class sizes or teacher’s pay that much, making it an easy option for solving this deficit. However, more research needs to be done in order to make this a reality.

So there you have it, this is the rundown on how these cuts are going to affect the students of George Mason. While, we will see an effect in all of our schools, it is fair to point out that the effects will not be immediate.

“Will we see a dramatic drop in quality next year because of these cuts? No. Quality builds up slowly and decreases slowly. The real concern is is this the beginning of a trend? Or is this just a bad year,” said Lawrence.

Within this last week of debate of the school board in what to cut, the choices will not be easy and will not come without consequences. Gill and Lawrence strongly encouraged students, parents, and teachers to reach out to them and express all opinions. Students can easily reach members through their FCCPS emails, by simply typing in their first initial and last name in the email line.

Dorian Charpentier also contributed to the writing of this piece.