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Last Sunday, more than 200 parents and students participated in a budget crisis rally in CRS’s gym to urge state legislators to unfreeze the Local Composite Index (LCI), an action that could slash the $175 million anticipated 2011 school budget shortfall by more than one-third. The LCI is a formula that the state uses to allocate funding to individual counties. While the LCI is supposed to reflect the most current economic figures in its calculation, Richmond legislators are considering using two- to three-year-old data as the basis for the 2011 LCI formula. Such an action would not take into account the economic downturn that Fairfax is enduring and would lead to Fairfax receiving up to $61 million less in 2011.
CRS PTA President Cat Lippman, who kicked off the rally, decried the proposed LCI freeze, saying: “A freeze in the LCI would negatively impact education in Virginia’s strongest economic contributor. It would have the potential to affect the entire state, as Fairfax would be viewed as less competitive, endangering our ability to attract new businesses and even retain many companies that comprise our strong economic base. The economic strength here has wide-ranging positive impacts well beyond Northern Virginia and contributes strongly to the fiscal position of the entire state.”
Rally attendees also heard remarks from Fairfax County School Board Member Jane Strauss, who focused on the so-called Dillon Rule, a state law that effectively bars local jurisdictions from levying taxes on their constituents without state approval. Although the state has granted a number of nearby localities revenue authority by waiving the Dillon Rule, Fairfax County has not received such a waiver. The more than 150 letters that rally attendees addressed to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell asserted: “that Fairfax County should have the right to approve additional revenue raising measures on its own, especially given the current economic crisis. Most other counties in this region already have separate tax/revenue authority and have used it to protect and enhance their education systems.”
In addition to the throngs of parents and students, many carrying hand-made signs, State Delegate Barbara Comstock, Dranesville Supervisor John Foust and print and television reporters were on hand for the event. Aside from listening to speeches, CRS parents – joined by parents from other Fairfax County schools – signed petitions and letters opposing the LCI freeze and class size increases and made phone calls to state legislators. WJLA Channel 7 carried a feature story on the rally, which can be found at: http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0110/699203.html .
This rally is only the kick-off to a series of events designed to draw attention and to Fairfax County schools’ budget woes and to resolve the crisis on the best terms possible. The next major budget event that CRS parents should plan to attend is a February 16th PTA Meeting with Fairfax County School Board Member Jane Strauss at Cooper Middle School. The event starts at 9:30 am. Also, stay tuned for information on a trip to Richmond to meet with state legislators about the budget crisis. Finally, CRS room parents have forwarded to all CRS parents copies of the budget crisis letters that were signed and collected at the rally. Parents may print, sign and send those letters if they so choose.