Prince William County Superintendent LaTanya McDade has unveiled her $1.8 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2026, a package that includes funding for special education and new administrators to oversee discipline.
At Wednesday’s school board meeting, McDade said the budget includes money for 33 new administrator jobs that she called “dean of students” roles. She proposed adding one at every middle and high school in Virginia’s second-largest school system to help address inconsistencies in consequences when students break the rules.
“The dean of students is a school-based position that will support administration at the local school level in maintaining fidelity and consistency across the school system in the implementation and enforcement of the Code of Behavior,” McDade said. “They will also be responsible for investigations and reporting discipline infractions to ensure fairness across all schools.”
Other Northern Virginia school divisions have a dean of students in their buildings, McDade said. The idea is estimated to cost over $4 million.
The concept comes after McDade said the school system will address challenges that were uncovered by a recent audit of their practices.
“What we’re seeing is that administration is stretched thin, and there are multiple people handling infractions, which is where you get the inconsistency,” McDade said. “So that’s where the addition of this position came from.”
The job, McDade said, isn’t designed to reduce incidents, but rather ensure the district is “responding to the incidents that are occurring in our schools.”
“School staff is stretched so thin that there needs to be someone who can be the in-house expert for all things Code of Behavior,” McDade added.
The inconsistencies in consequences, she said, are the result of “multiple people that are handling behavior in a school.”
School Board member Justin Wilk called the idea “a great move.” While he’s hoping for stricter punishments, Wilk said they’re “heading in the right direction of making sure it is consistent across the board, and that one building isn’t doing one thing for a level ‘blank’ infraction, versus this other building.”
The proposed budget also includes 50 more special education teacher assistants and 15 new behavior specialists. It also calls for five new school psychologists and for reducing class sizes for English language learners.
McDade’s plan calls for 20 new school bus attendants.
The school board ultimately has to approve the budget before it goes on to the county’s board of supervisors.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story said the budget includes funding for 100 full-time parent liaisons. No new funding is required for those roles. This story has been updated.)
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