Student Achievement in FCPS

Improved student achievement is the fundamental goal of any school system and Fairfax is no exception.  To focus our efforts, the School Board revised its Mission, Vision, Goals, and Belief statements.  But to be effective in improving student achievement these must be more than mere words, they must lead to actions that improve the education of our children.  We believe we are doing just that.  To ensure improved student achievement is happening on a daily basis, we accomplished the following:

• Developed a more robust set of student achievement goals
• Developed detailed action plans that recognize not just what students need to learn but how they learn
• Established baselines for measuring progress
• Established formal monitoring reports that ensure comprehensive feedback to the School Board
• Ensured that the budget is aligned with these newly established beliefs and goals

 Accountability

We recognized that in a school district with over 164,000 students, over 22,000 staff, and over 200 schools -- one of the most significant problems was ensuring accountability throughout the system.  To improve accountability the School Board developed an Audit Committee composed of 2 School Board members, the Superintendent, and appropriate staff.  The goal of the Committee is to evaluate the effectiveness of FCPS programs.  The results are just now coming in but we see evidence of improved program effectiveness and efficiencies. 

Our new Strategic Governance process helps ensure accountability by aligning resources to School Board Goals and measuring the success of the system in reaching those goals.   This occurs not only with academic performance but in all of our operational areas as well – such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Finance, Professional Training etc

Budget

The budget for FCPS continues to be challenge to the School Board, the Board of Supervisors, and to the community of Fairfax. We, as a community, want only the best for our children but we also realize that our schools are just one of many needs in the county. It is a difficult job to balance the needs of the children of Fairfax with the need to use our resources in the most effective manner possible. There are a few things to keep in mind as you look at our budget. First, we are the 13th largest school system in the nation with over 164,000 students. Second, while our student population has remained fairly steady over the past couple of years, our challenge comes from the need to educated far more children with English as a Second Language (over 22,000 students) and a greater number of children who come from low income families (33,000). Lastly, keep in mind these facts:

•  73.7% of our revenue comes from the County and only 12% from the state (federal aid makes up less than 2% of our budget)
•  22,199 total staff (92.1% are school-based) 
• Approximately 200 schools
•  FCPS ranks fifth when compared to other local area districts in average cost per pupil. In FY 2007, the FCPS average cost per pupil for all instructional programs was $12,853

While our budget provides for many great services such as an expansion of Full-Day Kindergarten, there are many items we cannot afford at this time.  Our 2008 budget does not contain money for our preventive maintenance program, additional technology staff in our schools, and most importantly additional money for teacher/staff salary adjustments.