Our Fairfax County Public Schools will share the revenue crisis that is affecting our local government. The County as a whole may need to cut $400 million from its FY 2010 budget. FCPS will have to make large changes to operations to help address that overall revenue shortfall (for more information, see: http://www.fcps.edu/news/fy2010.htm). The most important questions are: Where should the FCPS budget be cut? What programs or services should be stopped or curtailed until revenues improve, if then? If you have ideas or suggestions for how to address this fiscal crisis, the FCPS has several ways in which you can participate in the ongoing conversation.

There will be a series of community dialogue sessions through the middle of November. The schedule and locations can be found at: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/government/budget/publicmeetings.htm.

If you can't make one of those sessions and still want to be actively involved, the County government is also using an online process to gather comments and suggestions regarding the budget from the greater Fairfax community to help it understand and reflect our community's desires in the coming budget. The specific page soliciting suggestions and comments about the budget from the community: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/survey/fy10suggestions.htm.

I encourage you to step forward and participate in this process. The school will be changed as a result of it. Take the time to ensure those changes are ones you support and can accept.

Dick Reed
HSS PTSA President