Budget & Finance

City of Fairfax Schools

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FY2027 School Board Approved Budget (unanimous)

$79,386,084

City of Fairfax Schools doesn't run its own schools. Under a 1962 agreement, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) runs the four City-owned schools, hires the staff and sets the curriculum, so most of this budget is tuition paid to FCPS. Up +$5,063,509 (+6.8%, our calc) from the FY2026 estimate of $74,322,575.

There is no School Board budget book or adopted budget document. The approved total comes from the School Board's news release and the Jan 26 slide 6. The agreement is described on Jan 5 slide 6.

FOIA to Fairfax City Schoolswww.cityoffairfaxschools.org/apps/pages/

FCPS Tuition

$73.8M

92.9%

$73,754,574 in tuition to FCPS, after the classroom rental credit and year-end true-up: 92.9% of the budget (our calc), up $4,908,864. FCPS expects 3,103 City students and about $77.0 million in tuition from the City. Cost per student was $22,374 in FY2026 (estimate).

Source: Work session Jan 26, 2026, slide 6 (budget summary) and slide 10 (FCPS outlook); proposed Jan 5, 2026, slide 10 (cost per student).

Debt Service

$4.3M

$4,337,081 for debt payments, 5.5% of the budget (our calc), down $6,731 from FY2026's $4,343,812.

Source: Work session Jan 26, 2026, slide 6.

Operations

$1.27M

+$161,376

$1,274,429 to run the small central office and support the schools, up $161,376. It includes $285,000 in supplemental and instructional funds sent straight to schools, up from $209,381. Special education and English learner services come from FCPS and aren't broken out for City students.

Source: Work session Jan 26, 2026, slides 6, 8 and 9; proposed Jan 5, 2026, slide 7 (City students use FCPS special education services).

FCPS tuition (net)

$73.8M

92.9%

Debt service

$4.3M

5.5%

Operating costs

$1.3M

1.6%

Improvements

$20K

0.0%

Source: Jan 26 slide 6, Operating Budget Summary (the four lines add to $79,386,084; tuition is "inclusive of tuition, classroom rental credit, and year end true up"). % is our calc. Only four lines exist, so there are four boxes.

Operating Costs, Line by Line

There are no departments: these are the eight lines of the $1,274,429 operating budget. % is share of operating costs (our calc). Contract services include grounds, legal, facility and communications support, and the $285,000 for schools (slide 9).

Salaries (slide 8)$587,03546.1%
Contract services (slide 8)$480,77037.7%
Benefits (slide 8)$143,12411.2%
Regional agency fees (slide 8)$20,4201.6%
Training & travel (slide 8)$13,3001.0%
Other services (slide 8)$12,5001.0%
Dues & subscriptions (slide 8)$12,2801.0%
Office supplies (slide 8)$5,0000.4%

Source: Jan 26 slide 8 (FY2027 column, which matches the approved operating total) and Jan 26 slide 9 (contract services).

Question 1

Where does the money come from?

State: basic aid$9,526,34912.0%
State: sales tax$4,965,9226.3%
Everything else (mostly the City)$64,893,81381.7%

State revenue $14,492,271 (Jan 5 slide 16), about 18.3% of the approved budget (our calc). The schools' documents publish no full revenue table, so "everything else" is our calc; it comes mostly from the City's General Fund.

Question 2

Where does it go?

FCPS tuition (net)$73,754,57492.9%
Debt service$4,337,0815.5%
Operating costs$1,274,4291.6%
Improvements$20,0000.0%

From the Jan 26 slide 6. The City's four schools: Fairfax High (with the Fairfax Academy), Katherine Johnson Middle, Daniels Run Elementary and Providence Elementary (Jan 5 slide 3).

Question 3

What's changing year over year?

FY2025 actual$71,672,441

FY2026 est.$74,322,575

FY2027$79,386,084

+$5,063,509

+6.8% over the FY2026 estimate (our calc; Jan 26 slide 6). Tuition per student went from $14,436 in FY2017 to $22,374 in FY2026 (estimate) (Jan 5 slide 10).

How the budget gets made

STEP 1
Proposed
Superintendent presents the proposed budget (Jan 5, 2026)
STEP 2
Work session
School Board work session with revised figures (Jan 26, 2026)
STEP 3
School Board Approved
School Board approves the budget unanimously (about Feb 9, 2026)

The approval date is our reading of the release, which says "last night" and is dated Feb 10, 2026; the slide timeline had planned Feb 2. After that, the money goes through the City's budget: the City Manager presented on Feb 24, a joint work session with City Council was Mar 3, and Council adopted the City budget on May 5, 2026 (City book p.11).

Search the budget papers

Search the budget records

Looks inside the budget documents listed below, including the big books we link to rather than host, not just filenames. Proposed ≠ adopted stays labeled on each hit.

Source files (2)

No School Board budget book or adopted budget PDF exists. Also: School Board approval release · City budget book, School Board section (pp.313–322)

Caveats & notes

•No approved or adopted budget document exists; the approved total comes from the news release and the Jan 26 work session slides.
•The Jan 5 proposal was $80,189,606 (tuition $74,534,096). The Jan 26 revision, $79,386,084, is what the School Board approved.
•The City's own budget shows a different number for schools, $77,684,433 (City book p.314), because it counts tuition before credits ($76,429,791) and budgets school debt separately ($4,904,843). We don't mix the two on this page.
•The City book's performance table (p.316) shows 3,050 students and $19,284 per student, flat for three years, which doesn't match the 3,103 students and $22,310–$22,374 per student in the school slides.