MVCCA Education Committee

Meetings and Calendar

Next meetings:
Wed. Feb. 6 at 8 PM
Whitman MS
media center/library

Wed. Feb. 20 at 7:30 (joint with Budget)
Whitman MS
media center/library

Feb. 11, 2008
School Board Budget work session

Feb. 14, 2008
School Board adopts advertised '09 budget

April 8, 2008
School Board presents budget to BOS

Full Budget Calendar

 

See resolutions for recently passed Education Committee items, including:

10/25 - School Bonds

OUR MISSION

The Education Committee of the MVCCA supports and encourages public education in the Mount Vernon District with the goal of providing world class educational opportunities in order that each student and each resident may reach his or her highest potential and become lifelong learners and contributors to our shared future. The Committee also advocates for the philosophical, human and financial resources needed to achieve those goals, consistent with best educational practices, appropriate accountability and financial responsibility.

ABOUT THE COMMITTEE

Each member association of the MVCCA is entitled to name a voting representative to the Education Committee. The Committee meets in regular session on the first Wednesday of each month from September to June, at 8 p.m. in the Media Center of Walt Whitman Middle School. Meetings may also be held in July and August, or other additional dates as needs arise. All meetings are open to the public and members are encouraged to invite interested members of their respective associations and the larger community.

The Committee regularly considers County-wide, Commonwealth and Federal educational concerns but, as residents of Mount Vernon District, we particularly follow educational and budget issues as they affect schools in our District (Mount Vernon High School, West Potomac High School, South County Secondary, and their respective feeder middle and elementary schools) as well as Bryant Alternative High School and Quander Road School. Adult and Continuing education, and issues affecting student learning such as mental health, violence, substance abuse and other risky behaviors, are also within the Committee’s areas of interest. Challenges abound as the Committee seeks to assure that our highly diverse Mount Vernon schools continue to encourage all students to meet high expectations and be fully prepared for the demands of the Twenty-first Century.

ABOUT FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Fairfax County Public Schools website (www.fcps.edu) provides a wealth of general and specific information including individual school profiles, organizational charts and descriptions, budget information, school attendance boundaries as well as links to Commonwealth sites and information on how parents and citizens can be in a direct informational link. The most complete information is found on school, county (www.fairfaxcounty.gov) and state (www.education.virginia.gov) websites but the following sketch may be of assistance in understanding school operation.

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is Virginia’s largest school system and the 10th largest in the nation, with about 165,000 students in grades K-12. Funding for its $2.2 Billion budget (in FY2008) comes primarily from Fairfax County property tax revenues (74%), State aid (13%), State sales tax distribution (7%), and the rest from a variety of sources including US aid (2%). An elected School Board sets the goals of FCPS and adopts the operating budget based largely on the funds made available by the County Board of Supervisors (BOS) in the School Transfer portion of the County Budget. School construction and major renovations are funded by voter-approved school bonds, prioritized by the FCPS Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and implemented as bond proceeds are made available by the BOS. The School Board also employs the Superintendent of Schools who, with his management team, oversees daily operations and implements Board goals. For administrative purposes, schools are divided into 7 Clusters, each of which is headed by a Cluster Superintendent, comprising 2 or 3 high schools, with their respective feeder elementary and middle schools, which are called “pyramids”. The Mount Vernon and West Potomac pyramids, and Bryant AHS, comprise Cluster 4; the South County pyramid is part of Cluster 2.

In addition to School Board goals and oversight, the Commonwealth of Virginia requires public schools to meet or exceed its Standards of Quality (SOQ) which include a variety of staffing, curricula and class size requirements. SOQs provide the basis for state funding, to which the state applies a “wealth” formula called the Local Composite Index (LCI) to determine actual funding. Virginia also promulgates tests called the Standards of Learning (SOL) which are given at the close of each school year to determine student progress. Virginia uses SOL results to determine accreditation of public schools (private schools are accredited in a different manner and do not take SOLs). The US Department of Education also uses SOL results to determine compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) which requires public schools to demonstrate Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in test scores at certain grade levels in order to retain Title I public funding. In addition, the US Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) contains mandates for educational services for students with learning or other disabilities.

Despite growing racial, ethnic, language and economic diversity, FCPS continues to maintain its status as among the best systems in the United States and to be a critical asset to Fairfax County’s continued growth and improvement of quality of life. In addition to its primary mission of educating students, its facilities are an important part of the fabric of County life, providing athletic fields, cultural events, adult and family programs and meeting places for a wide variety of civic and recreational activities, and also form an integral part of regional emergency preparedness.