After the City Council mandated that the Falls Church City School board reduce its budget request by $912,000 from the proposed 2016-17 FCCPS budget, the Board and Superintendent Jones has been forced to make a variety of cuts throughout all schools, as well as an increase in fees for students.

Most notably for Mason students, the parking pass rate will increase from $200 to $250; the athletic fee will increase from $100 to $125; and the fee to keep your school laptop over the summer will increase from $30 to $50.

Despite 103 students registered for computer science in 2016-17, the requested computer science teacher has been scrapped from the budget. An IB MYP coordinator, who will split time between MEH and GM, remains. Thomas Jefferson Elementary has been denied one of three teachers requested, while a part time gifted teacher will be added to the elementary school.

The new budget allocates $700 for staff who have reached the highest step of pay, and the re-calibrated teacher scale has been reduced by 20%. Teachers and staff who put in extra hours as club sponsors, department chairs, coaches, and other positions under the “Extra Pay for Extra Duty” category will suffer a 5% decrease in payments. Furthermore, Leadership Team salary improvements have been reduced by 40%.

Teachers who are attempting to become National Board Certified Teachers will have their stipends reduced by $1,000.

General maintenance cuts across the schools will be made, such as cutting back on utilities, mowing, hardware. Teachers will face a reduction in staff conferences and travel, substitute usage, and library materials.

The school board will vote on the proposed cuts on May 31.