Education and Preparing Everyone with the Skills to Succeed

Arlington has excellent schools—we must invest in them wisely to make sure that our schools serve all of our students and that everyone has the skills to succeed in the 21st century economy. The County Board plays a critical role in determining how much money to transfer to the School Board for the school system’s annual operating budget.

The County Board also has an important role to play on the capital budget, since coordinated planning and bonding authority can help fund school construction. Funding is particularly critical now since our schools are facing a capital budget shortage and a broader capacity crunch. More than ever, we need additional classrooms and buildings to educate all of our students. This will help us maintain our commitment to have the best schools, not only in Virginia, but in the United States.

Our Commitment and the Costs Per Student

We must value our teachers and school staff so that we attract and retain the talent to make Arlington schools world class. Investing wisely in our schools is recognizing that we will need to adapt to continued growth by saving on construction costs and exploring innovative solutions to staff our schools so that all students receive a quality education.

We also must admit that our schools are funded at the highest level per student in Northern Virginia and that our construction costs also outpace our Northern Virginia neighbors. Neither of these realities necessarily mean that we should reduce funding for schools, but they do raise important questions about how we spend money.

The County Board’s role is not to get deeply into the details of the Arlington Public Schools’ (APS) budget, but instead to partner with APS to ensure the investments we are making in capital are efficient. In the long term, we must recognize that economic growth will be heavily influenced by the quality of our schools. To keep our schools operating at a world-class standard, I believe we must work to reduce construction costs and find efficiencies, while also committing to finding the funds necessary to build a fourth high school.

Matt’s Commitment

• Scrutiny of how the school budget aligns with priorities
• Planning for future growth while maintaining current excellence
• Addressing the opportunity and achievement gaps that disproportionately impact students with disabilities, low income students and students of color
• Committing to funding a fully comparable additional high school

To share your thoughts with me or my campaign team on education in Arlington, please contact me at matt@mattforarlington.com or Minneh Kane at minneh@mattforarlington.com.