Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, School Board Budget Work Session, Thursday, January 15, 2026

Date: Thursday, January 15, 2026
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 4h 20m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1154804174?rel=0

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-12. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:03:11] Good afternoon. I call to order this January 15, 2026, Loudoun County School Board Fiscal Year 27 Operating Budget Work Session. We'll start tonight with disclosures, and I will start. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:03:44] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which I am included.

[00:04:00] I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:04:28] Specifically as a school board member I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits however affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected of which i am included i can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public's interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you thank you miss labelle thank you madam chair as a member of the loudon county school board i make the following disclosures to the school board and to the general public in connection

[00:05:03] with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, as a school board member, I am able to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee.

[00:05:22] In addition, as a former LCPS employee, I, as well as my spouse, receive Medicare Advantage insurance benefits through LCPS. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which my spouse and I are included.

[00:05:42] I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of this school board for five years. Thank you. Ms. Chernoff? Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees specifically as a school board member I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee these benefits however affect thousands of employees well in excess of the

[00:06:19] statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected of which I am included I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public record of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you as a point of personal privilege, I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Dr. Spence for being selected as the 2026 Dr. F.E.H. Jones Humanitarian Award by the School Board Super, excuse me, the School Superintendents Association. The Humanitarian Honor recognizes exemplary education leaders who have demonstrated a deep commitment to mentorship, expanding access to opportunity, and

[00:06:57] fostering inclusive leadership in public education. With that, we will move on to item number three the fiscal year 27 superintendent's estimate of needs the Sion as it's commonly referred to will be presented for consideration to the Loudoun County School Board tonight Dr. Aaron Spence the superintendent will present an overview of the information contained in the Sion I want to begin by explaining to the school board and to the community that it is not customary for school board members to ask questions tonight we will have lots of opportunities in the coming

[00:07:37] weeks through our work sessions to go deeper into the presentation and to address board questions but because the information is just being presented tonight we will not be entertaining any questions after the presentation dr. spence the floor is yours thank you madam chair and good evening i am excited to share with you tonight the superintendent's estimate of needs or cion which is considered the kickoff to the school board's budget development process.

[00:08:04] It's a culmination of months of discussion and collaboration, as you know, between our budget team, division and school leadership and staff, and the school board. Over the next several weeks, the board will engage in a conversation about this proposed budget with administration and the community, and we look forward to supporting this process as we work towards submitting the final budget for the 2026-27 school year to the Board of Supervisors for their consideration.

[00:08:27] Virginia Code 22.1-92 states that it shall be the duty of each division superintendent to prepare with the approval of the school board and submit to the governing body or bodies, appropriating funds for the school division, the estimate of the amount of money deemed to be needed during the next fiscal year for the support of the public schools of the school division.

[00:08:46] Developing the SEAN's a multi-step process, it encompasses several months. A comprehensive analysis is conducted of each department's budget based on historical trends and pricing to identify needed changes and ensure continuity of operations. Departments submit prioritized budget requests based on identified needs and feedback from their areas and schools.

[00:09:09] New department requests, stakeholder priorities, and school board priorities are then considered for inclusion in the SEAN based on revenue projections for the upcoming year. As we develop the annual budget, there are several key factors to be considered. These include funding guidance from the county, as well as the impacts of the new state biennium budget on available resources.

[00:09:30] We also have to balance the effects of declining student enrollment and inflation against our commitments to support employees through the collective bargaining agreement while continuing to provide the resources and programs that support student achievement. As a reminder, and as I've shared before, after the analysis is complete and all these variables are taken into consideration, there really are two ways to develop the CION. The first is to prepare what would be a true estimate of needs irrespective of funding constraints. The second way is to develop a budget that tries to balance the resources and supports needed to move forward with our strategic

[00:10:06] plan objectives with what is anticipated to be available funding from the federal, state, and local level. The CION I'm presenting to you this evening is generally based on this second method. When you budget this way, inevitably there will be some unmet needs, and I'll talk a little bit about those later in the presentation. The FY27 Seon is focused on continuing to invest today and in the future, and it's aligned with the 1LCPS 2027 Strategic Plan for Excellence. School board priorities and the needs of our schools and community have been considered for inclusion and balance based on revenue projections for the upcoming year. The various funds that make up our

[00:10:44] budget are listed here to provide a comprehensive all-funds view of the entire budget. To be clear, my presentation this evening will focus only on the operating fund. The other funds will be presented during upcoming budget work sessions. As you'll see tonight, the vast majority of this operating fund is related to salaries and benefits for our employees. This proposed operating budget includes 13,564.1 FTEs. The estimate of needs for the fiscal year 27 school operating fund is approximately 2.07 billion dollars and represents a 105 million or 5.3 percent increase over the

[00:11:23] fiscal year 26 budget. On this slide you'll see projected revenues as well as the proposed expenditures for the operating fund. Specifically the SION projects a decrease in state revenues of 3.3 million dollars, an increase in federal revenues of 1.3 million dollars, an increase in local fees and charges of 1.9 million dollars and a county request of 105 million dollars.

[00:11:49] Expenditures are categorized into personnel operating and capital expenditures with 94.5 million dollars of additional personnel costs including compensation and benefits that align with the collective bargaining agreement. This encompasses the majority of the fiscal year 27 budget increase. Operating accounts increased by 11.8 million dollars with a decrease in capital outlay accounts. Enrollment is, as you know, a critical factor in budget planning and LCPS is in a period of declining enrollment. For fiscal year 27, enrollment is projected at 316 students fewer than this year's actual count and CIP projections indicate continued declines each

[00:12:29] year through fiscal year 32. This trend underscores the importance of careful planning to ensure resources are aligned with student needs. Of course, with that, I'm often asked why the school budget continues to increase when student enrollment is not increasing. As a reminder, as I've just said, about 90% of the increase in expenditures for fiscal year 27 are in personnel costs. For example, for LCPS, providing a basic annual step increase alone costs roughly $28 million. If employees then receive cost of living adjustments, our operating budget will increase

[00:13:03] even if we were to put no new positions in the budget. In addition, there are typically increases and benefit costs as health care becomes more expensive and there are other fixed costs that grow despite level or declining enrollment, things like fuel and utility costs that we do not control.

[00:13:20] This concept is important to understand as it directly relates to LCPS for fiscal year 27. With this context in mind, the proposed CIEON for the 2026-2027 school year reflects thoughtful investments that strengthen our schools today while preparing for the future. As the board knows, the needs of our students continue to evolve and while division-wide enrollment is declining, the number of students requiring more resources continues to increase. For example, special education students and English learner students comprise about 29% of the total division-wide enrollment. These two student groups have historically outpaced division-wide growth,

[00:13:56] and despite division-wide enrollment projected to decrease for fiscal year 27 and into the near future, our English learner population is projected to increase by 1%, and our special education population by 3.4%. As a result, 44.6 additional teachers, teacher assistants, and other positions providing these specialized supports for students and specialized programs are included. A note about our EL students. We experienced an unanticipated large drop-off over the summer and started the school year with about 9% less EL students division-wide than was projected. To contrast

[00:14:32] that, historically we've been increasing about 3% for the start of school count. Staffings based on account from the last day of school recognizing that this population tends to increase during the school year. The initial drop this year is factored into the projections however for the last day of school for fiscal year 27. This projection resulted in elementary EL students declining year over year but we do project a modest increase in EL middle and high school students resulting in a 1% overall increase for our EL population. With that context what follows is my estimate of needs for the 26-27 school year which proposes necessary investments for now

[00:15:10] and for the future. As we've said, building the budget is a comprehensive process, and this slide depicts the current fiscal year 26 budget with the top pencil referencing a scale of 0 to 2.1 billion. The larger pencil on the bottom is zoomed in to focus on the far right end of the pencil and the change for the fiscal year 27 budget. This pencil scale starts at 1.9 billion and references the fiscal year 26 base budget of 1.96 billion as our starting point. So again, here is our starting point. The current fiscal year 26 budget is $1.96 billion with 13,470.5 FTEs to support this

[00:15:50] year's budgeted enrollment of 81,629 students. The next several slides will guide you through the process of arriving at the fiscal year 27CON and provide information on the $104.8 million increase. The first set of changes in building the budget is calculating changes in staffing per the currently adopted staffing standards based on division-wide enrollment. With a reduction enrollment of $1,428 from this year's budgeted enrollment, we see the resulting net reduction of 46.8 FTEs. Also captured here is the decrease in the base salaries from turnover. This turnover

[00:16:26] generally occurs each year and is from employees retiring or leaving at the top end of the salary scales and then budgeting for new hires towards the lower end of the salary scales. Combined, this equates to a $20.2 million decrease and you can see the change in the small movement of the budget sliding left from the base budget. The fiscal year 27 is now on the chart depicted by the yellow line. Next, we capture year-over-year changes in operational costs that are driven by inflation, enrollment, or other factors. Across the school operating fund, we have an increase of $10.7 million, and you see the line chart slightly move towards the right. More details

[00:17:04] about the base changes highlighted on this in the previous slide will be presented to the school board at the next budget work session. In this slide, we will look at our recommended compensation increases. The annual step increase cost of living adjustment or COLA, health premium increase and other compensation items total $92.9 million and represent again almost 90 percent of the total budget increase. Not surprisingly we see the line shift much further to the right on the pencil pushing the fiscal year C on above the base budget. I'll get into the details around these increases later in the presentation. The last set of investments is to support ongoing school board

[00:17:40] priorities. This includes 115 FTEs as seen on this slide and cost $21.4 million. This continues to push the fiscal year 27C on further above the base budget and I'll touch on these in more detail later as well. Combined these recommended changes bring us to the fiscal year 27C on with a total FTE count of $13,564.1 and a budget of approximately $2.07 billion. So let's zoom back out on our pencil and return to our scale, you can now see the 5.3 percent budget increase for fiscal year

[00:18:17] 27. As I mentioned earlier, this Sion is focused on continuing to invest today and in the future. Four core investment categories are lined with the one LCPS strategic plan were identified, including investing in our empowered students, our exemplary staff, our enriched school system, and our engaged community. I'll provide a summary of these investments and more detailed presentations to the school board will be occurring in the upcoming budget work sessions.

[00:18:44] We're also introducing measurable outcomes for new investments with each new investment presented in future sessions including a clearly defined outcome. Investments that are already underway or that expand existing initiatives are not included in that introduction. Starting in the spring of 2025, the school board had the opportunity to provide feedback on the development of the budget during multiple work sessions and school board meetings. As a result, priorities were identified that when combined with the 1LCPS strategic plan provided the blueprint for building the SION. And I am happy to report that all of the identified priorities you see here have some

[00:19:19] level of investment in this SION. Our first investment category is investing in empowered students. The fiscal year 27 SION prioritizes providing students with expanded academic opportunities and robust support to help them thrive. Expanded academic offerings and access include additional teachers and instructional coaches across grade levels, as well as specialized programs such as the continued growth of the Elementary Dual Language Immersion Program, the introduction of the Academy of Global and Linguistic Studies, and enhanced resources for the RISE Academy, which is our recovery school. Students also benefit from new athletic programs,

[00:19:57] a potential new JROTC program, and more equitable access to fine arts and CTE courses through the elimination of course fees. Student support is strengthened through targeted investments in mental and behavioral health services, threat assessment coordination, and specialized support within the RISE Academy. These investments ensure LCPS continues to provide all students with the opportunities and resources they need to succeed while adapting to evolving staffing requirements.

[00:20:26] And again, more details will be provided in an upcoming Investing in Empowered Students presentation. Of the total 13,564.1 positions in the school operating fund, it's worth pointing out that 94.2 percent of those are working in the schools and directly with staff and students.

[00:20:45] These FTEs may be school-based or school-facing. School-facing positions are employees who may not be assigned to a school but routinely work in our schools. This number remains unchanged from fiscal year 26 and keeps additional staffing resources focused on students. The fiscal year 27 SEON includes 85.2 school-based or school-facing positions when compared to the fiscal year 26 revised staffing level. Examples of positions in the fiscal year 27 SEON are provided on this

[00:21:18] slide. The remaining 13 new positions are non-school-based or school-facing and are listed here for easy reference. Listed are positions to support operations, staff training, and hiring and retention. Every year that I have been in education, I've heard conversations about whether or not school divisions are appropriately staffed at the administrative level, and I understand that question. Being clear about this matters because I've stated and continue to state my intention to

[00:21:57] remain balanced and focused on our schools. With that, I think it's important to note here that of the non-school-based staffing supervisors and above make up a very small percentage of our overall FTE. Historically, the percentage of LCPS staff who are non-school-based administrators has been at below 1.5 percent. You may recall that last year that number was at 1.3 percent and for fiscal year 27 that number remains at 1.3 percent. Listed here are some of the key responsibilities for administrative staff. The 1LCPS 2027 Strategic Plan for Excellence identifies teachers,

[00:22:36] administrators, and staff as the most important contributors to success second only to our families. This sion reflects that priority by proposing meaningful investments in employee salaries and benefits consistent with LCPS's first collective bargaining agreement. The proposed operating budget provides the necessary resources to support the day-to-day operations of the school division while offering competitive salaries and benefits packages for its employees. Maintaining competitive compensation is essential to recruiting, retaining, and supporting a highly

[00:23:11] qualified and dedicated workforce. The collective bargaining agreement includes provisions for an annual step increase and top of scale payment, as well as a cost of living adjustment ranging from four to five percent, depending on the employee group. As health care costs continue to increase, the fiscal year 2017 also includes measures to continue to strengthen the financial stability of the health self-insurance fund. These efforts combine cost containment strategies with revenue enhancements, which include a 20 percent increase in health insurance premiums shared by both

[00:23:46] employees and LCPS as the employer. An important fact to remember is that 90 percent of the school operating fund is invested in our most important asset, our staff. As a result, it doesn't take much to make an impact on the budget. As I stated earlier, for example, an annual step increase cost about $28 million. Recognizing the significant impact compensation has on the budget was a factor in determining appropriate amounts to include in the collective bargaining agreement that covers not only fiscal year 27, but also fiscal years 28 and 29. In Tuesday's investment in our exemplary

[00:24:24] staff presentation, you'll hear more about these investments and benefit changes and the projected impact on our out-year budget forecasting. The third category covers investments in our school system. The fiscal year 27CON includes focused investments to support the safe, efficient, and effective operation of our schools. These investments address division-wide needs while accounting for inflationary cost pressures. Key priorities include enhancements to safety and security and operational staffing needed to maintain continuity of services across schools and school departments. Together, these investments reinforce LCPS's commitment to safe,

[00:25:02] well-supported learning environments for our students and staff. And Tuesday's investment in our Enriched School Division presentation, you'll hear more about these investments specifically. And then finally, the last investment category is for our engaged community. Fiscal Year 27 Sion includes investments that enhance communication outreach and engagement with families in the community. These resources support expanded language access and additional family liaison services to better connect with our families. By strengthening partnerships between schools and the families they serve, these investments help ensure all students have the support they need

[00:25:37] succeed while reinforcing our commitment to responsive community engagement in an upcoming investment in our engaged presentation you'll hear more about these as well so now that i've shared what lcps needs are let's talk about the funding required to support the cion lcps operating fund revenues come from three main categories federal and other revenue streams state funding and the local county transfer you can see from this chart that the county continues to be the primary funding source for our school operating fund. Historically, our local community has provided about 70 percent

[00:26:13] of those funds, and for fiscal year 27, local funds are projected to cover almost 72 percent of LCPS needs. The CION projects a net $3.2 million increase in LCPS's federal and other revenue streams in the operating fund. An example of specific federal revenue sources is Medicaid reimbursements for certain special education services and funding to support the GRCC program.

[00:26:39] It's important to know that federal grants are budgeted separately in the grant fund. The budget carryover is the designated current year projected surplus funds that will carry over to the following budget year. Historically, this amount has been $12 million and remains unchanged for fiscal year 26.

[00:27:00] The other category includes charges and fees such as facility rental charges, AP testing fees, and other program charges like adult education and driver's ed. Historical trend analysis projects increases across these various revenue streams based on usage of facilities or participation, which means they are volume-driven and no changes to rates are proposed in the fiscal year 27 seon.

[00:27:25] State funding is projected to decline by $3.3 million based on the governor's proposed 2026-28 biennium budget. It is important to note that the governor's proposals must still be considered and adopted by the Virginia General Assembly, which may make changes during its deliberations through the spring.

[00:27:45] Changes in state revenue projections will be brought to the school board for consideration as well as communicated to the board of supervisors. The reason we are in such a strong position today and why we're able to continue making meaningful progress towards our goals is due in large part to the hard work and dedication of our budget and finance team and also the hard work and collaboration.

[00:28:06] of our school board partners and our partners on the Board of Supervisors. As I have often noted since coming to Loudoun County, we benefit from the shared commitment of both the school board and the Board of Supervisors to sustain a strong public education system. We know our school community holds high expectations for excellence across a wide range of learning pathways designed to meet the needs of every student.

[00:28:29] And the school board and Board of Supervisors play a crucial role in closing the gap in education funding locally. Our Board of Supervisors has answered the call for continued investment in our schools and their ongoing support has been invaluable to our efforts. I will note, however, that this responsibility should not fall solely on our local government.

[00:28:49] Virginia has a constitutional responsibility to fund public education. And we know that a 2023 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report highlighted that the state's per-student funding for K-12 education remains below the national and regional averages, While investments in the education at the state level continue to grow, we know more work remains to be done.

[00:29:11] We appreciate the General Assembly's attention to the JLARC findings and have outlined a continued focus on that study on education funding as a priority in our legislative program. This is important because, as noted, we are projecting a decrease in state revenue to LCPS.

[00:29:29] Regarding state funding, there are over 30 state revenue streams and four examples are provided here. The largest funding streams are basic aid and sales tax funding. Basic aid essentially is the state's share of public education based on student enrollment. Other funding streams are more aligned with specific functions such as English learner support, the mentor teacher program, and SOL algebra readiness to provide just a few examples.

[00:29:52] The governor's proposed budget for the first year of the biennium includes additional funding from basic aid and state sales tax. However, these increases are offset by reductions due to lower enrollment, The shift from a 3% pay increase this year to 2% next year in the governor's budget and other re-benchmarking adjustments such as changes to the local composite index that shift a larger share of funding responsibility from the state to the county.

[00:30:21] Specific to that, the percentage of our school operations funded locally was 71% in fiscal year 26 and is 71.8% for fiscal year 27. As the General Assembly now works on the budget, we will continue to monitor the state budget and its impact on LCPS.

[00:30:41] The last funding category is the local county transfer. In January, the county administrator, Mr. Hemstreet, transmitted guidance to LCPS based on conversations with the Board of Supervisors that they were projecting an additional $105 million in new local revenue available to LCPS for fiscal year 27.

[00:31:00] This SEAN proposed a budget with local funding directly aligned to this guidance. This chart illustrates the decline in the budget changes since my first CION with LCPS. For the past two years, the rate of growth in the budget has declined, and that remains true for the fiscal year 27 CION.

[00:31:21] This budget is increasing by 5.3% compared to 7.5% last year, and county funding is increasing by 7.6% compared to 9% last year, which again is driven by the county's budget guidance. LCPS does not have a revenue sharing agreement with the Board of Supervisors, but the historical funding formula that has generally been used is depicted on this slide for reference.

[00:31:45] That formula begins with new local tax funding from property and personal property taxes, and any increases for county and school debt service as well as capital projects are deducted. Next, a deduction is made for the county's affordable housing fund to maintain the fund at a prescribed amount, along with a deduction for the county's revenue stabilization fund.

[00:32:05] This results in an amount of net new local tax funding that would then be split with roughly 60% to LCPS and 40% to the county. I want to draw your attention to your attention that the entire bank of revenues is allocated to school and county operations in this historical comparison.

[00:32:30] In recent years, growth in the data center tax base has significantly increased total county revenue. However, county staff have raised concerns that Loudon is becoming over-reliant on data center revenues. Their long-range projections show that by around 2030, data center revenue is likely to decline as the industry is expected to be fully built out by then.

[00:32:53] To prepare for that decline, the county is now implementing budgetary constraints. Specifically, this tax revenue still exists, but the county is capping how much of it flows to LCPS and general county operations. Excess revenues are being directed primarily to capital projects with a portion allocated to the affordable housing fund. This approach drove the budget guidance recommended by county staff and that was acted on by the board of supervisors on January 6th. You can now see how the revenue has been capped with additional funds going to the capital project and the housing fund. This chart

[00:33:31] is from the county staff's presentation to the county finance government operations and economic Development Committee meeting where the budget guidance was given. You can see how they are projecting tax revenues to decline after fiscal year 30 and the associated declining expenditure budgets for LCPS and the county for fiscal year 27 through fiscal year 31. During this meeting the committee provided budget guidance to develop a budget that maintains the current homeowner tax rate, general property tax rate, and vehicle property tax rate and with that guidance a result

[00:34:08] resulting $105 million of funds were projected to be available to LCPS for fiscal year 27. Again, the Sion is directly aligned to this county budget guidance. This slide illustrates the budget timelines for the state, county, and LCPS. When developing our budget calendar, LCPS must navigate both the state and county timelines. LCPS is an outlier in that we adopt our budget early in February. While this timing is often raised as a concern, our budget calendar must align with the

[00:34:43] county's budget process. Specifically, LCPS is required to adopt its budget before the county publishes its tax rates in February, which supports the county's adoption of tax rates in early April and the issuance of its tax bills in late April. Within this constrained time frame, we've maximized all available time. The bottom row shows the state's budget timeline and the steps required to adopt the state budget. As illustrated, LCPS adopts its budget before the state has finalized its budget. This is common practice in Virginia, and as a result, we must base our budget on revenue

[00:35:19] projections that are subject to change. This often necessitates post-adoption funding adjustments with the county to reflect final state revenue decisions. This occurred last year, and this may occur again this year. The General Assembly convened yesterday and is currently deliberating on the governor's proposed budget and our hope is that the state remains on schedule and adopts their final budget by May. As I mentioned at the start of the at the start the fiscal year 27C on was developed to balance needs with projected resources rather than as a full estimate of needs. As a result some priorities from board member staff and other stakeholders

[00:35:58] cannot be fully funded this year. These items which I previously referred to as unmet needs can also be thought of as delayed investments, important initiatives that will need to be considered in future budgets. Examples of these delays include slower expansions of programs and initiatives, additional position and staffing enhancements across departments to support students and staff being delayed, employee tuition assistance programs, a delayed start of new programs, and a phased-in approach to remodeling stipends across the division. Board members, I appreciate your attention and consideration of this overview of the Fiscal Year 27 SEAN.

[00:36:38] So just to quickly recap and review the next steps, I know we've shared a great deal of high-level information with you. The key takeaways are captured here. All eligible full-time employees will receive an average pay increase of 6.5% to 7.5% depending on their employee group. The SEAN budget is $104.8 million or 5.3% above the Fiscal Year 26 budget. The county transfer request aligns with their budget guidance of 105 million dollars or 7.6 percent above the fiscal year 26 county transfer. Additionally the state budget deliberations are ongoing and we will

[00:37:14] provide any updates promptly. I'll note that the projected LCPS cost per pupil is 25,490 dollars which is an increase of nine percent. This is driven by the investments I've outlined this evening. And finally, this CEON has 94.2% of positions dedicated to working directly with our schools. Recognizing this is a lot of information, we thank you for taking the time to learn more about our budget and the process. And that said, we know you will have questions. The procedure for beginning to ask those questions is listed here. If you will email your initial questions to Sharon

[00:37:50] Willoughby, our chief financial officer, she will reach out to the appropriate department. If there time intensive questions or costing requests those will will be brought to the school board to determine whether there's consensus to proceed the school board budget work sessions for our budget process are listed on this slide concluding with the school board adoption on february the third the county administrator will then kick off the county's public budget process when he presents the county's proposed budget to the board of supervisors on february the 10th it's expected that shortly after that the school board will present its fiscal year 27 adopted budget to the

[00:38:29] board of supervisors typically the school board and lcps staff will attend one additional board of supervisors budget work session in the march april time frame to answer lingering questions despite the funding obstacles i outlined earlier lcps continues to thrive and here are just a few of the many accomplishments that our budget supports the lcps class of 2025 graduated six 6,932 seniors, with nearly 75% receiving an advanced diploma, almost 24% a standard diploma, and just over 1% an applied studies diploma. Almost 70% of our graduates reported they will

[00:39:08] attend a four-year college, well over 17% will attend a two-year school, and 2% will enter military service. LCPS is a 97.2% on-time graduation rate. National Merit Scholarship winners included 18 LCPS students for the 24-25 school year, five students won college-sponsored scholarships, 11 were named National Merit $2,500 scholarship winners, and two received corporate-sponsored National Merit scholarships. Nisha's Virginia rankings place LCPS as the fourth-best school district and the second-best school district for athletes in Virginia. Seven high schools are listed in the top 20 in the state, with Independence High School ranked as

[00:39:47] number two high school in Virginia. In collaboration with George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College, LCPS launched the Access Academy at Potomac Falls High School to provide dual enrollment credits, IT certification, and real-world learning for students pursuing high-demand tech careers. LCPS has expanded programming options that care for our students' well-being and academic needs, for example, by supporting students in early recovery from substance use disorders with a recovery academy offering academic and therapeutic support. The division continues its focus on workforce development and future-ready education, focusing on key

[00:40:23] industries like cybersecurity, health innovation, and aerospace. LCPS has hosted a workforce summit bringing together more than 250 community and business leaders along with students and educators to discuss these needs. The Family and Community Engagement Office launched the LCPS Family Academy, a series of free virtual workshops to help our families support academic success, understand school communications, and navigate division resources. And finally, numerous capital improvement projects across the division are in progress to include the replacement of Parkview High School. With much to celebrate, we look forward to going through this important process

[00:41:03] with you, and we look forward to collaborating on how to best serve our students, staff, and families and Loudoun County Public Schools as we move forward. As I hope you can see, we are more committed than ever to providing the best possible experience to meet the needs of our LCPS community. We're very grateful to the school board and the board of supervisors and to the staff, parents, and citizens of Loudoun County for their ongoing investments in those efforts.

[00:41:27] Madam Chair, that concludes my presentation. Thank you, Dr. Spence. Vice Chair Donahue, could you please read your disclosure? Yes, thank you very much, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding employee salaries, the budget, and or health insurance, and any other discussion that may include or affect salary and benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:41:53] Specifically, my spouse, my minor children, and I are enrolled in LCPS health insurance that may be affected by any potential changes to employee salaries, the budget, and or health insurance. Additionally, my sister-in-law is an LCPS employee who does not reside with me and is not dependent on me. These subjects include thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected, of which my spouse, my minor children, my sister-in-law, and I am included.

[00:42:18] I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the Clerk of the School Board for five years. Thank you. Let's move on to item number four, discussion item, the Ashburn and Dulles North Elementary School attendance zones.

[00:42:36] Given the late hour at which we began the discussion last night, I felt that our conversation was stilted and that we could benefit from having some more time to explore all of the impacts of any upcoming decisions, and I just wanted to clarify that we will not be making any decisions tonight or taking any temperature checks, but we will have the opportunity to learn more.

[00:42:59] With that, I will pass the floor. Dr. Spence will be presenting, so Dr. Spence, the floor is yours. Thank you, Madam Chair. We appreciate this opportunity, and I want to begin by acknowledging the role of the board in setting direction for the division.

[00:43:16] My team and I work at the board's direction, and we're here tonight to support a thoughtful discussion of the questions that you've raised concerning the Ashburn and Dulles North Elementary Attendance Zone decisions, which were made in December. I also want to recognize the context for this conversation. We're hearing from families who are deeply invested in their schools and communities who, frankly, love their schools.

[00:43:38] it's appropriate for the board to ask whether additional consideration is warranted. That commitment to listening is an important value. It's one I share. At the same time, it's also my responsibility as the CEO of this division to ensure you are fully aware of the operational, financial, and student and family-centered implications of the paths under discussion, particularly as they intersect with timelines already in motion across the system.

[00:44:03] Before I go further, I'd also like to just acknowledge something directly. Earlier this week as questions began to surface about revisiting this decision I should have been more insistent about quickly elevating the full scope of these impacts for your consideration. That's on me and I do appreciate the opportunity to tonight to ensure this information is clearly on the table. The purpose of my team's sharing of information this evening is not to be defensive about the plan or of any prior board action. The purpose is to outline the challenges and dependencies that will emerge under the two scenarios the board raised on Tuesday which included making adjustments to specific attendance

[00:44:41] zone with the approved plan within the approved plan and potentially delaying attendance zone changes for a longer period of time perhaps two years or more in the comments heard on Tuesday specifically we want to ensure the board understands how those scenarios affect things like registration staffing budgeting transportation special education programming and policy alignment and in a moment staff will provide more detailed information so the the board can make decisions with a full understanding of those implications so this timeline that you'll see here on the screen and realize that's that's

[00:45:17] small but it is intended to simply be illustrative of how the December decision either triggered or coincided with a sequence of actions that are already underway or imminently scheduled to begin one of the most important things to keep in mind you can also see it behind you in a little bit better detail one of the most important things to keep in mind is that attendance zone decisions are not isolated. They sit at the center of a tightly connected set of processes that spanned student registration and special permissions, enrollment projections, staffing allocations and

[00:45:52] hiring timelines, transportation routing, special education placement and service delivery, and budget development and capital planning. To be a little more specific, I want to first address the challenges associated with making adjustments to certain zones while leaving others unchanged. We are already seeing early signals that selective reconsideration is prompting other school communities to raise concerns about equity and consistency, specifically why some zones are reopened for discussion while others are not. That dynamic alone creates pressure and establishes the precedent that these decisions once made can and may likely be revisited. This creates confusion and I think

[00:46:30] uncertainty for our families and certainly for staff. More critically, even limited changes require us to pause or reverse key system-wide processes including opening registration for the next school year, launching the special permissions process that allows families to request transfers, and completing student information rollover that identifies students will attend school next year. When those steps are paused, we cannot finalize enrollment numbers, and without finalizing enrollment, staffing allocations cannot be confirmed, hiring timelines will be delayed, and candidates may accept positions in other divisions that are further along.

[00:47:07] This has downstream effects on special program enrollment, course planning, placement of specialized services, including special education programs, and as noted, transportation planning and routing. This will also require us to recalculate over and under enrollment across schools, which has policy implications related to student reassignment thresholds and processes.

[00:47:27] Again, staff will speak in more detail about these impacts in their respective areas. The second scenario the board discussed, which was delaying attendance zone changes for an extended period, introduces additional and compounding challenges. In addition to all the impacts I just described, a longer delay would mean a growing number of schools operating significantly over capacity, the likely reassignment of hundreds of elementary school students across multiple years to neighboring schools as a result of this, an ongoing and increasing impact on staffing, transportation, and budget stability.

[00:47:59] It also has implications for our capital budget. The CIP, also approved by the board on December the 16th, assumes that rezoning is a tool we can use to maximize existing facilities and be responsible stewards of taxpayer resources. If rezoning is removed or delayed as an option, we may need to revisit long-term facility planning assumptions, including the potential need for new construction. Finally, I want to name something that's harder to quantify but no less important. Based on the December attendance zone decision, we've already communicated many of these timelines to families and staff. Outreach, planning, and coordination are underway across multiple departments and schools. And pausing or reversing

[00:48:38] this work, some of which will now be necessary simply because of the discussion, creates confusion and, in my estimation, at least risks eroding trust. I do believe we all understand that outcome would run counter to the board's stated commitment to transparency and clear communication. With that framing, I do want to just turn to our staff, if it's okay, Madam Chair, to walk through the specific impacts in a little bit more detail so the board has a comprehensive understanding as you engage in this discussion. I want to thank the board for the opportunity to frame the discussion and again reiterate we are ready to support the board however you direct. With that I'd like to ask

[00:49:17] Mr. Lewis just to talk a little bit about the capital planning process. Thank you Dr. Spence. So we as Dr. Spence offered that we are very appreciative of the opportunity to have the conversation and we want to talk a little bit about the process that's been established over a quite extended period of time and the complex system that the attendance zone is actually the beginning of and the domino effect and you heard Dr. Spence refer to them as tightly connected dependencies and I'll just take a minute to walk you through that exhibit that helps understand what we do there and you'll see it starts in September and it covers the full year school year

[00:49:56] and ends in August those are across the top and down the left side you see the different main categories and i want to start in the middle of that in the yellow or orange where it says the planning and you see there where one of the bullets is the projections are approved in the attendance zones for elementary school there is a different chart just like this for secondary but this one is just specific to elementary schools so as early as october we are mrs tate and her team are putting together projections to make sure that we're understanding and this is in conjunction with the development of the CIP that dr. Spence mentioned and you see those those

[00:50:35] items the orange ones they slide toward the right into December and that represents the December 16th decision that the board made to approve the attendance zone and the CIP at the same time because they're so closely related you know the the CIP is or the the attendance zone I would I would call you the foundation of these building blocks of this complex system and it's a tool that we manage as dr. Spence also mentioned manage class size teacher assignments ancillary positions to the schools and all the capital improvement program and the capital improvement program is not just a budget it is a

[00:51:14] program that we manage all the entire system with and so you may recall as we went through that process this fall for those of you that were here part of the conversation we had in the capital budget is we would have no new schools in the first foreseeable future in the first six years and part of that was based on the anticipation of the attendance zone process making sure that we take that opportunity to manage our resources and have those schools as as efficient as possible and not have overcrowding where we would trigger another school in particular elementary school 36 has been pushed out for a

[00:51:51] number of years for this very reason knowing that we were going to you know equalize the the boundaries with that. So following on in the the chart you'll see that as soon as that December timeframe met and you see those red diamonds those are represent milestones that that we need to meet there's some flexibility up until those but those milestones need to be met in the December 16th decision triggers if you go down the page to the I guess it's purple you see the elementary student rollover and Mr. Smith will explain that hearing a little bit more you continue down the page and you see in the blue

[00:52:29] area where you have online registration special permission special permission for staff and families all those things are all triggered on that December 16th and so this process over the years have been established to make sure that we don't impact those families in pushing into that timeline so that's hopefully explains a little bit about that chart to help you understand that's the guide that we use all the way through with all the folks you see here and all the departments to manage this process so in the background there are dozens of integrated systems and moving parts developed to refine and we've refined

[00:53:07] those over decades to make sure that we do everything we can to have time to get each of those things in place without having pushing into those different things for and they affect things like the the assignment of school and teacher assignments class selection bus routes in particular that's one of the things that I've halted the bus route development we begin February in January developing bus routes for the next year we also and you've heard over time a couple of speakers come and ask about class start times I've asked the transportation department to look at all the start times again just in case we could make adjustments to that based on the new boundaries so we've halted that

[00:53:45] for now as well the process we have is documented in numerous policies that we won't go through tonight obviously but there are policies regulations and standard operating procedures one of those is the one was just done this past fall that said we would revisit all polo or all attendance zones for all schools every five years the school board in the last summer adopted our process that we have established to do that you know with with this one being the very first one and then there are other subsequent over the next couple years next year is the Eastern Loudoun attendance zone for elementary schools following year are

[00:54:23] secondaries secondaries across the entire county all middle and high schools so the timeline is really critical and if you recall back in June we bring to the school board the the timeline with all the meetings for both this the capital budget and the attendance zones to make sure we keep those the number of meetings are dictated in policy and so we make sure that those are all taken care of and also we put on that list that you adopt is the number of schools and the names of the schools that will be incorporated into the process. We found over the years that if schools are not made aware then that creates confusion and all that so those things are

[00:55:02] specifically identified as early as June that begins the kickoff of the process that we're we're in the middle of. So mostly I just you know as a quick reminder the milestones and the potential effects of those students, any of those milestones that are affected that really has the ability to impact all of our students, not just the ones in the areas that you're talking about right now.

[00:55:26] And the folks here with me tonight will help, I think illustrate a little bit more about how those impacts are happening. I will turn at this point to Mr. Smith, who will talk you through some of the data systems and how they're affected.

[00:55:41] - Thank you, Mr. Lewis. So attendance zone changes play a critical role in the school division's preparations for the next academic year. And that information must be fully reflected in our student information system before the rest of our cyclical processes can begin. The SIS student rollover is a key milestone that creates the new school year environment in our SIS.

[00:55:59] And that data is then integrated with all the other LCPS systems that Mr. Lewis mentioned in processes. Division-wide processes such as special permissions, registration, staffing, scheduling, and transportation routing cannot proceed until we have an accurate rollover in the system. Because of its importance, staff began preparing the elementary student rollover immediately following the board's attendance decision in December. A successful rollover depends on accurate data from the planning team to the student school assignments so that each student is placed in the correct school for the following year. This step includes several weeks of thorough data validation and audits to ensure accuracy before moving to the next task in the critical path. This year's rollover was scheduled

[00:56:37] for tomorrow, Friday, January 16th, which would have allowed staff to begin special permission process and the kindergarten pre-registration process, which were scheduled to begin on Tuesday, january 20th at this time the rollover work is paused while the school board works to complete its final decision on attendance zones because kindergarten and new student registrations are open to all families and not tied to planning zones or addresses these processes must also remain paused until the sis rollover is complete it is important to note that elementary school students must be rolled all at the same time to ensure a complete data set our systems are closely interconnected and the processes shown on the slide rely on a complete and accurate sis data

[00:57:14] set. Rolling over only part of the student population would create inconsistencies across the division. It would make it difficult or impossible for families to navigate the process accurately. If no attendance zone changes are made, DDI will reinitiate the existing rollover process, probably taking about a day to implement. If changes are made, our estimate is that from the date that the decision is made, the teams would need four to five business days to revalidate the data and for the changes before we could start and complete the rollover process i will now hand it over to dr ellis for additional details thanks mr smith so miss richardson and i are going to talk a little bit about the green and blue

[00:57:55] portions of the timeline on the slide that you see here and i will reiterate some of the things that mr smith said about kindergarten registration so as as several people have said we have already paused some timelines such as kindergarten registration and i do want to point out that it's not simply just for kindergartners it's actually any new student to lcps so that impacts middle and high school students as well and kindergarten students outside of the schools that we're discussing as you all know kindergarten registration in particular is a very big deal to

[00:58:30] families some families probably even have little countdown calendars to the date that they can register for kindergarten. And those messages have already started to go out. So we, without established attendance zones, we will have to pause that process. Connected to kindergarten registration and registration generally is the special programs registration that you also see on the, on the slide. Specifically for elementary school, the dual language immersion program and elementary distance learning enrollment process will also need to be paused

[00:59:06] these processes especially DLI and other special programs do take months to complete from the time a student and family shows interest through the lottery process and placing students and then just also as a quick reminder regarding DLI there are also a split number of students at the at the home school and students coming from other schools so clear attendance zones are necessary for that so i'm going to turn it over to miss richardson to dive a little deeper into her favorite topic

[00:59:40] special permission thank you dr ellis the board's decision to reconsider about boundary changes has a significant and immediate impact on the 2026-27 special permission process which has served just under 4,000 LCPS families annually over the past three years. On January 13th, 26th, staff informed the board that the opening date for special permission had already been communicated as

[01:00:16] January 20th, 2026. The reconsideration of boundary changes requires capacity recalculations and enrollment reprojections for all impacted schools to reconfirm over enrollment status.

[01:00:34] As a result, the special permission timeline would be compressed by approximately two weeks with the process still ending on April 30th, 2026. And the opening of the process for all K-12 students delayed beyond the currently scheduled January 20th date for staff and February 2nd for our LCPS families.

[01:00:58] This compression raises potential compliance concerns with Policy 8155 school assignment, particularly the requirement to open the process for the first business day in February for our families, and it significantly shortens planning windows for families and our schools.

[01:01:18] Additionally, it's important to note that the capacity calculation for students with disabilities whose families request special permission is a manual process, as the LCPS staffing standards for special education maximize our teachers' ability to provide specially designed instruction to our most impacted students, which is evident by our standardized assessment outcomes.

[01:01:47] Now we'll also discuss the impact to special education and the placement of specialized programs. Those programs serve our students with autism spectrum disorders, emotional disabilities, multiple disabilities, and early childhood special education.

[01:02:06] Boundary changes directly impact special education program site placement and the availability of appropriate instructional space. Limited flexibility in program placement may increase transportation distances for students with disabilities, resulting in longer travel and reduced access to service near their homes.

[01:02:31] Additionally, constraints on program placements may limit our ability to serve students at or near their school of home residence, which is a requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, or IDEA, as well as the Virginia Regulations Governing Programs for Students with Disabilities, as well as our LCPS policy 5320. Collectively, these impacts create operational challenges, they create

[01:03:06] transportation challenges, and raise potential compliance concerns related to student placement and access to appropriate educational settings additionally I will also note in this in in the world of school counseling the delay in rollover of students that mr. Smith spoke to has also halted our course planning for rising sixth graders and rising ninth graders I will now hand it over to is it mrs. Mitchell that I'm handing it over to oh to Lisa Bolin my

[01:03:40] apologies. Thank you, Ms. Richardson. So tonight I want to focus specifically on how uncertainty around attendance zones affect staffing allocations and hiring for the 26-27 school year and why timing is so critical in that area. At the most fundamental level, staffing is driven by enrollment. Until attendance zones are finalized and registration can move forward, principals do not know how many students they will have, and therefore they do not know how many staff they are being allocated.

[01:04:18] Because staff is interconnected across schools, this uncertainty impacts all principals division wide, not just those in the affected attendance zones. Without zones being finalized, our transfer and reassignment process is also impacted. Voluntary transfers are one of our most important staffing tools early on. They allow experienced teachers within the division to move into schools that need them and they want to go to, giving employees choice and predictability, and allowing

[01:04:55] principals to take ownership of their staffing early in the process. When principals do not know their staffing allocations, they cannot make offers to employees who could fill those positions. The voluntary transfer process then stalls. That delay does not stay contained. It creates a ripple effect across the entire division. To put this into context, LCPS hires on average between 750 and 800 teachers each and every year. When timelines shift even slightly at the front

[01:05:32] end, the downstream impact on hiring and placement is significant. As voluntary transfers stall, vacancies appear later across all schools, not just those directly affected by attendance zones within this discussion. We know from experience that the later vacancies occur, the fewer qualified applicants we get in our applicant pool. This is especially challenging for our Title I schools and our newly designated TSI and CSI schools, which already face more competition

[01:06:08] for candidates and hiring challenges. The second major impact involves our involuntary transfers. If involuntary placements are delayed or timelines are unclear, employees may assume they are not going to be impacted, only to learn later that they are, in fact, impacted. Others experience the opposite, anxiety from not knowing where they may be reassigned. That uncertainty affects morale and trust. In some cases, employees may decide to leave the division rather than remain in a

[01:06:43] prolonged state of uncertainty. At the elementary level, these delays create additional challenges. Before positions can be posted externally, involuntary transfers must first be placed into known vacancies. If that process is delayed, elementary schools are significantly delayed in posting positions for external candidates for the 26-27 school year. That places us behind neighboring divisions that are already actively hiring and filling positions. This also affects

[01:07:20] our ability to give out letters of intent, something we call LOIs. LOIs allow us to secure strong candidates early in the process. So when we go to recruit at colleges, this is what we give those individuals looking for jobs for the upcoming school year. When placement decisions are delayed, candidates may wait weeks or months without knowing where they will be assigned or receiving a formal offer. Some ultimately will decline and accept positions elsewhere, meaning we lose top talent. To avoid overhiring without confirmed positions, we are now also faced with

[01:08:00] the issue of the number of LOIs we can give out. This unintended consequence is that we lose strong teachers and staff that we would otherwise have in our schools. All of this compresses our hiring timeline as we move closer to the June 15th deadline, which allows neighboring divisions to hire from one another. Let me give you an example for those of you not familiar with this June 15th deadline. If a current employee accepts a position at another school, even within our

[01:08:37] division, on June 14th, that vacancy will not be posted and filled before this June 15th deadline. This means we are no longer able to hire experienced teachers who are already under contract in our neighboring divisions, which significantly limits the available candidate pool. As that date approaches, competition increases and candidate availability decreases.

[01:09:07] I want to also share an important point of context. When timelines are clear and processes more move as designed, LCPS has a strong track record. At the start of the current school year, we achieved a resounding 99.06 teacher fill rate division wide.

[01:09:30] That level of readiness was possible because enrollment, staffing allocations, transfers, and hiring move forward on predictable timelines. The concern we're raising tonight is that uncertainty around attendance zones disrupts those timelines and puts that level of readiness at risk in that candidates see us as a less of a sure thing and look elsewhere.

[01:09:53] Finally, I want to connect this back to students because that is why we are here. When vacancies are filled late or not filled at all, schools are forced to rely on long-term substitutes or merge classrooms. That results in larger class sizes, reduced continuity, and a less stable learning environment with less experienced staff for students at the start of the school year.

[01:10:19] While these challenges begin as staffing and hiring issues, they ultimately affect classroom stability, instructional quality, and the student experience. Our purpose in sharing this information is not to advocate for a particular outcome, but to ensure the board understands how attendance zone timing decisions directly affect staffing, morale, and our ability to open schools fully staffed and ready to serve students.

[01:10:47] And with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Allen to review any policy implications and possible next steps. - Thank you, Madam Chair and board members. As a threshold matter, Virginia law provides in Virginia code section 22.1794 that the school board shall provide for redistricting of school boundaries or adopt pupil assignment plans whenever such procedure will, quote, contribute to the efficiency of the school division, end quote.

[01:11:18] As you heard from relevant LCPS staff members, there are a number of considerations that will have implications for both school board policy and applicable law and resulting in potential challenges and compliance concerns. Aside from the policy concerns that staff referenced, from a legal standpoint, process wise, there are legal requirements under Virginia law for public hearings and notices related to boundary changes to consider.

[01:11:45] It's at fourth and Virginia code section 22.179. You also heard from Mrs. Richardson who discussed potential implications for ensuring adequate special education programs based in site locations, which are not only set forth in policy 5320, which is procedures for location of self-contained special education programs, but also under federal law, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Virginia's special education regulations.

[01:12:15] The school board will also want to be mindful of mandated timelines under Virginia law, as Ms. Bolin referenced the June 15th deadline set forth in Virginia code section 22.1-304 related to teacher contracts and re-employment notifications.

[01:12:32] All that's to say, given these policy and legal implications, it is prudent for the school board to take these into consideration as it further and thoughtfully contemplates this matter. And with that, I'll turn it back to Dr. Spence.

[01:12:48] - Madam Chair, just to bring it, administration's part of this discussion to a close i just want to reiterate that this conversation and i mean you you obviously can tell staff has been deeply engaged in some conversations after tuesday night's meeting and we really felt it was important that the board be more fully aware of the potential implications based on the conversations that that were brought up tuesday night so again we're not taking a position we're not making a recommendation just really need you to be aware of the implications and and with that we'll uh we'll kind of wrap up

[01:13:28] and turn it over you all we're certainly happy to ask questions um thank you so much answer questions you can ask questions okay um thank you all for the presentation certainly um we are committed to making a fully formed decision and having additional information is very helpful um with that school board members um i'm happy to open the floor to questions mrs griffiths um i just want to mention, it sounds like you did take a position, but also, Dr. Spence, you just did a

[01:14:01] presentation on how we dropped in enrollment. I know we have projections for the schools, but hindsight's 20-20, I guess, at this point, but I don't know that there's anything we can do, but I'm not sure that there should have been redistricting with a drop of enrollment to begin with so I just wanted to make that point that we have people here today that heard in the presentation how much we've come down in enrollment and they're probably trying to figure out why they can't stay in their school thank you thank you I would say and I think Ms. Tate can certainly speak

[01:14:41] to that Ms. Griffiths thank you for for raising the issue of enrollment two two thoughts that enrollment is not necessarily centralized to one particular area of the division and so you would spread that enrollment generally across a hundred schools so you're not going to see necessarily significant change within a building but I think Ms. Tate could speak to enrollment projections being a critical part of the rezoning process and that's just a part of how they go through that process. Mr. Svinson?

[01:15:17] I'm sure I'll have more questions but I just wanted to start with a threshold question it sounds a lot of the feedback from staff I really appreciate it sounds I view most of that as not a criticism but a desire to have the decision made final and you know we have opened it back up so should should we interpret the comments to be that we should make a decision as soon as possible so trying to look before we're looking here like would be the preference of staff that we have a vote on this say next week as opposed to say on the 28th of January just so we can move along thank thank you for the

[01:15:56] question, Mr. Svensson. Yeah, if we were to take a position, it would be that the faster the board can make this decision, the better off the division will be in terms of its operations and decision-making. Mr. Pepper. This is really a question for Mr. Allen. I know you mentioned state regulation 22.179, which basically states that in order to do any rezoning, we're required to hold, you know, public hearings is my understanding of what that regulation is at a very layman's term because i'm not a lawyer unlike some of my colleagues up here um do the prior

[01:16:33] public hearings that were held on the zoning issue in december count towards the holding of public hearings if we revisit the exact same issue or does it not count because we don't have the exact same makeup of the school board thank you mr pepper um arguably they would count i'm looking at the fall 2025 notice that went out and as the board's aware there was ample there was a public

[01:17:06] hearing with respect to that so it would suffice the notice to the and again it would have to be within the scope of the notice that went out which reads the Loudoun County School Board has scheduled a series of meetings to facilitate the review of Ashburn and Dulles North area elementary school attendance zones the current boundaries for ashburn belmont station cedar lane creighton's corner discovery dominion trail elaney thompson hillside legacy madison's trust mill run moorfeld station newton lee recently carter sanders corner selden's landing stewart w weller and waxbow

[01:17:46] elementary schools will be reviewed in the attendance zone process so that is the scope in which the public the notice went out and and the public hearing was held so to the extent the board um any board determination um impacts those schools then that would suffice oh um mrs riccardi i have more of a point of information um with that said um mr allen is it is a when is the

[01:18:18] soonest that we're able then to revisit this issue from a vote perspective so under robert's Rules, there was notice of a motion to adopt something previously adopted.

[01:18:36] There was discussion earlier this week on Tuesday. The board could, this is noted as a discussion item or an information item. The board always has available to it an opportunity to suspend the rules to take something up as an action item.

[01:18:53] Otherwise, my understanding is the board determined to further discuss this matter as an action item at the January 28th meeting. But nothing would bar it from taking this up as an action item prior to that time, so long as the board suspends the rules to do so, which would take a two-thirds majority.

[01:19:17] - Thank you for that. And then just, if I could just continue real quickly. I just, I appreciate having this information. Definitely wish we had had this last week, but I understand that, you know, we are where we're at. Is there any, what is, do we have a ballpark idea with the financial impact?

[01:19:39] I mean, obviously we've heard about the timelines, which are very significant. Do we have an idea from a cost perspective what the financial impact might be on this, even if it's just a big ballpark? Is there any way to even estimate that? I think that would be challenging certainly right now to estimate that.

[01:19:59] I'd need to huddle with staff and see if we couldn't try to give you any anticipated financial impact. I'm not asking for it. I just didn't know if you guys had maybe thought about that before, because that's a whole other ask that I don't want to make. So I'm just curious. All right, thank you. Thank you.

[01:20:15] We'll have Vice Chair Donahue and then Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I wanted to share some of my thoughts about this discussion, since I did not weigh in on Tuesday. So these rezoning issues, as I think all of my colleagues will agree, are among the most difficult topics that we have to address.

[01:20:41] There are always a lot of moving pieces. There is no right answer. Anything that we decide to do is going to make some group of people very unhappy. And I empathize very much with the families that are impacted in a negative way by our zoning decisions.

[01:21:00] but I and we are we are allowed to reconsider prior decisions as Mr. Allen has already said that is within our power and authority to do my personal view is I I think it is most appropriate to reconsider our prior decisions when there are changed circumstances for example if there has been a change in the law if there are new facts that we were not aware of at the time we made our prior decision, and that would, in my mind, include if we have made a decision and put it out into

[01:21:36] unfolding in real life when we see that that decision may be unfolding in a way that is different than how we envisioned it. That may give us a solid basis to go back to that decision and see what we can do to fix it. From a governance perspective, though, I think that going back to reconsider prior decisions, I think that we should be doing that in limited circumstances. I don't think that that should be something that we do with frequency. And I feel that way because, as

[01:22:10] has been alluded to by staff, there is a need for finality and reliability from the need for the staff, for the community, for the students, for the employees. They need to be able to rely on our decisions to move forward with their responsibilities we have to be mindful of that in this in this case before us I'm not seeing change of circumstances I we have had many many people reaching out since we made the decision in December as well as prior to that this was

[01:22:44] a lengthy process this rezoning proposal we had numerous public meetings there was significant public outreach I met with and I know my fellow members met with a number of people who asked to meet with us to discuss ramifications of these rezoning issues. I reached out and asked for other individuals to meet with me to discuss ramifications of these issues and anyone in the community had the ability to offer a plan to be considered for us as part of this process which people did. People in the community made proposed plans and submitted them for

[01:23:22] consideration, as did other board members. Those were all considered. Again, I don't see that we have new information that we didn't know at the time we made our prior decision. It was a difficult process for me, and I'm sure for my fellow board members, and I am aware that people are unhappy with it but i i personally don't see compelling reasons here to revisit our previous decision

[01:23:58] if i were convinced that we should revisit the decision um i one of the one of the bases that was mentioned on tuesday was the drastic reduction of staff that will happen at mte because of the rezoning. That is a factor that I proposed in December when I advocated for keeping the walk zone at Madison's Trust and moving the grant. That was a proposal that I put forward and it was voted down. I was disappointed it was voted down, but that was the will of the majority of

[01:24:36] this board. And the will of the majority of this board was to move both the grant and the walk zone out of Madison's trust and that was our decision and as I said I do not currently see a compelling reason to revisit it especially in light I felt that way coming into this meeting tonight but certainly now in light of the additional information that we have before us that illustrates for us the unintended consequences that are rippling through our division right now

[01:25:14] um because of this because of this topic of potentially reconsidering thank you thank you mrs griffiths thank you madam chair i just want to clarify that um being against redistricting doesn't necessarily um include um i do want to mention selden's landing um that a lot of the families live across the street from the school and were bused all the way to stewart weller so I do want to clarify that they never should have been redistricted in the first place and

[01:25:50] they should have been able to go to Seldon's Landing now that they dropped an enrollment they're able to without permissions so I do want to clarify that and I totally get where the admin staff is as far as why it would be an issue to bring it back I understand it could be setting a precedent as well. But I think I am of the belief that just in general, redistricting our families is not smart. It's not a good idea. Thank you. Thank you. Any further questions?

[01:26:26] Ms. Chernoff and then Ms. Crow. Thank you, Madam Chair. I feel like I've been saying a lot of the same things lately and Ms. Donahue, I just think you nailed it. I think you hit the nail on the I'm very grateful to Dr. Spence and staff for the additional information.

[01:26:44] When I asked my question Tuesday night about those implications, I'm grateful that you've had some time to process and be able to share some of those because before the vote and before Tuesday when I knew it was going to be a discussion, I had met with staff and was starting to understand the magnitude and the ripple effects across the various areas that were expressed tonight.

[01:27:07] And so I appreciate the information. I think it is really important to have a fulsome context when we make these decisions. That's sort of been my mantra the entire time I've been on the board is to do the homework and be ready to go. Our timelines are not arbitrary, and they exist because each decision supports all those interconnected decisions.

[01:27:30] I, like staff, and it sounds like some of my colleagues, I'm very concerned about delaying action on this to July 28th, so I would respectfully ask that we try and make, not July, January, all those budget numbers, January 28th.

[01:27:47] So I'm gonna ask that we make it an action item next Tuesday after our budget session, if that's possible. It sounds like, from what Mr. Allen said, that that could be a consideration, so that we don't disrupt planning for staff and families. I also want to take a minute to acknowledge the families that have come and have very clearly been affected by this.

[01:28:11] We know that. I think Ms. Donahue alluded to that. We do go into this eyes wide open knowing that people will be affected in big ways. And certainly that feedback is valued and should be respected. The difficult part about rezoning is that they affect so many different parts of the division.

[01:28:36] Some are really, really challenging and create grief and hardship. And others are positive because you don't open a new elementary school that's going to cost you $70 million when you have existing capacity. And you have better staff-to-kid ratios in classrooms, and that impacts closing achievement gaps.

[01:28:57] And you get kids out of spaces that maybe they shouldn't be in because you now have open space in the building. And so there are also positives for us as a board, I think, to consider. And I think, you know, one of the things that was raised is that, you know, this issue of fairness.

[01:29:15] And for me, growth isn't really a question of fairness. And, you know, the question was raised, we have declining enrollment, but we have had concentrated growth in these different areas because of the development and what's going on in the different areas in Dulles and Little River, and growth is just a reality.

[01:29:33] And so I think we have to, I don't feel like it's our role to eliminate the discomfort in the growth. I don't think you can do that. I think you have to make sure that you're leading responsibly through that growth and avoiding unnecessary spending and, you know, like I said, getting back to better staffing ratios and making things better for learning environments for all students, not just now, but for the years to come. And so that is weighing heavily on me in terms of, yes, hearing from our families. But what's weighing on me more is now I'm hearing from almost every single group that we moved

[01:30:13] with confusion and saying, why does one group of parents matter more than us? We got the decision, we're upset too, but we just thought we had to accept it. And so that raises an equity issue. It raises a trust issue. It raises a consistency issue. It raises a fairness issue. And are those the things that we want as a school board going into this? And so that is concerning to me. And I guess for me, what I would like to know from my fellow colleagues who want to open this back up and revisit it, in line with Ms. Donahue's statement, what has changed in the information

[01:30:51] that we should reconsider from a system standpoint and what are the considerations that you're thinking about so that we can be very clear back to our these different communities that are now asking are you moving us too are we doing nothing are we doing something I just there's a lot unraveling now in terms of confusion and it's creating a little bit of a feeling of chaos and uncertainty and so I would like to know what the specific proposals are and maybe you don't know that right now, but hopefully we can have clarity and have a discussion about moving to a vote

[01:31:27] sooner rather than later. So I appreciate you letting me stand on my soapbox. Please don't interrupt. Ms. Riccardi. I just want to say as a new board member coming in and looking at this issue from a brand new perspective, I think a lot of the information that we were given today was information that I didn't have on Tuesday. So I think that was really helpful. At the same time, It was really, having sat through pretty much every board meeting for the last three years, I've noted that when the public comes to speak, it usually means at some place and some point in time,

[01:32:06] the school board has missed getting that feedback from the citizens. I mean, I have my little favorite spot back here in the back, and trust me, I watch every one of these meetings with great interest when we have public comment. With that said though, I also understand in here that we've got some, the timeline here is really critical and making sure that we don't derail this any longer I think is really, really key.

[01:32:31] And while waiting until next Tuesday is interesting, I would actually, and I can't imagine I'm going to do this very often, but I'd actually like to make a motion that we suspend the rules to reconsider this issue. A motion has been made by Mrs. Riccardi to suspend the rules on this issue and properly seconded by Ms. Donahue.

[01:32:53] Is there any further discussion? Oh, no, there's no discussion. Thank you for that. With that, that means we are going automatically to a vote on the matter. So, to suspend the rules. Oh, Ms. Riccardi, could you please state what your intention is?

[01:33:10] You want me to restate it? Okay. So, what is the question? Yeah, so I move that the Loudoun County School Board suspend the rules in order to reconsider its vote on January 13th regarding the Ashburn and Dulles North Elementary School attendance zones. Thank you.

[01:33:29] Right. So I'm going to repeat the question, the matter on the table. Mrs. Riccardi has made a motion that the school board reconsider the temperature check that we took on January 13th and take a vote on the matter now.

[01:33:48] Yeah, I think actually the way I need awarded is that we want to amend, let me see if I get this right, that we want to amend the previous January 16th vote.

[01:34:08] I'm sorry, December 16th vote. We would need to be more specific about how we would amend it? Well, we have to suspend the rules in order to be able to then make a motion to do it. So we've got to suspend the rules first. Okay. So that's what we're trying to do first.

[01:34:23] a motion on the table the motion to suspend the rules requires a two-thirds majority and then we are going to start talking about options for amending the plan that was taken if that succeeds okay with that clerk please open the vote just to suspend the rules school board members please

[01:34:48] record your vote clerk please display the vote okay the motion passes with seven members voting yes, including Ms. Riccardi, Mr. Svensson, Ms. Chernoff, Chair Chandler. Wait, so, oh, is there a

[01:35:17] need to redo the vote? Okay. The motion to suspend the rules, do we need to take another vote? Is there a point of clarification? Okay, the motion to suspend the rules passes. With seven voting yes,

[01:35:51] Mrs. Riccardi, Mr. Svensson, Ms. Chernoff, Chair Chandler, Vice Chair Donahue, Mrs. Griffiths, and Ms. LaBelle, and two opposed, Mr. Pepper and Dr. Rasheed. With that, let's start the discussion.

[01:36:08] Okay, Ms. Riccardi. So we need a motion first so we can get into that, right? So I move that the Loudoun County School Board further amend Plan 280, which was adopted with amendments for the action item, Department of Support Services Ashburn and Dulles North Elementary School Attendant Zones at the December 16th 2025 school board meeting Specifically, so we're moving that we're going to read basically revisit so we're going to amend the

[01:36:39] Plan 280 which was adopted with amendments for the action item when we suspended the rules So now what I'm saying is we're bringing this back up now to rediscuss Ms. Riccardi, could you please restate your motion in its entirety?

[01:37:02] I'm trying to make this as simple and straightforward as possible, so give me a second to think about this. I'm going to go back to my original plan here. Yeah, I'm going to make this super simple.

[01:37:18] So I move that the Loudoun County School Board revisit its original vote on December 16th in order to reconsider the vote regarding the Ashburn and Dulles North Elementary School attendance zones. There is a motion on the table to amend Plan 280 by revisiting the decision made by the school board on December 16th and take a vote to reconsider the attendance zone change for Ashburn and Dulles North elementary school zones, attendance zones.

[01:37:58] Clarification? Sure. Thank you, Madam Chair. As a point of clarification, I would like to ask possibly Mr. Allen if that motion is sufficient or if there needs to be a specific proposal to amend the decision that was adopted on December 16th.

[01:38:21] Thank you, Vice Chair Donohue. To make a motion to amend something previously adopted, I'd anticipate a specific modification or proposed modification to that prior vote.

[01:38:37] However, I heard that Mr. Carty wanted to revisit, which I guess I'd ask for more clarification. Madam Chair, I have a motion.

[01:38:53] Can I offer? Well, we haven't actually had a second for this motion yet. So, Ms. LaBelle? I think that what we are saying is either one of two things.

[01:39:09] We want to have the vote that we took on the 16th of December remain as it was originally voted, or we would like to change what we voted on and then re-vote on it.

[01:39:25] So I think that that might be the easiest way of clarifying what we're trying to do. Thank you, Ms. LaBelle. Ms. Riccardi, has Ms. LaBelle captured the intent of your motion? Yeah, if we want to consider it as a friendly amendment, I'd be happy to do that. Does it require, I think we're basically taking a vote on whether or not we want to revisit.

[01:39:49] That's it, right? Mr. Allen, can you clarify that that's an adequate restatement? I think I'd have Ms. LaBelle restate her friendly amendment and then get a second and then further discuss. Right. Or. OK. OK. That's good. So or Miss Riccardi, would you be willing to restate your motion?

[01:40:27] Seriously. OK. Before I do that, let me just make sure I'm getting I've got some good clarification. So we want to revisit the vote on from 1216 in its entirety. Is that what we're trying to decide?

[01:40:49] Does the school board want to revisit the vote that was taken on 12-16 to amend plan 280? Are we looking to specifically 280 or just to revisit all the plans of the vote for December 16th?

[01:41:06] Specifically 280? I believe specifically 280. I'm hearing in the motion that the motion is to take a vote on whether or not the school board, at this moment in time, wants to take a vote that would overturn the vote that occurred on 12-16.

[01:41:23] And then we would discuss how, if the motion passed. Mr. Allen, is that adequate? - So just for clarity of the record, the motion to suspend the rules was to do what specifically?

[01:41:47] - To bring this up on the table tonight because we had no plans to take this to action tonight. So the motion enabled us to address the topic tonight. - Okay, so you're taking up the discussion item as an action item.

[01:42:05] So just procedurally, if this is a motion for amending something previously adopted, there was notice for Tuesday's meeting of that based on Dr. Rasheed's discussion item.

[01:42:21] So to prevail for a motion to amend something previously adopted, it would need a majority to carry. If it's a motion to rescind the prior vote of December 16th, That wasn't contemplated and notice wasn't provided for tonight, so that would need two-thirds motion, or a two-thirds vote to carry.

[01:42:42] And so what I'm hearing is that this is a motion to revisit the December 16th, 2025 vote, which to me sounds like a motion to rescind and reconsider it, which would just, for everyone to manage expectations, would need a two-thirds motion to carry.

[01:43:05] - Can I ask a question really quickly? - Please. So if we wanted to lower that threshold, then what's the recommendation? Thank you, Ms. McCarty. So in order for a vote of five to carry, it would, tonight that is, it would have to be a motion to amend something previously adopted, meaning that it would need to amend the plan 280 as amended, as previously amended, and amend it further.

[01:43:37] So, for example, for clarity, just going back to Dr. Rasheed's proposed recommended action from Tuesday, her recommended motion was I move that the Loudoun County School Board further amend Plan 280, which was adopted with amendments for the action item at the December 16, 2025 school board meeting period, specifically, comma, planning zones DS 08. 1, 08. 2, and 08.

[01:43:54] 3 should remain zoned for the action item.

[01:44:11] for Madison's Trust Elementary School rather than be rezoned for Elaine Thompson Elementary School. So that's just an example of a motion to amend something previously adopted. It's not necessarily revisiting or rescinding a prior vote, it's amending something previously adopted in a specific way.

[01:44:29] And that, to the extent there's a motion similar to that, then that would need a majority would carry that vote. - Okay, thank you very much. So I don't want to make this too big of a circus because it's getting there real fast.

[01:44:49] Does somebody else want to try to make an attempt at what I'm trying to do and I can rescind my motion? Madam Chair, may I make a motion? Okay. We have to address each motion that's on the table one at a time. So what I'm hearing is Ms. Riccardi is going to rescind her motion.

[01:45:07] Yeah, I'll rescind my motion. Thank you. With that, Ms. Donahue and then Mr. Svensson. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Lundin County School Board leave the zoning decision made on December 16th, 2025 intact with no changes.

[01:45:27] Second. Okay, a motion has been properly made by Vice Chair Donahue and seconded by Ms. Riccardi to leave the... To leave the December 16th, 2025 zoning decision from the Lundin County School Board intact with no changes.

[01:45:50] To leave the December 16th decision of the Loudoun County School Board intact with no changes. Okay, with that, the motion has been properly made and seconded, and we can move into discussion. I see, I'm going to recognize Mr. Svensson because his hand was up, and then Mr. Pipper.

[01:46:10] Thank you, Madam Chair. I am very sympathetic to the points that Vice Chair Donahue raised earlier, And I hope that she may appreciate how I've been thinking about it with a legal analogy in terms of why we would reconsider the Plan 280.

[01:46:27] I agree that we would reconsider decisions when there's a change of law or a change of circumstances. I also think, similar to when you're hearing an appeal, you would consider a change when there's clear error. And I think in the case of shifting DN 05.3 from Dominion Trail to Ashburn Elementary, there's been a clear error.

[01:46:51] Both of these elementary schools are some of the older schools in our division and have similar capacity constraints. By shifting students from Dominion Trail to Ashburn Elementary, the expected capacity utilization at Ashburn Elementary next year and the year after is 94%, which is above what we would recommend a school of that age and size be at.

[01:47:19] And I fear that we are shifting a burden onto Ashburn Elementary that may negatively affect general education classroom in terms of having classes that are too large with an insufficient staff-to-student ratio, and that may negatively affect the special education programs that are currently at Ashburn Elementary.

[01:47:43] These are some of the concerns that were raised about other schools and where the rationale for the changes And I would have understood if we if we had moved students to a newer school a larger school that had greater capacity But moving DN 05.3 to Ashburn Elementary does not solve the problem That was that I believe folks were seeking to solve And I believe there's a reason that neither the staff plans R11 or R17 recommended this change because it is going to burden Ashmore Elementary and does not serve the Dominion Trail community

[01:48:21] because it's causing this disruption. I would note that as of, based on December 2025 data, we do not anticipate that Dominion Trail will be served as a Title I school in the coming year.

[01:48:36] I do not anticipate that it will be served as Title I in the years ahead, and that changes the capacity estimate for Dominion Trail. If you are looking at the capacity for Dominion Trail and Ashburn Elementary as non-Title I schools, if we keep DN 05.3 at Dominion Trail, the utilization rates are roughly equal between Dominion Trail and Ashburn Elementary, which spreads out students evenly and does our best to have a smart student to staff ratio. If we're moving students from Dominion Trail to Ashburn Elementary

[01:49:16] School, we are going to burden Ashburn Elementary School. I have asked staff if there was a particular reason that I'm not seeing based on the numbers that we would move folks to Ashburn Elementary. I was told there is not. They both have special education programs in the elementary school that would not be accounted for in the estimates for K through 5. I think that this is just something that was overlooked in the prior process and and a reason that we should revisit that particular part of plan 280. I understand the reason you know for all the reasons the staff stated I know that this is a considerable ask

[01:49:54] but I think that we should not have you know X number of years of overcrowded classrooms in Ashburn Elementary just because we're not willing to go back and fix a mistake. Thank you. Vice Chair Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Spenson, for the points that you raised. I appreciate your analogy to looking at this as though it were an issue on appeal. But I will say I don't believe that we made a clear error

[01:50:34] when we made that decision I understand your the points that you're making and I would like to ask staff a question because it was said previously at some of our previous discussions that Dominion Trail is not expected to be to have title one status going into next year my memory is that those representations from staff were based on the original zoning proposal which was to move multiple districts out of dominion trail to other schools and what we ended up voting on was only

[01:51:10] moving one of the two proposed districts out of dominion trail so i would like to know from staff if that um if it is still right now our expectation that dominion trail would or would not have title one status next year if that is known right now if i may manager thank you for the question um

[01:51:34] Vice Chair Donahue, my understanding based on the preliminary numbers that we have and conversations with the planning office and the supervisor of federal programs is that they will not likely be Title I next year.

[01:51:50] And that is still our understanding and belief based on the zoning decision that was made on December 16th? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. And if I could make one other point, so the other point that I wanted to make in response to Mr. Spenson's comments was I believe Dominion Trail was the school that Chair Mansfield had had particular concerns about because there are, they occasionally have the need

[01:52:25] to be conducting classes in their hallways and in other spaces that are not typically spaces where we have where we desire to have our staff giving instruction to our students and it was my understanding that based on that and some other factors that Dominion Trail is a school that is in need of some relief from their capacity situation so if Mr. Svensson's if Mr. Svensson is proposing that the the Dominion Trail zones all stay at Dominion Trail that we undo that part

[01:53:01] of the decision um I guess I would like a point of clarification if for from Mr. Svensson if your position is you want to undo that decision that part of the decision from December 16th such that the zone that was moved out of Dominion Trail is moved back to Dominion Trail or if it is your position that it is reasonable to move a district out of Dominion Trail you just don't want it to be Ashburn Elementary? I think for the sake of this discussion and avoiding complication, I am seeking to move the DN 05.3 back to Dominion Trail from Ashburn Elementary because for the reasons you

[01:53:41] stated about concerns over the space, those are going to be even worse at Ashburn Elementary because that capacity is, that's a high capacity there at Ashburn Elementary School. They're the same the same size school both older schools so it yeah and I will offer my apologies to mr. pepper and recognize mr. pepper now thank you thank you madam chair first couple things I believe that mr. Svensson would have to make an amendment to the order he so wishes to change that about Dominion Trail and I

[01:54:19] know that we've had a lot of discussion and for the staff I feel you and I feel your pain I know what it's like to all of a sudden have to have your workflow stop and everything has to change because of decisions made by a body that you're you're not part of but my concern and and I think this is my concern all this is in looking at the projected enrollment data for all of this decision none of the projections seem correct um if you consider you know for example let me give you I'm trying to figure out I'm far over in a document so if

[01:54:59] If you give me one second, because I don't like not using numbers that make a lot of sense. And I'm going to use Medicine's Trust, but please remember that, you know, this is not just about one school. It's about the whole decision at large. Medicine's Trust is currently at 113% capacity with 1,056 students this year.

[01:55:19] The projection is it goes up to 118, 119, 121, 122. It keeps growing. In order for that to do that, each grade level would have to, you know, increase significantly in each grade or add an extra 100 kindergartners from what they currently have right now, which I don't see as feasible.

[01:55:38] So my concern is that all these decisions were made based on projected data that just really isn't correct. And it's not just Madison's Trust. There's stuff on Mill Run in here that's way over.

[01:55:54] So we've made these decisions, or I use we in that the previous board made these decisions, but they based it on data that doesn't really seem to make a lot of sense for grade projections, kind of echoing what Ms. Griffith said about, you know, our role was declining, and I get that it's declining in pockets.

[01:56:13] And so that is my concern with not really doing a hard look at this. And I get, look, I get that we're under a time crunch. I get it. And that's why I thought when I previously proposed a delay, a delay is better because it leads to no change, right?

[01:56:31] It makes life easy because we just keep doing what we're doing. And so that's where I am. That's where I'm going to stand and it's where I'm going to stay. And that being said, I respect what Vice Chair Donahue has said. I respect what Ms. Chernoff has said. You know we we have this issue that's difficult and it is terrible precedent right to go back on a decision that is made by the board unless you know there's new data or new things come to light or new laws but for me I don't think it's new data I just think it's

[01:57:05] faulty data and just like Mr. Svensson said right if we go from a school that had title one status and has capacity at five something and then they lose that that doesn't go up to six something that's new data right so just consider it and and that's where I'm at thank you dr. Rashid thank you chair Chandler I agree and echo mr. pepper sentiments you know like I said we saw this time and time again even with Heartland when Heartland was redistricted and then I

[01:57:38] believe Elaine Thompson now its numbers are low it's not it's not that high as we thought it would be when we were redistricting back then. That being said, I do understand that it's hard and the cabinet has expressed that opinion that it's hard to stop what they're doing and then going back and revisiting everything all over again.

[01:58:04] And I appreciate Dr. Spence's comments too. I still truly feel that we should not redistrict at this time. I stand by what I say. at the same time, I do understand and respect my colleagues' sentiments. Thank you, Chair.

[01:58:21] I haven't said much in this discussion, and I would like to just reflect on a moment. I really have, I like to center my perspective and my decisions on sort of historical analysis, right? And Loudoun County has been in a unique situation that is completely outside of the norm for what most school districts experience right into the in the time between 2000 and 2010 the population in this county increased by 250 percent now I was one of those people that came

[01:58:59] here at the time right like my family has no connections to Loudoun County we were here to work in the Washington DC region and we needed a place to live that had excellent schools and so we bought a house in Loudoun County and we've raised our children here. And also the population increased by 250 percent. So in that time and observing what happened, the school division really had to respond in an emergency scenario and everything was rushed to ensure that we could

[01:59:34] meet the capacity and the demand and every kid could have a seat that was here that needed to have a public education. And what we're seeing now is that that trend is changing. That's not what's happening anymore. There are many reasons that are outside of our control, right? We don't have any impact on what the cost of housing is in our neighborhood. In my neighborhood, it's hard for me to imagine how a family with young students could even afford to buy a house on my street.

[02:00:05] When I was a young parent, you could like literally open the door, toss your kids outside, and there would be a village to play with. There's one young family on my street now. These are, and I think we're seeing that young families are moving into other divisions where housing is more cost effective and affordable.

[02:00:28] But as the stewards of the school division, the school board has a responsibility to be fiscally responsible. And that means that we need to look at a way to realign capacity and make sure that we're using our resources adequately so that we're not overburdening some spaces and underutilizing some spaces.

[02:00:51] And I understand it's not an easy thing to do because as a parent, what I learned myself is that my identification with the school division was not grounded in being loyal to LCPS. it was about the schools that my kids attended, right? I live in Algonquian District. My kids went to Algonquian Elementary School. Algonquian Elementary School was my favorite place in Loudoun County for seven years. And then we went to Riverbend, and now we're at Potomac Falls. And that's part of being that community. That's where you identify with the school district. I know what

[02:01:29] we're asking you to do, and what we're asking you to understand is hard. But we have to take a moment to make sure that we are meeting how our county has changed and making wise and good decisions as financial stewards of the school division.

[02:01:47] So with that, Ms. Chernoff. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to thank you for your comments. I agree. And I wanted to revisit what Mr. Pepper said about the data because I think it's a bold statement, and I am wondering if our superintendent might like to chime in or the cabinet staff about the data because we really do rely on strong foundational data and i personally believe that we have very skilled staff here who take dedicated time to do that

[02:02:24] projections are difficult we've said we can't look into a crystal ball but dr spence would you be willing to speak to that statement um i would but i think the best person for that is probably our resident expert on projection enrollments and that would be um bev tate bev are you willing to

[02:02:43] come to the mic um thank you for your comments mr pepper um our projections are certainly an educated guess but the information that was provided with this attendance zone process and

[02:03:20] all attendance processes is based on resident students that are geocoded our address matched And that is the source of information. It is our LCPS students as of September 2025, based on where they lived. And that is how we reported it.

[02:03:38] I'm not sure what additional information, Dr. Spence, you'd like me to address. I guess I'd be curious, given what was just said, that that's based on, you know, September 2025 student data, geocoded, matched to address, where the, just to try to clear the understanding, where does the concern come that the data is not accurate?

[02:04:04] so that we can address that Mr. Pepper so my concern it's projection right it's it's crystal ball projection and Ms. Chernoff said it right we're looking into a crystal ball and it's impossible to know what it's going to be I'm not suggesting that the 2025 data is is inaccurate what my concern is is it appears that your projection for growth on some of these schools just seems

[02:04:39] incredibly high. So, you know, Ms. Chandler or Chair Chandler just said that, you know, a lot of these places, it's hard for, you know, families are growing up. It's hard for new families to come in and move. I'm looking, I'm just going to give you an example, okay, and take it for what it's worth. Mill Run, this 2025 has 512 kids. Assuming that the, you know, fourth graders all become fifth graders, the third graders all become fourth graders, and so on and so forth, it would actually go from having 50 students in our kindergarten in 2025 to 173 students in the kindergarten in

[02:05:18] 2026 if, you know, we don't see, you know, 20 extra kids per grade level. And when I look at the data and I look at it go by class, right, and, you know, at Mill Run right now we have 121 fourth graders, 99 third graders, 73 second graders, 67 first graders, 50 kindergartners, that number drops each year, each year.

[02:05:43] Like each grade level is progressively smaller than the rest, which is exactly in line with what we're seeing trend-wise across the county, exactly in line. All of a sudden, we're expected to somehow find 80 new students, 81 new students, according to the projection for next year.

[02:06:03] That's just where my concern is. That's one example. And I know projecting is really hard, and I know you do a fantastic job geocaching the students. So I just want to know how you have projected those numbers or how those numbers have been projected.

[02:06:20] We use a cohort survival method to project, and that takes the students from the prior year, looking at them in their current year, to see how they will grow for next year.

[02:06:36] We do that at division level. Certainly, projection accuracy is better the greater and the larger the population is. But in instances with what you are stating with what was adopted with the boundaries, the two planning zones that were moved from Hillside to Mill Run are rapidly growing.

[02:06:56] There are houses going up. And we have, just in the fourth and fifth grade alone, we have 80 students alone that will be moving. And that's based on resident kid counts. I mean, I happily talked to you about this at great detail on individual level, but I stand by our projections.

[02:07:18] Our accuracy at a division level is very good. Yes, there are always ways to improve. Yes, we're always not going to make it, but I support the team that created these, and I stand by the numbers that are there. Thank you. Ms. Lavelle.

[02:07:35] Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I want to give a little historic codicil to what you said about 250% growth. if we go back to 1996, we have grown 400%.

[02:07:51] So it's a lot worse than you were saying. With that said, it makes our decisions a lot more difficult. I believe that Mrs. Tate gave us the projections from September 2025, correct?

[02:08:10] And that they were as accurate as they could be at the time they were presented to us. Based on that decision, We went forward, we looked at various ways to maneuver the student population to try to balance out and give them all the best possible situation for learning.

[02:08:32] Based on that, I want to go back to that old dog girl that says, if you are taking a test and you have an answer that you put in first, going back and thinking it over, you're probably wrong. So having been asked if we would re-discuss this, if we would consider re-discussing it, I said, sure, I'm up for discussion.

[02:08:54] Okay, I'm finished discussing, and I know what I want to do. So thank you. Thank you. Ms. Chernoff? With that, I call the question. Call the question in discussion. There is a motion made by Ms. Donahue and seconded by Ms. Chernoff.

[02:09:12] The motion is that the Loudoun County School Board keep the zoning decision from the December 16th vote. Madam Chair, point of inquiry? Yes. Is it appropriate to offer an amendment at this time? No, because we called the question.

[02:09:30] Okay, with that, clerk, please open the vote. School board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote. The motion passes with five school board members voting in favor of the motion, including Ms. Riccardi, Ms. Chernoff, Chair Chandler, Vice Chair Donahue, and Ms. LaBelle.

[02:09:57] The four members voting no are Mr. Svensson, Mrs. Griffiths, Mr. Pepper, and Dr. Rasheed. Yes. Can I have a point of information just for a moment? I wanted just to, because we're done with this issue, right?

[02:10:14] Yes. Okay, thank you. So I wanted just to ask a question, considering that we're, at least I'm, of course, newbie question about the, going back to the budget process in general. It's, it's been in the last several years that when we have the meetings that are coming up, we're given the documents literally minutes before a meeting.

[02:10:35] And I'm wondering if there is any appetite for us as a board to request that those documents be posted by noon on the day of the meeting. So we actually have a little bit of time to review those before the presentation.

[02:10:51] Part of the reason why I'm thinking that is that this timeline for this budget cycle has been massively compressed compared to previous years. We've got basically two and a half weeks to review a $2 billion, over $2 billion school board budget.

[02:11:07] And I don't want to be going into each one of these meetings looking at something for the first time. I at least want to have a chance to peruse those documents before we actually go into those meetings. So I wanted to see if we either have some dialogue around just the process piece of this and our expectations around delivery of some of these documents ahead of time, if that's possible.

[02:11:29] Well, let's see. Oh, I'm sorry. Actually, I have just been made aware by our parliamentarian that we did not follow the proper procedure for the call the question.

[02:11:46] We need to go back and redo the vote. So, first we have to call, the vote on the call to question needs to be two-thirds, and then we will take a vote on the motion. Okay, thank you so much for the clarification.

[02:12:04] May I, clerk, please open and display the vote. The motion is on call the question. So, would you like to end the discussion on the motion by Ms. Donahue to keep the decision that was made on December 16th?

[02:12:22] Clerk, please open the vote. School board members, please record your vote. Two-thirds vote. Just to end discussion, yeah.

[02:12:38] Just to end the discussion. Okay. Clerk, please close and display the vote. So the discussion continues.

[02:12:58] Let's see, Vice Chair Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to ask, to see if Ms. Tate could answer a couple of additional questions.

[02:13:14] I wanted to ask Ms. Tate a couple of questions. Thank you. Ms. Tate, do you have your projection for the capacity at Ashburn Elementary for the fall of 2026 based on current factors and the school board's vote from December 16th to move one zone from Dominion Trail to Ashburn Elementary? Yes, ma'am. Yes, I do. And what is the projected capacity? The projected capacity for Ashburn Elementary School remains 638. That is the

[02:13:53] capacity. With the enrollment, it will be at 94% with the K-5 students. It will be at 97% with the K-5 and preschool students that are not part of the boundary process.

[02:14:08] Thank you. And could you also explain to us why in the, because although Plan 280 was proposed by Ms. Chernoff, it took parts from staff plans.

[02:14:25] And my memory was that the proposal to move some students from Dominion Trail to Ashburn Elementary, I believe, was originally part of a staff plan. Am I remembering that correctly? no ma'am staff recommended the dominion trail students move to stewart weller in one plan and in another plan staff recommended students from dominion trail and ashburn elementary move to stewart weller i see okay thank you ms tate if it if it was if it was ms shirnoff's proposal to

[02:14:59] move to ashburn elementary perhaps i could ask her the question that i had thank you madam chair I was hoping to get some clarification on why the proposal was to move the students from Dominion Trail specifically to Ashburn Elementary instead of other options.

[02:15:17] Thank you for that question. As I met with the community at Dominion Trail, it became clear, obviously, that they don't want to leave Dominion Trail, first and foremost. but then the conversation was had that if they did have to get moved that going to Ashburn was more favorable than going to Stuart Weller because Stuart Weller is not a pure feed to to Farwell, thank you. They're in the audience helping me out. It's been a minute.

[02:15:48] So they are not a pure feed to Farmwell whereas Ashburn is and so that would keep them at least together with their friends from Ashburn Elementary. so it was a little less disruptive. I realize the numbers are similar. However, having visited both schools and knowing that all spreadsheets are not created equal and the different programs that are in place, which took research and conversations to figure out, I believe that they will be all right at Ashburn Elementary, and I would not have made that motion or put that together if I did not think so. So this was really in response to finding a middle ground that if we felt like we needed to

[02:16:24] alleviate some of Dominion Trail if they had to go somewhere that Ashburn was a more favorable option in their opinion than going to Stewart Weller. Mrs. Griffiths? I just want to point out that I visited Dominion Trail and it had a lot of similarities to Belmont Station and I understand Ms. Mansfield had mentioned kids were in the hallway or I don't know exactly what she said but when i went there um it was the same type of setup as belmont station where my kids went

[02:17:00] and um my daughter was uh learning to read i mean she she wasn't at the level as the other kids so she would sit out in the hallway with her reading teacher um at certain times of the day and just practice reading so when i was there that's pretty much what i saw the same type of thing Um, the, the, the hallways were not crowded. Um, if anything, the only thing, um, was there was an office with several, uh, LCPS employees in there, not several, it was only like three. Um, and they

[02:17:34] were all collaborating. They were all good to be in that room together and talking about the students and what they were going to plan and what they were going to do next. So, um, that might've been an issue where somebody thought that LCPS employees were in a room that was too small or whatever, but they were pretty much good with collaborating about the school day.

[02:17:57] So from my view, when I took a walk through there, all I saw was similarities to Belmont Station, and I didn't see any issues. And when my kids were in Belmont Station, I didn't see any issues. So it might have been blown out of proportion a little bit that there's kids in the halls learning and that sort of thing not really um i really did not see that so i just want to testify to that that i visited and i did not uh encounter that myself thank you thank you mr spenson um thank you madam chair i i first have a question for mrs richardson um mrs mrs richardson could

[02:18:34] you clarify i believe i have this listed properly but perhaps it'd be better coming from you can you explain which special education programs are at ashburn elementary and which special education programs are at dominion trail and which take up which of those programs take up classroom space at each certainly thank you for that question mr spenson currently for the 2025 26 school year ashburn elementary school host two early childhood special education classrooms that we quantify as

[02:19:09] class-based. So those have students coming in on an a.m. schedule and a p.m. schedule. So we're serving, we have two teachers that are serving two groups of students, preschool students with disabilities. They do take classroom space. We have early childhood special education resource assigned to Ashburn. That does not take up classroom space. The teacher is sort of based out of there, but she serves preschool students with disabilities in our community preschool settings. Then we have one classroom for students with multiple disabilities. That does require

[02:19:48] a classroom space with bathroom access, as do our ECSC classrooms for center-based services. And we have one K-2 autism classroom and one 3-5 autism classroom, both autism classrooms require independent classrooms space we also have three cross-categorical teachers assigned to ashburn elementary thank you dr. rasheed thank you chair chandler even though i still i'm in love

[02:20:28] with the idea of halting all rezoning i'm still in love with that but um it's it's kind of clear that the number of students in the zones of and i always have to look up the ds 0.8 ds 0.8.1 point two and point three I don't think it over really overly impacts Madison's trust in a negative way so in my opinion moving them seems to be more of an overcorrection so because their numbers are a little bit lower or way lower thank you thank you mr. Svensson madam chair may I propose an amendment at this time

[02:21:05] please remember the amendment has to be germane to the motion that's standing on the floor I move to amend the the motion okay could you a point of inquiry can you read the the motion that's currently on the floor I'd be happy to thank you okay motion has been properly made and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board keep the zoning decision from December 12th or sorry December 16th

[02:21:40] 2025 I move to amend that by adding the phrase with the exception that zone DN 05.3 should remain zone for Dominion Trail Elementary School rather than be rezoned for Ashburn Elementary School. Could you please offer me the zone number again? DN 05.3. And could you restate the entire amendment? Yes happy to. I would like to move to amend the motion by adding the phrase with the

[02:22:17] exception that zone DN 05.3 should remain zoned for Dominion Trail Elementary School rather than be rezoned for Ashburn Elementary School. Okay. Second.

[02:22:36] The motion to amend the base motion has been properly moved and seconded. The motion was seconded by Vice Chair Donohue. The motion proposed would amend the base motion so that it would read, the Loudoun County School Board would keep the zoning decision from the December 16th vote, with the exception that DN 05.3 should remain zoned for Dominion Trail Elementary School

[02:23:08] instead of Ashburn Elementary School. Is there any discussion? Vice Chair Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am not in support of the proposed amendment for all the reasons that I stated previously about reconsidering this decision but also because I believe Dominion Trail needs some relief from their overcrowding and if we don't move a zone as we've already decided to do

[02:23:45] I don't see that that is projected to happen for them. I understand Mr. Spenson's points about ashburn elementary however um i believe the well mrs tate said that the projection for ashburn elementary after moving the the zone from dominion trail to ashburn would be at 94 percent i believe that that level would be temporary is is that right mrs tate do you have any

[02:24:24] further out projections in the fall of 2031 which is the final year of our six-year plan ashburn elementary would have a k-5 enrollment of 556 projected with a capacity utilization of 87 thank you for that mrs tate so i understand that moving this zone would cause ashburn elementary to be more crowded than it currently is for a short period of time.

[02:24:59] But again, if we don't move any zones out of Dominion Trail, Dominion Trail's capacity issues won't be addressed. So for those reasons, I'm not going to support the amendment. Thank you. At this time, all discussion is related to the amendment on the floor.

[02:25:21] Mr. Pepper. Really, this is a point of information for Mrs. Tate as well. If we don't move DN 05.3, so if it ends up staying at Dominion Trail, what would be the enrollment and percent capacity of Dominion Trail in 2026 and 2031, recognizing that it is no longer a Title I school?

[02:25:50] Based on the attendance zones adopted on December 16, Dominion Trail would have an enrollment in the fall of 480 K-5 students, which would be 75% of the school's capacity without the Title I designation.

[02:26:10] The capacity would be 638. And in the fall of 31, Dominion Trail's projected K-5 enrollment would be 494 students and 77% of Dominion Trail's capacity.

[02:26:27] with a 638 non-Title I. And that's if we leave DN 05.3 at Dominion Trail or if we leave it at Ashburn? That has, the plan moved them to Ashburn, so that would be without DN 05.3 at Dominion Trail.

[02:26:44] What would it be with DN 05.3 at Dominion Trail? Do we have those numbers? Because that's the numbers I really want. I do, yes. If they were to remain, if Dominion Trail's boundary remained unchanged in the fall, The projected enrollment for Dominion Trail K-5 is 536 students and 84% capacity of the non-Title I capacity of 638.

[02:27:08] And in the fall of 31, the K-5 projection for Dominion Trail would be 549 students, which would be 86% of the non-Title I capacity for Dominion. Do you also have Ashburn's numbers if we don't move DN 05.3?

[02:27:33] Those are reflected on the conditions without change, which is part of the boundary information. Ashburn Elementary with no attendance zone change in the fall would have an enrollment of projected enrollment of 544 students, 85% of its capacity, which is also 638 base capacity.

[02:27:54] In the fall of 31, the last year of the six-year process, the enrollment for Ashburn is projected to be 501 with a 79% utilization of its base capacity. So we basically have a choice of making one school 94 and the other 75 down to 87 and 77 or making one school 85, the other 84, and then keeping them in the mid-80s.

[02:28:21] For me, that seems like it makes a lot more sense. Dr. Rasheed. Just for clarification, Mr. Svensson made an amendment. Okay, and what was that, what was that an amendment to, what motion again?

[02:28:39] The base motion was that we keep the decision from December 16th, but the amendment would add the language that says we will make an exception and not move DN 05.3, and that would remain zoned for Dominion Trail and not be moved to Ashburn Elementary.

[02:28:59] Okay, and just another quick clarification, would this be a, is this considered a still a suspension of rules? We still need six out of the nine, or is it still? It's just five. It's just five, okay, thank you. And I'm happy to confirm that with Mr. Allen, right, because we are not in a suspend the rules scenario.

[02:29:18] There's been an amendment to the base motion. We just need five, okay. Thank you, Chair Chandler. Is there any further discussion? Yeah, no, I know.

[02:29:48] I would, yes, please. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to, I know in 280 we had discussed Sanders, Newton-Lee, Cedar, you know, and I don't want a domino effect in the Ashburn area, so I just want to make sure that we're not going beyond that.

[02:30:07] Seldon's is going to move back from Stuart Weller, as intended, and in 280 we have the other plans that Mishernoff put through, which is Newton-Lee, Sanders, Cedar. we are just going to amend, do vote on Mr. Svensson's amendment, and that's it.

[02:30:29] It's not going to spill over much, over that, any of that. We don't know, right? I mean, at this time, right, we go one amendment at a time. So there's a base amendment. We have to, or there's a base motion we have to vote on the amendment, and then we go back to the discussion unless somebody calls the question or there's no further discussion at which time we would vote on the base motion, depending on how this amendment passes or fails.

[02:30:56] But right now it's just Mr. Svensson. That is accurate. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your question.

[02:31:12] You can call one. Okay. Is there any further discussion? Okay.

[02:31:29] Clerk, let me restate them. Okay. So there is a motion that was properly made to consider amending the base motion. The motion was made by Mr. Svensson and seconded by Vice Chair Donahue.

[02:31:45] The motion would amend the base motion so that the motion would read that the Loudoun County School Board keep the December 16th zoning decision with the exception that DN 05. 3 should remain zoned for Dominion Trail Elementary School and not be moved to Ashburn Elementary.

[02:32:09] Clerk, please open the vote. School board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please open and display the vote. The motion fails.

[02:32:28] With five school board members voting no, including Ms. Riccardi, Ms. Chernoff, Chair Chandler, Vice Chair Donahue, and Ms. LaBelle. And Mr. Svensson, Mrs. Griffiths, Mr. Pepper, and Dr. Rasheed voting yes. With that, we return to the discussion of the base motion, and I see Dr. Rasheed.

[02:32:50] I have a motion, Chair Chandler. Okay. Thank you, Chair Chandler. I move that the base motion is further amended, specifically planning zones DS08.1, DS08.2, and DS08.3 should remain zoned for Madison's Trust Elementary School and not be moved to Elaine Thompson Elementary School.

[02:33:18] Okay, could you please offer those zone numbers to me again? Of course, of course. Thank you. DS 08.1, DS 08.2, and DS 08.3.

[02:33:33] Second. Thank you. An amendment to the base motion has been made by Dr. Rasheed and seconded by Mr. Pepper.

[02:33:54] The amendment would change the base motion so that it would read that the Loudoun County School Board keep the zoning decision of december 16th 2025 but would with the exception that d or ds 0 8. 1 ds 0 8. 2 ds 0 8. 3 should remain at madison's trust elementary school and not be moved to elaine thompson

[02:34:31] elementary school did i restate that accurately yes you you said it correctly i just want for clarification this is the willisford uh neighborhood just so the board members know Thank you. Is there any discussion on the amendment? Mr. Pepper. The only thing that I'm going to say is that right now we know Madison's trust is at 113.

[02:34:50] If we don't move anything back, it is projected to be at about 67% next year, which is, as we all know, devastating for staff, school communities, staff morale. The amount of staff they're going to lose is just criminal.

[02:35:08] That's all I'm going to say about that. Thank you. All right. Seeing no further discussion, a motion has been made to amend the base motion so that the motion would read that the Loudoun County School Board would keep the zoning decision made on December 16th, 2025, except with the exception that DS 08.1, DS 08.2, and DS 08.3 should remain at Madison's Trust Elementary School and not be moved to Elaine Thompson

[02:35:47] Elementary School. Okay. Clerk, please open the vote. School board members, please record your vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote. The motion fails with five school board members voting no, including Ms. Riccardi, Ms. Chernoff, myself, Vice Chair Donohue, and Ms. LaBelle, and four school board members voting yes, including Mr. Svensson, Mrs. Griffiths, Mr. Pepper, and Dr. Rasheed.

[02:36:23] With that, we return. Are there any further discussion on the base motion? All right. We return to the original base motion that the Loudoun County School Board keep the zoning decision made on December 16, 2025.

[02:36:45] Clerk, please open the vote. School board members, please close and display the vote. oh no a little bit ahead school board members please record your vote and clerk please open and display the vote the motion passes with five school board members voting yes including miss Riccardi miss Chernoff chair Chandler vice chair Donahue and miss LaBelle and four school board members voting no including mr. Spenson mrs. Griffiths mr. Pepper and dr. Rashid with that

[02:37:24] we will now move to our closed meeting. What a personal privilege. Yes, Mr. Pepper. Before we go into our closed meeting, I just want to wish a happy birthday to the chair of our school board, Chair Chandler. Thank you. Okay. Mrs. Chandler, happy birthday, by the way. Thank you. I wanted to go back and revisit what I had mentioned right before we started down this path, if we could really quickly. Okay, would staff like to respond to Ms. Riccardi's original request and would there be a preference for her to restate the request? Yes, please

[02:38:02] restate your request. So what I'm asking is historically when we have these working sessions we just like today we get the document that we're going to be looking at like five minutes before the meeting starts and my ask is that those get posted by noon on the day that we're having the meeting so that we all have some time to review those budget documents before we come into the presentation primarily because we've compressed this budget cycle even more so than in the past and I frankly I just I need we need time to look at this stuff before we're sitting here meeting so we can have some meaningful

[02:38:37] conversation would dr. Spence sorry I couldn't tell if Ms. Willoughby was reaching for a microphone or not yes we can get this posted by noon on the day of the presentations okay well thank you um with that is there a motion to move to closed session yes vice chair donahue thank you madam chair i move that the loudon county school board recess this public meeting and enter into a closed meeting pursuant to section 2.2-3712 of the

[02:39:14] code of virginia for the following discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose or of the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body as authorized by section 2.2-3711 sub a sub 3 of the code of Virginia and consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual litigation where such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body as authorized by section 2.2-3711 sub a sub 7 of the code of Virginia

[02:39:53] and consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by a public body regarding a specific legal matter related to a former public employee as authorized by section 2.2-3711 sub a sub 8 of the code of Virginia. Thank you. Vice Chair Donahue has made a motion. Do I have a second? Second.

[02:40:14] Thank you. I have a second by Ms. Chernoff. It has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board go into closed session. Is there any discussion? Seeing none. Clerk, please open the vote. Board members, please record your vote.

[02:40:34] Clerk, please close and display the vote. The motion passes with nine school board members voting yes and all school board members present for the vote. We are now in closed session.

[04:17:28] Coming out of closed, Vice Chair Donahue, do you have a motion? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the closed meeting be adjourned, that the Loudoun County School Board reconvene its public meeting, and that the minutes of the public meeting reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed meeting. Vice Chair Donahue made a motion to adjourn the closed meeting. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second by Ms. Chernoff. It has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board adjourn the closed meeting. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we will go ahead with the vote. Clerk, please open the vote. School board members, please record your

[04:18:08] vote. Clerk, please close and display the vote. The motion passes unanimously with all board members present. Vice Chair Donohue, do you have a motion? Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the following resolution certifying the closed meeting be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting. Resolution number 21-25-26, whereas the Loudoun County School Board has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in

[04:18:43] accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas section 2.2-3712 sub d of the code of virginia requires a certification by the school board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with virginia law now therefore be it resolved that the loudon county school board hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge one only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard,

[04:19:20] discussed, or considered by the Loudoun County School Board. I have a motion by Vice Chair Donahue. Do I have a second? I have a second by Ms. LaBelle. It has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board certify the closed meeting. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, we will go ahead with the vote. Clerk, please open the vote. Board members, please record your vote.

[04:19:45] Clerk, please close and display the vote. The motion passes unanimously with all board members present. Vice Chair Donahue do you have another motion? Yes thank you Madam Chair. I move that the Loudoun County School Board authorize the actions and direction in the specific legal matter as discussed in closed session. I have a motion by Vice Chair Donahue. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second by Ms. Chernoff. It has been properly moved and seconded that the Loudoun County School Board to certify the closed meeting. Is there any discussion? Seeing none we will go ahead with the

[04:20:22] vote clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk please open and display the vote the motion passes unanimously with all school board members present this work session of the school of the Loudoun County School Board is now adjourned thank you and have a good night

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