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Fairfax County Public Schools closed March with national award recognition, student performances, community meetings and new academic initiatives — but also a warning that a proposed $150 million funding gap could force cuts to programs families have come to expect.

Justice High School science teacher Kirsten Salonga and Hayfield Secondary School mathematics teacher John Mika were named among Virginia’s five finalists for the 2025 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The award, considered the nation’s highest honor for K-12 STEM educators, recognizes subject expertise and an ability to help students succeed. A national committee will review the finalists before winners are announced.

Alyce Pope, a family services specialist at Leis Center, was also recognized as a finalist for the National Education Association’s Education Support Professional of the Year Award.

Students Help Shape Division Policies

At a spring Community Conversation held March 24 at Kings Park Elementary School, families and students discussed the comprehensive boundary review, support for special education and twice-exceptional students, middle school after-school programs, grading and test-retake policies.

Students also brought recommendations directly to division leaders during a March 28 meeting of the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council at Woodson High School. Representatives from every FCPS high school presented research tied to the goals of the division’s 2023-30 Strategic Plan and proposed ways the school system could improve.

The Boundary Review Advisory Committee met separately to continue examining the divisionwide process. Its members include parents, caregivers and community representatives from each of FCPS’ 24 high school pyramids, along with teachers, administrators, operational employees and other stakeholders.

The twice-exceptional Superintendent’s Advisory Committee also reviewed student participation data. FCPS defines twice-exceptional, or 2e, learners as students who qualify for subject-specific, part-time or full-time Advanced Academic Program services and also have an Individualized Education Program or Section 504 plan.

Committee members examined the percentage of 2e students receiving both types of programming, services used at different grade levels, participation by ethnicity and multilingual-learner status, and overall identification for advanced academic placement.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology student Navya Tuteja met with Superintendent Michelle Reid to discuss support for neurodiverse students. Tuteja founded Empower InvisAbilities, a nonprofit focused on awareness, inclusion and advocacy for students with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, anxiety and other conditions that may not be immediately visible.

Early Learning and Literacy Show Progress

During a March 25 visit to Belvedere Elementary School, Reid toured six prekindergarten classrooms serving some of the school’s approximately 100 pre-K students.

Teachers Anna Koch, Callista Doulis, Lauren Decker, Brittany Smith, Kate Coho and Jecsi Huarcaya Rodas led activities that included morning meetings, breathing exercises, songs, lessons about community helpers and safety, a pizza-making exercise, and readings of Sheep in a Jeep and Stanley the Hamster. The visit concluded on the playground.

At the March 27 School Board meeting, FCPS also reported progress toward getting students to read on grade level by third grade. The division is using the Benchmark Advance literacy curriculum, screening students to monitor their development and providing intensive interventions through documented reading plans.

Since fall, the district said 14.2% more third graders had acquired foundational skills needed for grade-level success, while 8.4% were no longer classified as performing below grade level. The work includes targeted support and inclusive instruction for multilingual learners and students with disabilities.

The School Board also received an update on equitable access to demanding courses and extracurricular activities. FCPS said completing rigorous classes is associated with on-time graduation, college enrollment and completion, and higher earnings. Division leaders noted that 66% of current jobs require postsecondary education and that 80% of jobs lost during the Great Recession required no more than a high school diploma.

FCPS plans to use course-enrollment data to revise programs and pathways, improve academic advising, prepare more students for advanced work, expand the variety of advanced courses and address common participation barriers.

The division is taking a similar approach to activities because participation is associated with self-esteem, belonging, mental health, lower rates of risky behavior and improved college prospects. Proposed strategies include offering more engaging after-school options, identifying obstacles to participation and drawing on the Goal Innovation Team.

Arts, Athletics and Mental Health Take Center Stage

Hayfield Middle School’s Advanced Theatre Arts Appreciation class performed an abridged, 15-minute production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Gatehouse Administration Center on March 28. Theater arts teacher John Kownacki described it as a fast-moving presentation of the comedy’s fairies, romance and mistaken identities.

That evening, Justice High School staged its Cappies performance of Almost, Maine.

On March 29, the ConnerStrong Foundation held its You Are Not Alone 5K Fun Run at Belle Haven Park. The organization raises awareness about mental health and suicide prevention, particularly among teenagers and young adults, while supporting affected families and communities.

South County High School Assistant Principal Samantha Tolan also highlighted Sources of Strength, a suicide-prevention program that uses peer social networks to promote healthier school cultures. Trained peer leaders work to reduce secrecy and connect students with trusted adults while addressing suicide, violence, bullying and substance misuse.

Student athletes competed the same day in a track and field meet at Woodson High School and a lacrosse tournament at Robinson Secondary School.

Mount Vernon High School then hosted the 50th annual Sixth Grade All-County Choral Festival, one of FCPS’ longest-running yearly events. Students earned places through auditions and spent months rehearsing with their elementary general music teachers before two days of intensive work with a children’s choir conductor.

This year’s festival brought together 800 students, 160 general music teachers and participants from 97 elementary schools for a culminating concert.

Funding Warning Puts Programs at Risk

Against that backdrop of academic, athletic and artistic programming, FCPS leaders warned that the division’s ability to maintain its offerings is under pressure.

The school system says Virginia underfunds FCPS by $568.7 million annually, equivalent to approximately $3,100 per student. State aid for public education has also been identified as Virginia’s second-largest program potentially exposed to reductions in federal funding.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to finalize its budget May 6. The advertised budget would leave FCPS $150 million short of its requested funding, according to the school division.

FCPS is asking residents to weigh the value of maintaining programs such as the All-County Chorus and other extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities against the possibility of cuts. Community members may submit their views to county supervisors before the budget is adopted.

State Changes How High Schools Are Judged

FCPS is also preparing for a significant change under the Virginia Department of Education’s 2024 accountability system.

The new School Performance and Support Framework will calculate high school academic outcomes using the test records of a school’s senior cohort. Previously, accountability was based on tests taken by students enrolled at a school during the current academic year.

Because students generally take math and biology Standards of Learning tests in ninth or 10th grade and the high school reading test in 11th grade, some results may not appear in accountability calculations until as much as three years after the exams were completed.

Results will also be assigned to the high school a student attends at the end of the fourth year, even when that student took the test at another high school or in a different school division.

The former system considered scores from all relevant SOL exams and approved substitute tests in English, mathematics and science. Under the senior-cohort model, only one selected result in each of those subjects will count for each student.

Biology will be the sole science test included in accountability calculations. Earth science and chemistry SOL exams, along with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests, may still be used to verify graduation credits.

The reading SOL will be the only English exam counted for accountability, although the writing SOL and substitutes such as WorkKeys, AP and IB exams can continue to satisfy graduation-credit requirements.

For mathematics, the calculation will use Algebra 1 or the first SOL exam a student takes in grades nine through 12. An approved AP, IB, ACT or SAT result may count when a student completed all math SOL requirements before leaving middle school. Other exams may still be used to verify graduation credits.

The changes do not directly alter students’ testing experiences or graduation requirements. They will, however, make this fall’s high school performance reports substantially different from previous years.

FCPS said it will explain those differences to families and communities while pressing state officials in Richmond for an accountability system that accurately reflects school performance.