Stafford is in a School Funding Crisis, Says School Board Advisory Committee
School Board and Supervisors should agree on a multi-year strategy to increase education funding, committee recommends.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Stafford School Board’s Citizens’ Budget Advisory Commitee on Tuesday presented the board with a nine-point action plan for addressing and solving the county’s “school funding crisis.”
The action plan includes:
fully funding superintendent Daniel Smith’s $490.6 million budget for fiscal year 2026 to “stabilize school operations” going forward
transforming the joint School Board and Board of Supervisors working group into an “action-oriented task force that … delivers solutions”
adopting a joint resolution with supervisors that lays out a “multi-year funding strategy … including a one-time allocation to address past funding gaps”
engaging with the county economic development department and Economic Development Authority to establish agreements with local businesses on school investment
Division superintendents routinely present budgets that represent “the bare minimum” that is needed, yet enrollment keeps growing, said Dr. Alicia Hunter, chair of the Citizens’ Budget Advisory Committee, which presented its annual report and recommendations to the board at a special meeting Tuesday.
Stafford now ranks 117 out of 133 school divisions in per pupil spending, yet it is the eighth richest county in the state, Hunter said.
The CBAC is tasked with advising the school board about “community perspectives” on the school division’s allocation of resources, reviewing departmental needs, and advocating for financial support.
Hunter said the committee has determined through its research this year that the state’s “outdated” school funding formulas “overestimate” the locality’s ability to fund education.
“Local funding is key, and neighboring districts like Prince William and Loudoun invest significantly more than Stafford,” Hunter said. “Prince William funds 52% of the school division’s budget and Loudoun funds 71%.”
Stafford’s habit of “prioritiz[ing] residential expansion over commercial development” has left the county without the tax base needed to support the school division, the CBAC found.
In addition, Stafford does not place much tax burden on businesses. “There’s a low cost to do business, but at what cost to schools?” Hunter questioned.
The CBAC report included data showing per-pupil spending as related to student outcomes. In Stafford, which spends $13,678 per pupil per year, the average reading pass rate is 71%, as compared to Falls Church City, which spends almost double that amount per pupil and has an average pass rate of 92%.
“Declining student achievement [in Stafford] is a direct result of insufficient school funding,” Hunter said.
As part of its action plan, CBAC urges the School Board to invest in comprehensive data-gathering and stakeholder surveys so the community can be fully informed on the division’s needs, as well as in a “targeted outreach campaign that educates families, commuters, taxpayers, retirees, and students on the budget process, and highlights public education as a key economic driver for Stafford County.”
School Board members praised the CBAC report and recommendations as being one of the best they’d heard in recent years.
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