On Tuesday, despite an outpouring of taxpayer protest, all nine Fairfax County Democrat supervisors voted to enact numerous tax hikes, with only Republican Pat Herrity opposing. This bloated budget demanding yet more money from taxpayers comes at a time when federal employees around the county are losing their jobs, Virginia has the highest car tax in the nation, and taxpaying households continue to vote with their feet every year by moving out of Fairfax County for greener pastures.
Chairman Jeffrey McKay attempted to gaslight taxpayers by mischaracterizing this action as avoiding an increase in the real estate tax, perhaps hoping no one would notice that when a tax rate lowered by a quarter of a penny is applied against an assessed home value that has risen by 6.17%, the resulting average tax bill per household is 5.92% — or $514 — higher than last year. Add to this a 4% meals tax and a 2% hike in hotel taxes.
The largest mass of excess fat in this budget resides in the county’s public school budget, which devours over half of all tax revenue. Between 1985 and 2025, the number of students in the Fairfax County Public School system increased by only 44%. During that same period, however, the total number of FCPS employees nearly doubled at 94%, the number of teachers nearly tripled at 186%, and the number of assistant principals more than quadrupled at a rate of 306%. And then there are the FCPS golden retirement plans, which the county matches at a shocking 33-34% — far above the national average of 6.7%.
Largely because of this out-of-control spending, and after adjusting for inflation, the cost per student has tripled, and the burden per household has doubled, while real incomes have decreased. In the 2026-2027 budget, the supervisors plan to give FCPS even more tax dollars, even though the student population is decreasing.
If Democrat supervisors were fiscally responsible, limiting payment increases to the growth of inflation and student population, they would be approving approximately $1 billion for the schools next year. Instead, they are handing over a shocking $2.93 billion.
The transparent marketing gimmick for this enormous overfunding is to advertise an FCPS education as “state-of-the-art,” per Supervisor Dalia Palchik, or “world-class,” according to Superintendent Michelle Reid. While that was arguably true 40 years ago, it is no longer the case. Test scores are plummeting, and several schools are on the verge of losing their accreditation.
In addition, FCPS is wracked by scandal after scandal, including lies and a cover-up in the Hayfield athletes scandal, a student sexual assault and coverup, the arrest of multiple teachers for sex crimes against children, violation of the Constitution with FCPS’ radical, anti-scientific transgender policies, and refusals to demand an investigation of Kyle McDaniel, former chair of the school’s budget committee, who is now being sued for embezzlement.
Does that sound like a “state-of-the-art,” “world-class” educational system to you? No wonder the parents of more than 12% of county students refuse to trust FCPS with their children.
FCPS attempts to hide their failing performance through various media spins and deceptive shell games, the latest being an unpopular and destabilizing redistricting that will move higher-performing students into lower-performing schools to create the illusion of improvement in the latter. I attended a dinner party recently with a couple — one a federal IT worker and the other a doctor — who reside in the county with their children. When this topic came up, the wife said, “If they move forward with this redistricting plan, that’s it for us—we’re leaving.” Thus, the tax base shrinks.
During the recent budget discussions, I sent all the supervisors a detailed, fact-based proposal several times that laid out the problems and provided workable solutions. I presented a summary of the proposal when I testified before them:
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“If there is one question that I suggest that you find out the answer to before your final vote on the budget,” I said, “it is this: What explains the ability of FCPS, the single largest item in the County budget, to deliver a nationally-recognized, excellent product in 1985 at a third the cost of FCPS in 2025 (after adjustment for inflation)? . . . I see no compelling evidence that it is anything other than wasteful overspending of taxpayer dollars in need of immediate redress.”
After their markup, I contacted every Democrat supervisor, reminding them of the question and expressing my hope that they had not been so foolish and reckless as to approve three times the justifiable costs without first knowing the answer to this basic question. I asked them what the answer was. I have received no reply.
Jeffrey A. Leach has worked in business and law for over 30 years. A member of the bars of VA and DC, he is a principal of Nomos Legal Consulting, PLLC, and may be reached at [email protected].