Testimony Presented at Public Hearing on Governor's Budget

Testimony Presented at House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees Regional Public Hearings on the Governor’s Proposed 2010-12 Biennial State Budget Fairfax County January 8, 2010

We speak today with grave concern regarding the fiscal outlook for public education in Fairfax County.

We are homeowners and parents of two children, a rising-first-grader and rising-kindergartener in our neighborhood public elementary school. Just as our children are starting in a world-class school system, we face the prospect that the public schools will not be there for our children in the ways that count most. The budget cuts that threaten the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) put our schools in a crisis mode. Unless there is change in a big way, the quality of life of our families and community is imperiled. Our schools cannot sustain the projected level of cuts and continue to provide services in a meaningful way. The repercussions will be felt not just by our own families here in Fairfax County in the coming year. The present and future economy of the state of Virginia is imperiled by the cuts facing us at a local level. The projected cuts will impact our schools and community in substantial ways that are not recoverable as the economy recovers.

We have a primary obligation to provide for our children. A worthwhile public education system is essential for the well-being of our children, our communities and our future.

We must act now to protect and preserve our education system.

Fairfax County already has one of the most efficient school systems in the nation. This leaves little room for further reductions in “overhead”.

The funding deficit facing FCPS threatens the programs and services that “make Fairfax, Fairfax”.

Our primary concern with this budget is that
1. the revenues raised be adequate to preserve our quality of life
2. the process is fair to the localities across the state

For our quality of life, we support the income tax surcharge that would be returned to local governments. Our support is contingent on the revenue staying local.

Governor’s Budget Proposal – Delay rebenchmarking of LCI is discriminatory

We strongly object to the proposed budget freeze to the Local Composite Index. The rebalance of the LCI accounts for the current needs of the school children across the state. Freezing the LCI to outdated calculations unfairly targets the school children in Northern Virginia. The burden of the downturn needs to be shared state-wide.

Looking Forward

We are looking for much more in the way of solutions out of this crisis.

We cannot emphasize enough the importance that in these times more than ever, it is critical that the Commonwealth provide a funding basis to support public education.