Fairfax City School Officials Pursue 'Cautious' FY 2027 Budget

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — City of Fairfax school leaders say they are building a cautious Fiscal Year 2027 budget that preserves student programs and staff support while budgeting for a lower tuition bill than the roughly $77 million figure initially projected by Fairfax County Public Schools.

Superintendent Dr. Dustin Wright, who has been in the job about three months, presented the advertised FY 2027 school budget, during a joint work session with the City Council and School Board on Tuesday.

Wright said the plan is driven by three main priorities:

1. Strengthening connections between schools and the broader community
2. Supporting and empowering educators and staff
3. Keeping students at the center of decisionmaking.

“We are a small school division, but our students have access to broad academic options and extracurricular pathways,” Wright told city officials. “Our size allows for personalization, and our partnerships allow for scale.”

Longstanding Agreement Shapes Budget

The City of Fairfax operates four schools — Daniels Run and Providence elementary schools, Katherine Johnson Middle School and Fairfax High School — plus the Fairfax Academy. About 5,400 students attend those schools, including roughly 2,900 city residents and 2,500 county residents.

A decades-old school services agreement between the city, the School Board, Fairfax County and Fairfax County Public Schools governs how the system is run and paid for. Under that contract, FCPS manages day-to-day operations of the city schools, including staffing, curriculum and routine maintenance. The City School Board and city government provide governance, supplemental investments and capital improvements to the four city-owned buildings.

That structure gives city students access to specialized services, advanced courses and academy programs systemwide but also means the city pays an annual tuition bill tied largely to FCPS’s operating budget.

Enrollment And ADM Drive Risk

Wright said the FY 2027 School Budget is being developed amid a regional decline in public school enrollment. Northern Virginia jurisdictions including Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, and Prince William counties, as well as Montgomery County, Maryland, all saw fewer students return in the fall than finished the previous school year.

For Fairfax City, the budget for the current year was based on a projection of 3,077 city students. As of Sept. 30, membership stood at 2,942 students, about 130 fewer than projected. By the end of January, enrollment was 2,947, suggesting the lower-than-expected numbers have held.

Next year’s projection from FCPS is 3,103 city students. Wright said he and staff have “calibrated” with city planning officials and expect the final count to again fall below that forecast.

Those figures matter because the city’s tuition payment and its state revenue are calculated using average daily membership, or ADM, which measures student participation over the course of a year rather than on a single day. ADM is also used to determine the Local Composite Index, a key state funding formula.

For tuition purposes, Wright said, the city must watch how its ADM compares with FCPS’s overall ADM. If both move in the same direction, the city’s share tends to be stable; if they diverge, the city’s tuition can shift.

FCPS Costs Remain Main Driver

Historically, the city’s tuition payments under the school services agreement have increased for two main reasons: changes in the city’s ADM and, more significantly, higher FCPS operating costs.

“What is driving the increases year over year are related to those FCPS operating costs,” Wright said. He noted that the tuition line includes the gross bill from FCPS, rental credits for county students who attend city schools and a year-end “true-up” that finalizes the number. Because of that reconciliation, the fiscal 2026 tuition figure is still an estimate.

Secondary factors affecting tuition include the city’s proportional share of total students, differences in cost between elementary, middle and high school students, classroom rental adjustments and long-term boundary and building utilization decisions.

City Planning Below $77 million Tuition Estimate

In her proposed FY 2027 budget to the Fairfax County School Board, FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid included an estimate that the City of Fairfax tuition bill would be about $77 million. That figure was based on an enrollment projection of roughly 3,100 city students.

Soon after, Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill presented a separate county budget with a proposed transfer to FCPS that was “significantly lower” than the $197 million increase in the school system’s request, Wright said, indicating the FCPS budget — and the city’s tuition amount — is likely to change before adoption.

Also See ...

• Fairfax City Manager Proposes FY27 Budget With Tax Rate Adjustments
• Rising Costs Of Willard Sherwood, Other Projects Addressed By City Council
• Tie Votes On Willard-Sherwood Project Alarm Fairfax County Official

Working with City Chief Financial Officer J.C. Martinez and the city’s financial team, Wright said, staff reviewed the $77 million estimate against enrollment trends and past tuition history.

“What you’ll see in the City of Fairfax schools budget is a lower tuition number than that $77 million because we want to be realistic about where we think it’s going to end up,” he said.

Wright said the school system believes it has “budgetary tools available” to manage any difference between the city’s estimate and the final number that emerges from the FCPS budget process and ADM true-up later this year.

Balancing Priorities and Pressures

Wright told council members the FY 2027 School Budget aims to demonstrate “stewardship, strategic intent and a clear focus on our students,” even as the city grapples with softer enrollment and rising costs that it does not fully control.

Council members pressed for clarity on the drivers behind the tuition increases, with Wright pointing primarily to employee compensation and benefits in FCPS’ systemwide operating budget.

The joint work session is part of a broader city budget process that includes public hearings in March and April and final budget votes expected in May.