The Falls Church School Board is poised to officially adopt its budget for Fiscal Year 2014 (beginning July 1) and its request for funds from the City at its meeting next Tuesday night.
The request for transfer will go to the City Manager who is mandated by law to incorporate it in full into his budget recommendation to the City Council that will come in mid-March. The School Board has been working with the budget recommended by Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones that called for an enrollment-growth-driven overall increase of 8.5 percent to $41,389,240 and an increase in its request from the City, which provides 83 percent of the schools’ funding, of 14.8 percent to $34,405,800.
At its work session Tuesday, School Board members shared their experiences of meeting with their City Council counterparts one-on-one in the past week, including the Council members’ concerns for preventing higher taxes and even for maintaining the viability of an independent school system.
F.C. Education Association head Amanda Blanchard spoke in the public hearing period of the Tuesday meeting, reiterating the teacher’s concern for remaining competitive in the region on salaries, and keeping class sizes low. “We can teach with gum and paperclips if the class sizes are kept low,” she quipped.
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