Fairfax officials outline deep cuts under VA budget

As local governments continue to pore over the General Assembly's new budget to assess the impact for the next two years, the early reviews were mixed, at least in Fairfax County.

Fairfax schools superintendent Jack Dale told county supervisors Tuesday that despite a decision to unfreeze a key school-funding formula that would have cost the county even more, Virginia's largest school district will still have to cut back almost across the board. And he expressed concern that the cuts spelled out by the budget are likely to far outlast the two-year budget cycle.

"These are permanent," Dale said. "Nothing's coming back in two years."

Facing net reduction of $47.8 million and rising enrollment, the district will have to trim more than 200 jobs, particularly among administrative and custodial staff, close an alternative high school, eliminate summer school, charge high school student athletes $100 to play a sport, boost the cost of renting school facilities for community uses, and freeze teacher salaries. Central office staff alone will shed nearly 100 jobs, saving the district $7.2 million.

But schools officials and county officials also panned a central component of lawmakers' strategy for saving money by reducing contributions to the state's retirement plan. The state will contribute only about half of what it was set to contribute next year.

County supervisor Jeff McKay, a Democrat representing the Lee district, called General Assembly's fiscal maneuvers "shenanigans," and Deputy County Executive Edward Long called it "gamesmanship." They agreed underfunding pensions now amounts to borrowing from the future. State and local governments will have to make up for the underfunding beginning in fiscal 2013, which for Fairfax County would mean coming up with about $70 million.

But Dale, appearing at a meeting with the school board and the Board of Supervisors, said the outcome could have been worse.

If the General Assembly had gone ahead with former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's proposal to freeze the local composite index, or LCI, Fairfax County would have received $61 million less. By recalculating that index and restoring the funds, the school district's proposed budget will not have to increase class size as school administrators initially planned. The district will also be able to spare about 400 jobs.

County supervisor John W. Foust, a Democrat representing the Dranesville district, said he was grateful the General Assembly and Gov. Robert F. McDonnell agreed to unfreeze the LCI, but he said education and human services were still severely unfunded. The changes to the Virginia Retirement System worry him more.

"I think they are creating a very serious potential crisis for our state by grossly underfunding the VRS," Foust said. "They're failing to meet the needs of the community. And we didn't even talk about transportation."

-- Fredrick Kunkle