At Tuesday night’s year-beginning organizational meeting of the Falls Church City Public Schools’ elected School Board, vice chair Kathleen   was elected its new chair, and Anne Sherwood its new vice chair, both by unanimous 7-0 votes.

The elections followed by a week the election by the Falls Church City Council of Letty Hardi as mayor (for a second term) and Laura Downs and vice mayor. And, as Ms. Downs pointed out in a note to the News-Press yesterday, it may well mark for the first time ever that women have held all four key positions in the 78-year history of Little City, certainly the case since the school board became an elected office in 1994.

The important business in Tuesday’s School Board focused on the upcoming budget cycle, for which challenges exist due to the impact of federal layoffs and cutbacks in the Northern Virginia region.

“Uncertainty” is the watchword for this period in the process, and it takes from the guidance provided to the board by the City staff in last month’s joint meeting, where the City’s new chief finance officer David So presented the prospects for the new year as a range from a 0.6 percent increase in overall revenue to a 4 percent increase, depending on what revenue numbers show from real estate assessments due in February and what other revenue options show in the coming period.

 Alicia Prince, the FCCPS’ chief operations officer, told the board Tuesday that the recent years’ pattern has been that 81 percent of its operating revenues come from the City, 15.6 percent from the state and less than 1 percent from the federal government.

The recent years’ revenue sharing agreement with the City of Falls Church is that 50 percent of the revenues from taxes are shared with the schools, an agreement which began in Fiscal Year 2019 and has led to a period of unprecedented concord in the City compared to heated competitions for funds before.

But this year, new FCCPS Superintendent Terry Dade told the School Board Tuesday, a “maintenance effort” for the budget for the coming year would require a 5.02 percent increase in funds from the City. That is a budget without any new enhancements, but which would honor the collective bargaining agreement with the Falls Church Education Association reached in March 2024 that calls for annual salary step and 2 percent cost-of-living adjustments for all certified and non-certified staff, as well as sick and parental leave conditions.

The 5.02 percent increase to achieve the “minimal effort” the schools require would represent considerably less than the recent years’ asks by the schools from the City, which have ranged from 6.2 to 10 percent, including an 8.8 percent increase in funding last year.

Superintendent Dade outlined priorities for the schools in the coming deliberations, ranging from AI implementation to a new budget coordinator, early childhood specialist, elementary math specialist custodial supervisor, a secondary schools’ reading specialist, a student activities finance assistant, and recruitment and signing bonuses of $1,000 to $2,000 to attract and retain talent.

Overall, the new priorities list is down from $1.4 million last year to $531.9 this year.

Dade said the 5.02 percent increase represents a “floor” for what the schools will need to receive during the coming budget process, which formally begins with his introduction of a proposed overall budget on February 10 and leads to the School Board’s budget ask to the City Council on March 10, ahead of the Council’s final budget adoption in early May.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the principals of the Falls Church system’s five schools were singled out for recognition, including Allison Klink at the Jesse Thackrey Preschool to Tim Kasik and Mt. Daniel Elementary, Karin Dougherty at the Oak Street Elementary, Steve Pickering at Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, and Peter Laub at Meridian High School.

In nominating Tysse for chair of the board, fellow School Board member Bethany Henderson hailed her “thoughtfulness and intentionality who listens to all voices in the community,” and who pursues “what’s best for the community and the board.”