News

Proposed School Budget Would Allow Funding With No Tax Rate Increase

F.C. SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT PETER NOONAN (left) presented his recommended budget for the coming fiscal year to the F.C. School Board Tuesday night. (Photo: News-Press)

Falls Church City Schools Superintendent Peter Noonan made official to the School Board Tuesday night that his recommendation for the coming fiscal year budget is a restrained two percent growth, which if adopted by the board and later this spring by the Falls Church City Council would be the smallest growth increase for the City’s schools in years. His proposal for a $52,137,504 budget would keep the schools within parameters of expected revenue growth for the Falls Church city government overall in the coming fiscal year, and if adopted would mean that a new overall City-schools budget could involve no real estate tax increase for citizens this coming year.

Still, Noonan’s recommended budget provides a “step,” according to the schools’ salary formula, an average of a 2.95 percent increase, and a one percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for school teachers and other employees, and increases the average educational cost per student to $19,152 for the 2,680 students in the system due to, Noonan said, the policy commitment to maintain small class sizes.

The School Board will begin its own deliberations on the budget with a work session next Tuesday night, aiming toward its formal budget adoption by Feb. 19, following a series of work sessions and public hearings. The board will be led this year by Erin Gill, Falls Church City Schools Superintendent Peter Noonan made official to the School Board Tuesday night that his recommendation for the coming fiscal year budget is a restrained two percent growth, which if adopted by the board and later this spring by the Falls Church City Council would be the smallest growth increase for the City’s schools in years. His proposal for a $52,137,504 budget would keep the schools within parameters of expected revenue growth for the Falls Church city government overall in the coming fiscal year, and if adopted would mean that a new overall City-schools budget could involve no real estate tax increase for citizens this coming year.

Still, Noonan’s recommended budget provides a “step,” according to the schools’ salary formula, an average of a 2.95 percent increase, and a one percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for school teachers and other employees, and increases the average educational cost per student to $19,152 for the 2,680 students in the system due to, Noonan said, the policy commitment to maintain small class sizes.

The School Board will begin its own deliberations on the budget with a work session next Tuesday night, aiming toward its formal budget adoption by Feb. 19, following a series of work sessions and public hearings. The board will be led this year by Erin Gill,

Author