A for Effort

With major Budget cuts and a growing student population Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Dale says the county is making progress and moving toward a more beneficial strategy for educating area students

By Forrest Glenn Spencer

Photography by Seth Freeman

Jack Dale has now entered his sixth year as superintendent of the Fairfax County Public Schools. With more than 170,000 students, nearly 200 schools and an operating budget of more than $2 billion, the system is the 13th largest in the nation and one of the highest rated in terms of student performance. This year, Dale faces some of his greatest challenges from budgets to enrollments. How is he going to continue to meet the quality standards in education?

Describe the budgetary problems you have had this year.
We will face a shortfall. We had to cut $150 million out of our budget, and that includes cost avoidance, such as not giving people a salary increase and freezing salaries; not giving a cost of living increase, but not even giving an increment or steps that’s on salaries’ schedules. Those two together probably saved $70 million, and the rest were in cuts.

I understand class sizes are increasing.
We’re increasing—on average—half a student in regular education, special education, English as a Second Language education, career and technology courses. Everywhere we have a group of kids.

What caused the Budget shortfall?
We have a projected increase of 4,000 to 5,000 students, and we have property values in Virginia that have dropped dramatically, so the tax revenue drops. And the state of Virginia itself is short on revenue from all of its sources, which means they allocate less money to us. I end up with less state revenue, less county revenue, and I have increased enrollment. It’s the perfect wrong storm.

Last year, we spoke to Jackie Harris, Fairfax’s Registrar. she described how this county is a transitory county. Is that reflected in students and families?
We have a normal churn. To quantify that, out of our 170,000 kids, we have 8,000 that will change.

In six years, how has the school system changed?
We are seeing greater diversity with some students from over 200 different countries, speaking 40 different languages. Forty percent of our students go home each day where English is not the primary language. We have an increased percentage of children who are eligible for free and reduced meals, an increase from 15 to 17 percent.

Describe programs you implemented.
Fairfax has always been very good [about] being ahead of the curve. What I have done, especially in the budget crisis, is eliminate some programs or [allocate] staffing where they are needing it. There is one program that I have been focusing on with great results. I call it Teacher Leadership. Teachers work with other colleagues analyzing instruction, analyzing student performance, analyzing needs of the schools, talking across grade levels so when your sixth-grade teacher tells the student what’s necessary in middle school about science, they do so with some knowledge because they’ve talked to the middle school science teacher. What I’ve been shifting toward is running a pilot in over 24 schools with more than 600 teachers, working full-time, and seeing what impact we have on student learning and working conditions to increase our teacher retention.

What’s the parental consensus on needs for children?
We want children to reach their full potential … which means you’re going to try and provide advanced-level courses, programs or offerings in a whole variety from the arts to the sciences to math and foreign languages.

Describe the changes in grading.
The big changes have been our Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate courses from half a grade point to a full grade point to be more aligned with the rest of the nation. We did this last January and made it retroactive for all courses. We have also begun implementing a half-a-grade-point boost for honors courses, and these are for high school-level courses.

Why the grading change?
It gives the kids a boost in their [grade point averages] if they are going to engage in tougher courses. For example, if you’re in an Advanced Placement class, and you got a B, that would be like getting an A in a regular class. It doesn’t penalize the student for trying.

Where are we with NCLB? Will it survive in its current form? Will it be revised?
NCLB wasn’t reauthorized this last January; basically, it was put on hold at the time. It will be revised, and it’s just an issue of time. The Obama administration has been focused on economic recovery, which included stimulus money for public schools. I think the president and Secretary [of Education Arne] Duncan will be revising NCLB laws over time into something that is more commonsensical.

Have you talked to Secretary Duncan?
We have talked on the phone. He wants the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to work and not have all the turmoil that was built around the negative sanctions. I think they’re going to look at more high aspirations and more world-class standards and world-class assessments as a nation. I think we’ll see a shift [from] 50 states doing their own things to a nation being more cohesive in its approach in education and looking forward in [aspiring] standards instead of minimum competencies with penalties.

What’s the background on changing dismissal times?
It was trying to identify a different transportation and bell schedules so that the high school students could start later in the day and end later in the day to accommodate their natural sleep cycle. There’s been a quite a bit of debate on the shift, such as having middle school children being the last group that ends the day. We have an extensive after-school program for them. Another concern from parents was if older students come home after younger students, then there’s nobody home to take care of them, because many parents are working, or there are single-parent households, and those households rely on their high school students to be home first.

What’s the focus of this school year?
The major shift we are engaging is [from] one program for all kids to one where we are focusing on individual kids and what their individual needs are, then trying to deliver those services on a personalized or customized basis. Huge shift.

Is there a point when the county will max out on taking on more students?
I suppose there is, because we’re running out of land in Fairfax, and that can be a challenge. What we’re seeing with the student increases is people leaving private schools because they cannot afford tuition and people moving in from the suburbs because for a while there, their gas was getting too expensive. People found it cheaper to live in closer, even if the housing was more expensive.

What’s the average class size?
Primary level, low 20s; middle school, mid-20s; and high school, upper-20s. That will go up this new school year.

What changes in education have most impressed you?
One is, school systems. They have become much more intentional about measuring and being held accountable for results. Before it was more about making the course work and opportunities available, but whether students avail themselves were the students’ decisions. Another: parents. They are becoming more focused on how their children are doing, their safety, performance in school, getting access to the right programs and services, and if they’re on track for college. There’s technology, which has allowed greater access to current information. It’s also overloaded all of us. It causes us … to teach kids on critical thinking, to look at information and see whether it’s accurate or not.

(August 2009)

Tags: Budget, challenges, Education, Fairfax County, public schools, school system, superintendent