FCCPS BUDGET

FY 2022 APPROVED BUDGET

Falls Church City School Board unanimously approved a $53.6 million operating budget for the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 22) during its meeting on May 11, 2021. The budget is balanced, provides a wage increase for school employees, and provides additional supports for students. For the third year in a row, the financial plan falls within Falls Church City Council Budget Guidance.

“Rebounding from the impact of COVID‐19, the focus of the FY 2022 Budget is employee compensation, allowing FCCPS to attract, hire, and retain an exceptional, diverse staff to meet the needs of all students,” Superintendent Peter Noonan said. “This budget also provides for investments to address impacts to students from COVID‐19 and required support for our new high school.”

The budget includes a step increase for eligible employees and a one-and-a-half percent (1.5%) Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all staff members. Other expenditures include a projected increase in health insurance and investments to address COVID impacts on FCCPS. These include the addition of a school counselor to meet new ratios proposed by the Governor, an additional social worker to assist with our families’ emotional well-being coming out of the COVID pandemic, and a PreK-12 English/Language Arts coordinator to support teachers and students. The budget also includes three additional custodial staff for our newly opened high school.

“We want to thank the City Council for working closely with us and for honoring the budget we’ve put forward. It means a lot,” School Board Chair Shannon Litton said. “We are glad to offer increased compensation for our teachers, who we all see as core to everything we do.”

The approved FY 22 budget is an overall 3.0 percent increase from the current FY 21 funding. It includes a City transfer increase of $1.1 million. State funding is increasing by 18.25% or $470 thousand, with nearly all coming from a substantial jump in sales tax revenue. Federal revenue, primarily for special education, will increase by $32 thousand from the current year. The FCCPS Enrollment projection for the next school year is 2,605 students or just over 100 more from September 30, 2020.

The School Board Approved FY 2022 Budget at a Glance:

Step increase for eligible employees averaging 2.5 percent
Cost of Living increase of 1.5 percent
Employer share of projected health insurance premium increases by 2.4 percent
City retirement, primarily for FCCPS support positions, has a rate decrease of 0.75 percent offset by alignments to the city retirement salary base
English/Language Arts PreK-12 Coordinator
Social Worker to increase the support for students’ emotional well-being
School Counselor to meet the reduced ratios required by the state
Funding to continue to replace FCCPS’ 1:1 student device every four years at the middle and high school levels
Custodial support for the new High School

Budget reductions from the current plan ensure funding of a few of our highest priorities. These include:

Adjusting the salary base for current employees reflecting turnover from the FY 2021 school year and projecting for turnover in FY 2022 ($475,111)
Savings from other employee benefits, which is from the discontinued transitional retirement program ($92,676)
Reducing paraprofessional for first grade by 0.5 based on enrollment which results in a first-grade teacher moving to 2nd grade ($28,616)
Reducing the staffing reserve, used to address enrollment variances ($62,491)
Adjusting the budget for contracted instructional services with other jurisdictions based on historical usage ($100,000)