$140.7 million. That is the “bottom-line” budget deficit that the FCPS School Board projects to face for the 2015 school year. Classified as “revenues that have not kept pace with growing enrollment and increasing mandatory costs,” the projected shortfall is a problem newly inducted Superintendent Karen Garza now faces.

Why? 

In a letter sent out to parents and members of the FCPS community Garza is keen to elaborate a precise cause to the growing deficit. Instead she cites an amalgam of reasons, the most exacerbating she points, is to the incessantly increasing enrollment rate.

“Revenues have not kept to pace with enrollment growth and increasing expenditure. We have grown more than 15,000 students in the last five years,” Garza said. “And our required expenditures for items like employee benefits have contributed to the increase.”

It is more than accurate to say that the surging enrollment rate has contributed to the deficit. The school board council has projected that an additional 2,800 students are expected to enroll for the upcoming school year, which roughly translates to around $25 million.

Along with the increased enrollment, an increased health insurance rate and increased contributions to the Virginia Retirement System have together generated over $50 million of the shortfall.

Consequently, the school district is facing one of its largest deficits in history; “a daunting challenge” that Garza has readily admitted to.

THE EFFECT 

In response to covering the shortfall, Garza has proposed a number of cuts and suggested proposals. Some of which include cut backs on school counselors and assistants which could save $20 million a year, increasing class sizes by one student (saves $20 million) and cutting foreign language classes from elementary schools (saving $5.5 million). One of the most directly impactful proposals is that Garza may plan on charging athletes a $100 fee per season.

“As a 3 season athlete I wouldn’t like that. My parent wouldn’t either because they have to pay so much,” junior Aviad Gebrehiwot said.

“It is irresponsible and short-sighted for a county as wealthy as Fairfax County to chose to cut educational programs instead of raising funds,” biology teacher Caroline Gergel said.

As for Annandale, the proposals are just that – indefinite suggestions.

“Right now there is a menu of items that’s being looked at as far as cuts are concerned. But it’s a large menu,” principal Vincent Randazzo said. We’re in the beginning stages of looking about what we can do and how we can repair the budget down if we need it to but it’s in the beginning stages. It’s too early too discuss anything like that.“

HITTING HOME 

Annandale’s budget in retrospect has been solidified for the last few years and with an actual decrease in enrollment, the AHS staff may face reduction but for ratio accommodations.

“The student ratio per teacher is the same and so they allocate employment resources in that regard,” Randazzo said.

Aside from teacher salaries, “we spend a lot on technology upgrade, professional development, [and] daily upkeep of the school, obviously through the custodial staff. But honestly it’s [technological upgrades].

The installation of the synthetic turf field, which currently aims to raise $140,000 by having every student and teacher donate in the effort was the most recent budget decision.

As regards to who has the final say, “I don’t know who has the final decision on that. I know it initiative, we’re one of 8 schools that don’t have a turf field that were looking at and trying to raise funds for. It’s a combination of your community and the school system,” Randazzo said.

Not all are happy with the initiative.

“Something like the turf field is kind of hard for me to understand. I just don’t know why we’d spend our many and all of our efforts on it, when that money could contribute to something else,” senior Aysha Ghaffar said. “I understand it will have benefits in the long run, but I’ve heard teachers complaining about replacing blinds and other resources that need recognition and would affect the classroom first hand.”

But Randazzo quickly responded to AHS’ s commitment in covering teacher needs. “Teachers can ask for a Smart Board, whatever technology they need and then we prioritize. We have x dollars in our local budget to deal with that,” Randazzo said.

But some teachers are frustrated, many of which haven’t received pay raises in years and Fairfax County froze teacher pay during the recession.

However, according to the Washington Post, Superintendent Garza has said that she will propose teacher salary increases for next years’ budget in hopes of boosting morale and attracting employees. The move will cost around $42.7 million on top of the deficit, has caused some anguish and backlash.

“My first heartfelt opinion is that it is really hard to be a teacher. We work really long hours; give a lot of our time and money for supplies and our emotional commitment to help students succeed,” English teacher Niki Holmes said. “Now my contracted salary is made [for a] political discussion or point and that’s really frustrating.”