The McKay Messenger

  

Lee District School Tour

I recently visited every school that serves Lee District boundary children -- 19 elementary, 4 middle, 5 high schools and secondary schools, and Key Center. What I saw and heard reinforced my belief that our educators are dedicated professionals who care deeply about their students. You can read a full report of my tour here.

 

Most common among principals and teachers were concerns about a lack of time to accomplish educational basics and the high cost of living in Northern Virginia. Our educators have the same day-to-day financial and family pressures as our county employees and residents.

 

Several issues have community implications. The growing use of Kiss and Ride lines is creating traffic congestion in neighborhoods and community safety issues. Additionally, schools are seeing a significant spike in student mental health needs and an increase in the number of students who attend schools outside of their boundary, which can lead to longer Kiss and Ride lines, more traffic congestion, and community safety issues.

  

Funding our school needs is especially challenging in a time of economic and political change when we are disadvantaged by the State funding formulas.  It will take the sustained efforts of both the County and the Schools to persuade the General Assembly to provide our fair share of educational funding. Essentially, Fairfax County taxpayers pay two times more per student than taxpayers in other jurisdictions, largely because of the lack of state support. For example, in FY2012, Fairfax County received $2,764 per pupil from the State while the County provided $9,905 per pupil in local funding. By contrast, Prince William County only provided $4,812 per pupil in local dollars while receiving $4,813 per pupil from the state.

 

I'd like to thank each principal and staff member who enthusiastically responded to my request to visit their schools. I know we can meet any challenge if we continue to tackle the tough issues and ensure that every child is given the chance to learn regardless of school, race, gender, religion, or economic status.

I have already received many calls and letters from Lee District residents about the proposed Noise Ordinance amendment. Many of those calls and letters have been about the group assembly portion that you can read about here. This is a proposal that would limit Fairfax County residents in a residential neighborhood to only three gatherings of more than 49 people in a 40 day period.

 

Thankfully, large group assembly in residential areas has not been a big problem for Lee District, although we have had instances in other parts of the County. This proposal is meant to address long-standing nuisances that occur weekly and present safety, parking, and noise problems and to prevent such problems from increasing throughout the County.

 

The current proposal is not perfect -- these issues are difficult to address. We need your input on whether to pursue such an ordinance addressing what is a reasonable number of times per year where a reasonable number of people can gather in residential neighborhoods for special occasions without creating parking, safety, and noise issues for the surrounding neighbors. 

 

I'm looking forward to the public input period that began this week so I can hear the concerns and opinions of Lee District residents. I encourage you to submit your public comments to the County here and to contact my office to let me know where you stand. Your comments will help us find a solution to this problem while still allowing County residents to host meetings and gatherings in their own homes.

Thank you for subscribing to my monthly e-newsletter. I hope these updates will keep you in the loop with some of the major events in our District.

If you'd like to learn more about something in the newsletter or have an idea for a future edition, please don't hesitate to contact me or my staff.

  

Did You Know?

Question: What's this I hear about a meals tax?

 

Answer: Many individuals and organizations have asked the Board of Supervisors to hold a referendum about instituting a meals tax. Under Virginia law, counties may establish such a tax only by a referendum approved by the voters. All of the cities and towns surrounding Fairfax County have a meals tax.

 

The main reason to establish a meals tax is to diversify revenue sources to better fund schools, public safety, parks, libraries, and human services without increasing the tax burden on homeowners. The County Board has established a task force to consider the meals tax referendum question.

 

Should the recommendation be to hold the referendum, then the task force will also recommend in what year the referendum should be held and how the revenue should be used.

 

The task force will make its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors at the June 17 board meeting.

 

Information about a meals tax, including recent history, who would pay, and taxable food, is available

here.

Facebook  Twitter