This story is part of WTOP’s 2026 Back to School coverage.
Heading into the new school year, Alexandria City Public Schools Chief of Staff Grace Taylor spoke with WTOP about challenges and triumphs for the Virginia school system.
What are you most looking forward to during the upcoming 2026-27 academic year?
Taylor: Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) dedicated the entire 2025-26 school year to communicating, engaging, planning and providing direct support to families and staff impacted by the division’s redistricting of our school boundaries. The boundary changes were necessary to support the classroom capacity needs throughout the school division. We are looking forward to the successful implementation of those changes, allowing students to be more proportionately distributed across schools, easing capacity challenges and allowing staff to focus more on supporting students’ instructional needs.
What is the biggest challenge your school district is facing during the upcoming 2026-27 academic year?
Taylor: With the reality of maintaining a variety of rising costs, including healthcare premiums and other operating variables, the school division is expecting another challenging budget year. While maintaining our focus on supporting students, staff and our schools, investing in recruitment and retention remains critical to ensuring ACPS can continue to attract and retain the talented educators and staff who serve our students each day.
What impact, if any, do you expect federal funding cuts to have on your school system for the upcoming 2026-27 school year?
Taylor: We are still finalizing budgets for federal grants. There likely will be an impact on the number of full-time employees ACPS will be able to employ with federal funding in Fiscal Year 2027.
What role will technology, including AI, play in learning for your teachers and students during the 2026-27 school year?
Taylor: In ACPS, our long-standing focus remains on technology used as targeted tools for learning, not as a replacement for rich, in-person classroom instruction. Technology use is purposeful, with teachers designing instructional experiences where digital tools are chosen specifically to enhance or extend what students can do without them, and tailored to the learning needs of each age group and student. The role of AI is as a resource that reinforces who we are as a Division, grounded in our commitments to the ACPS 2030 Strategic Plan. By centering human oversight, AI expands our capacity to meet each student’s needs, remove barriers and streamline administrative tasks.
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