It’s been over a month since Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia reached a tentative agreement with the county’s education unions. But as the county starts preparing to craft its budget for next year, it may not be able to find the cash to cover some of the promises included in the deal.
During a board of supervisors work session with the Northern Virginia district’s school board last week, Board Chairman Jeff McKay said the county is preparing to face a $300 million shortfall. And because the county wasn’t directly involved in the collective bargaining process, it couldn’t step in to offer insight into what might be realistic to fund.
The dialogue about how to fund raises for teachers next year comes months after Superintendent Michelle Reid had to change the pay hike for teachers in fiscal 2025 because of a similar circumstance. She sought a 6% raise, but later had to change it to 3%.
Fairfax County’s supervisors provide funding to the school district, which then figures out how to spend it.
FFX Now first reported the supervisors’ concerns about finding funding for raises in fiscal 2026.
“Clearly what we see here today with this shortfall, and it’s very early, we don’t know where it’s going, but I doubt that a $300 million shortfall is just going to take care of itself in the next couple months without some really hard choices that we have to make,” McKay said at the meeting.
Last week, members of the Fairfax Education Unions, which includes the Fairfax Education Association and Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, ratified the tentative agreements. They include plans for a 7% raise for educators, a minimum 30-minute block for teacher planning time, and three days of bereavement leave that is separate from sick leave.
The agreement also includes a 3% raise in the second and third years of the deal. It now goes to the school board for ratification.
The process, McKay said, presents a challenge, because, “we did not have somebody in the room to be able to help guide what was within the realm of likely doable, based on the fiscal forecasts that we have.”
The deal that’s been agreed to or will be ratified “is subject to appropriations coming in to be able to support that,” McKay said.
“If that does not happen, and we do not have those revenues to be able to support that, the collective bargaining agreement has to be redone,” he added.
Leslie Houston, president of the Fairfax Education Association, said the agreement is more than a document and instead represents a “pathway to lift many educators and staff members out of poverty.”
“If we’re talking about how Fairfax County is a premier school system, then we need to show our teachers and their staff that they are appreciated,” Houston said.
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