Sharon Bulova, chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, issued the following statement today upon the County Board’s adoption of its Fiscal Year 2016 budget that will go into effect  July 1: “On April 28, the Board of Supervisors adopted the FY2016 Budget that increases funding for the Fairfax County Public Schools for the fifth consecutive year. Since FY2008, the Board of Supervisors has increased funding for the schools by $230 million. “Education is the Board of Supervisors’ highest priority and this budget reflects that,” Chairman Sharon Bulova said.

“Our Board was able to fund 99.8% of the school’s advertised budget while not raising tax rates for homeowners, many of whom are still struggling to get back on their feet following the Great Recession.” The School Transfer for FY2016 amounts to almost 53% of Fairfax County’s General Fund Budget. “Public safety, human services, parks and libraries all receive a fraction of what FCPS does and these services are also critical to making Fairfax County one of the best places in the country to live, work, raise a family, and grow older comfortably,” Chairman Bulova said.

“Strong advocacy on the part of the Board of Supervisors also resulted in an increase in state funding for FCPS. “Fairfax County worked hard this year to advocate for a larger share of state funding for our Schools. We were successful in receiving $9.9 million more than anticipated through the state budget. With these funds, FCPS is within $4.1 million of their total $2.6 billion Advertised Budget, a gap of just 0.16%,” Chairman Bulova said.

The statement added, “The FY2016 budget allocates $2.01 billion to FCPS Schools, an increase of $66.7 million (+3.43%) from FY2015. The total FCPS Advertised Budget, comprised of the County Transfer, state funding and federal funding, totals $2.6 billion. Fairfax County’s Direct General Fund Budget, services and programs, excluding the School Transfer is $1.81 billion. This year the General County disbursements increased by only 2.06%, less than the increase in the School Transfer.”