Terraset Elementary PTA
Dear Friend of Terraset,
 
FCPS Budget Update & Call to Action!
 
As you know, FCPS Superintendant Jack Dale announced his proposed budget for financial year 2010-2011 last Thursday, January 7th. 
 
He has proposed to eliminate Foreign Language in Elementary Schools - at Terraset, that's Spanish! Band and Strings, along with full-day kindergarten, will only survive if the county agrees to tansfer an additional $57.8 million to FCPS.
 
Terraset PTA is asking you to do three things:
  1. Read the information below to ensure you are familiar with the impact of this proposed budget
  2. Before January 22nd, reach out to your family and neighbors asking them to support us in our efforts to maintain our schools. Here is a link to a sample letter.
  3. Before February 1st, email Jack Dale and the rest of the School board, along with Chairman Sharon Bulova and the rest of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Here is a link to a sample email. Ask your neighbors to do the same!
Proposed Budget Summary:
Budget reductions proposed by Jack Dale include: 
  • Custodial Support* ($2.0 million) (66.5 positions)
  • Instructional Assistants* ($0.8 million) (31.0 positins)
  • Assistant Principals* ($1.4 million) (19.0 positions)
  • Instructional Coaches ($1.6 million) (22.0 positions)
  • FLES ($2.8million) (49.5 positions) − Eliminates Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools Program
  • Class Size Increase ($17.1 million) (296.9 positions) − Increase of 1.0 student per teacher for all classes except special education
  • Salary Freeze ($39.5 million) (0.0) − No employee Step. COLA also frozen
 
* Custodians, Instructional Assistants, and Assistant Principals will be reduced for a second year
 
The budget seeks a county transfer increase for $57.8 M to avert reductions to:
  •  Full-Day Kindergarten
  • ES Band & Strings
  • Foreign Language Immersion
  •  Adult English for Speakers of Other Languages
  • Psychologists, Social Workers, and Guidance Counselors
  •  Further increases to class size
  • Further increases to class size at Advanced Academic Centers and TJHSST
 
This is not a final budget. We still have until February 4th before the School Board adopts the FY 2011 Advertised Budget. If we want to make a difference we need a broad-base of respondants - including outside the Terraset Community. We must let the School Board know they have support in demanding more funding from the county and we need to ensure the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors understand we want them to raise adequate revenues to fund our schools.
 
 
See the following sites for more details and commentary:
 
ACT NOW! Some of these programs will never return if they are eliminated now!