Author: Stephanie Lundquist-Arora

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for IW Features, The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in National Review, Fox News Digital, The Daily Signal and Townhall. Originally appeared on EdNews Virginia.

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There has been a significant decline in enrollment in Virginia’s largest public school district. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) experienced the largest drop in student enrollment of any district in the state from 2015 to 2025, according to the University of Virginia Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. While neighboring Prince William County Public Schools — the state’s second-largest district — grew by 3,970 students, FCPS saw a decrease of 6,894 students during the same period.

It’s not that the number of school-aged children in Fairfax County is declining — in fact, the opposite is true. From 2019 to 2025, the population of school-aged children increased by more than 9,000. But families with greater financial means and/or flexibility are seeking alternative educational options as concerns grow about the performance and outcomes of the district’s public schools.

As FCPS leaders request $4.1 billion in the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, many taxpayers are also expressing frustration. Critics rightly argue that increased spending has not translated into improved student outcomes. From 2019 to 2025, average per-pupil expenditures rose by more than $6,000, while average SAT scores declined by 35 points over the same period.

Not surprisingly, FCPS stopped publishing SAT scores on its website several years ago. In response, the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance regularly submits Freedom of Information Act requests and shares the results publicly.

Year	# in FCPS	FCPS Budget	$ Per Pupil	Avg. SAT
2019	187,521	$3.0B	$15,998	1218
2020	188,355	$3.1B	$16,458	1211
2021	179,748	$3.4B	$18,915	1201
2022	178,421	$3.3B	$18,495	1185
2023	180,527	$3.5B	$19,387	1181
2024	181,153	$3.7B	$20,424	1178
2025	177,007	$3.9B	$22,033	1183

Many families in the county appear to recognize these trends and are choosing to withdraw their children from what was once considered a high-performing public school district. Consequently, the percentage of school-aged children in Fairfax County not attending public school increased from 8.6% in 2019 to 17.4% in 2025.

Year	FCPS Enrollment	Private School	Homeschooled	Total Students	% Not in FCPS
2019	187,521	14,500	3,247	205,268	8.6%
2020	188,355	17,000	5,912	211,267	10.8%
2021	179,748	20,000	4,504	204,252	12.0%
2022	178,421	25,000	3,795	207,216	13.9%
2023	180,527	28,000	3,727	212,254	14.9%
2024	181,153	31,000	3,749	215,902	16.1%
2025	177,007	33,435	3,968	214,410	17.4%

Whether driven by concerns about academic outcomes, school climate, transparency, or broader policy decisions, the data suggest that public confidence in the district is eroding. If FCPS hopes to reverse its enrollment losses and rebuild trust, district leaders will need to do more than request larger budgets. 

Clear accountability, measurable academic improvement, and genuine engagement with families will be essential to restoring the district’s reputation as a destination for educational excellence. Until then, throwing more money at the problem is futile.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for IW Features, The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in National Review, Fox News Digital, The Daily Signal and Townhall. Originally appeared on The Daily Signal.

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Fairfax County Public Schools is no longer a district in quiet decline—it is a system in visible retreat.

Fairfax Schools experienced the largest decline in student enrollment of any district in the state from 2015 to 2025, according to University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Policy. While neighboring districts such as Loudoun County Public Schools and Arlington Public Schools grew by 8,315 students and 3,429 students, respectively, Fairfax Schools saw a decrease of 6,894 students during the same period.

Declining enrollment in Virginia’s largest public school district doesn’t show signs of slowing. From 2025 to 2030, Weldon Cooper further estimates that the district’s student enrollment will decline an additional 6.6%.

While district leaders, especially the superintendent, Michelle Reid, continue to invoke Fairfax Schools’ past reputation as a beacon of public education and academic excellence, current priorities and indicators tell a different story. In 2025, Virginia Department of Education’s data show that roughly a quarter of students in Fairfax Schools failed their reading, math, and science Standards of Learning exams, compared with about 20% of students in the neighboring district of Loudoun.

Additionally, in December 2025, the state’s department of education reported that 40 federally identified public schools in Fairfax County need support—meaning that 20% of the district’s 199 public schools are underperforming.

Children in public schools have not fully recovered from prolonged pandemic school closures. When mismanaged districts like Fairfax locked children out of their classrooms for over a year, homeschooling and private school enrollment unsurprisingly rose across Virginia. Northern Virginia’s affluent districts—including Fairfax County—were no exception.

As it became clear that public school leaders were prioritizing teachers unions at the expense of their children’s basic academic development and mental health, more parents began permanently withdrawing their children from public schools. According to the Virginia Department of Education, 66,000 students in the state are homeschooled this academic year, up from 38,000 in 2019.

Private school enrollment in Fairfax County has also surged since the pandemic. In 2025, there were about 33,500 students (16%) enrolled in Fairfax County’s private schools—more than double 2019’s number, 14,500.

The high cost of Fairfax County’s private schools suggests that affluent families are most likely the ones fleeing the sinking ship. For the 2026 school year, the average annual tuition cost at one of the county’s 191 private schools is $19,391.

Ironically, the district spends $22,644 per student in fiscal year 2026—far more than the average private school tuition—yet its classrooms cram 25 students per teacher while private schools manage just 10:1.

Adding insult to injury, Fairfax schools eliminated 275 teaching positions this year to address its so-called budget shortfall, despite a year-over-year budget increase and declining student enrollment. Meanwhile, 44 central office administrators each earn more than $200,000 annually, including the superintendent at $445,353 and her chief of staff at $306,154 this academic year.

Fairfax Schools’ strategic plan emphasizes equity and equal outcomes within the public school system. Based on its priorities and decisions, however, that appears to mean eliminating teaching positions to sustain high salaries for central office staff. “Equity” also seems to imply that declining student achievement and school performance are acceptable, so long as sufficient lip service is paid to the concept.

Rather than addressing the reality that students from higher-income families are leaving Fairfax Schools for higher-performing private schools, district administrators appear more focused on ensuring that failure and disciplinary outcomes are distributed equally across demographic groups in public schools.

Shrinking enrollment, declining performance, and misplaced priorities are not abstract trends—they are warning signs. Families are voting with their feet, and the data make clear that Fairfax Schools can no longer rely on its once-sterling reputation to sustain confidence. A district that spends more per pupil than many private schools while delivering larger class sizes and weaker outcomes must confront hard questions about leadership, accountability, and academic focus.

Like many districts across the nation, if Fairfax Schools is to reverse its downward trajectory, it must return to fundamentals: prioritize classroom instruction over bureaucracy, measure success by student achievement rather than rhetoric, and rebuild trust with families who feel unheard. Without meaningful course correction, enrollment will continue to fall, performance will continue to lag, and the district’s reputation will continue to erode.

The choice facing Fairfax Schools is simple—reform and refocus on students or continue down a path of decline.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for IW Features, The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in National Review, Fox News Digital, The Daily Signal and Townhall. Originally appeared on WMAL.

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In 2025, as Fairfax County Public Schools’ (FCPS) leaders eliminated 275 teaching positions, school board members voted in a closed meeting to add “staff directors” to the payroll in addition to their “staff assistants.”

Given that school board members are supported by district administrative staff, a total of 10 school board–specific staff members likely would be sufficient to assist the 12 part-time board members in carrying out their duties. Instead, the school board employs 28 other support staff. Including board members’ earnings, total annual expenditures for board-related salaries—excluding benefits—amount to $3.7 million.

School Board Members and Staff (2025-2026)

Name	Position	Salary
Anderson, Sandra B	School Board Chair	$49,999
Lady, Robyn	School Board Vice Chair	$47,999
Anderson, Ricardy J	School Board Member	$47,999
McElveen, Ryan L	School Board Member	$47,999
Moon, Ilryong	School Board Member	$47,999
McDaniel, Robert K	School Board Member	$47,999
St John-Cunning, Marcia	School Board Member	$47,999
Frisch, Karl V	School Board Member	$47,999
Meren, Melanie K	School Board Member	$47,999
Dixit, Seema	School Board Member	$47,999
Dunne, Mateo O	School Board Member	$47,999
Braddock District TBD	School Board Member	$47,999
Brown, Nelda N	School Board Staff Aide	$133,063
Cuda, Gilman P	School Board Staff Assistant	$79,647
Azar, Tamara C	School Board Staff Assistant	$106,512
Fischer, Liam S	School Board Staff Assistant	$76,954
Chavez, Ana C	School Board Staff Assistant	$90,956
Rubin, Eric D	School Board Staff Assistant	$79,647
Holmes, Maria Esperanza	School Board Staff Assistant	$82,435
Bennett, Caitlin E	School Board Staff Assistant	$85,320
Goodell, Sarah L	School Board Staff Assistant	$106,512
Setlow, Christina K	Clerk to the School Board	$152,291
Ko, Yee Chung	Auditor General	$257,593
Brown, Janet M	Deputy Clerk to the School Board	$96,846
Jackson, Kevin A Jr.	Deputy Clerk to the School Board	$96,846
Sheppard, Tiffany L	Administrative Assistant I	$87,126
Day, Jeremy	Support Tech 1	$68,214
Wunderlin, Desiree	Support Tech 2	$76,069
Gipko, Mary E	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Park, Sarah K	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Flis, Barbara K	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Stokes, Laura E	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Srinagesh, Divya	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Biliter, Wendy M	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
O’Connor, Jessica N	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Harrer, Jacob H	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Sedgwick, Stephanie	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Sheridan, Stephanie R	Director, District Board Operations	$127,612
Coffey, Cristy	Senior Executive Admin. Asst.	$122,788
TOTAL		$3,652,927

Source: FOIA Request

In addition to school board staff, FCPS employs 1,532 additional district administrators (totaling 1,572 central administrative staff members). The total fiscal year 2026 expenditure for central staff salaries is $187 million. The scale of support staff dedicated to part-time school board members and central administration more broadly is symptomatic of corruption and poor leadership within the district.

Saundra Davis, an independent candidate running for the open school board seat in Fairfax County’s Braddock District, believes that FCPS leadership needs to refocus on its main mission—education. She said, “Fairfax County School Board members and their staff should be focused on serving students and schools.”

It seems that some of these staff members, however, are not simply focused on their performing their job duties. Complaints have alleged that Stephanie Sedgwick, Gille Coda, Laura Stokes, and Liam Fischer, (staff members for Rachna Sizemore Heizer and Kyle McDaniel) were working on Heizer’s campaign for the Board of Supervisors during work hours. Davis said, “It’s critical that public resources are used efficiently and focused on serving students and schools, not political campaigns during school hours.”

Taken together, these decisions reveal a troubling misalignment of priorities within FCPS leadership. At a time when classrooms are absorbing the impact of eliminated teaching positions and increasing student needs, the school board has expanded its own staffing footprint far beyond what is reasonably required for part-time governance. The scale and cost of board-dedicated personnel—layered on top of an already expansive central administration—undermines public trust and raises serious questions about fiscal stewardship, transparency, and accountability.

Fairfax County parents and taxpayers deserve a school system that puts students first, not one that appears to prioritize political ambition and bureaucratic self-expansion over educational outcomes. Restoring confidence will require more than rhetoric; it will require a renewed commitment to ethical governance, responsible budgeting, and a clear focus on the core mission of public education. Without meaningful reform, FCPS risks continuing down a path where resources flow upward to administrators and political staffers, while students and teachers are left to do more with less.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for IW Features, The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in National Review, Fox News Digital, The Daily Signal and Townhall. Originally appeared on The Washington Times.

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Virginia Delegate Dan Helmer, District 10 Democrat, introduced a bill this week encouraging public school boards to adopt an instructional program that would mandate portraying the events of Jan. 6, 2021, exclusively as a violent insurrection and bar discussion of 2020 election fraud claims.

It’s just one example of many in which Democrats are clearly trying to institutionalize their beliefs in our children’s public school policies and curricula.

Northern Virginia’s public school districts’ leaders don’t need any further encouragement from state legislators. In 2020, for example, Fairfax County Public Schools paid Ibram X. Kendi $20,000 for an hourlong virtual presentation to district leaders and principals on his beliefs that all policies are either “racist” or “not racist,” with nothing in between.

Now, Northern Virginia’s school district leaders are engaged in a legal battle with the federal government to allow boys in girls’ bathrooms and sports. Rather than abiding by Title IX and requiring transgender-identifying students to use single-use bathrooms or those based on their sex, Democratic activist leaders in these school districts are compelling speech with mandated “preferred pronouns” and sacrificing the comfort of the many for the whims of the very few.

For these activists, identity boxes are prioritized above education. In addition to making sure children are taught the “right way” to think about Jan. 6, Delegate Joshua Cole, District 65 Democrat, introduced a bill this session that changes the definition of “bullying” to specify “the real or perceived power imbalance” between students based on their membership in a protected class.

In other words, if this bill passes, when two students have an argument in their public school, then the cross-section of all their identities is likely to become more important than the conflict itself.

Regardless of political inclinations, it seems that everyone should agree that the purpose of public education is to educate children. Based on Virginia Democrats’ priorities — pushing political narratives and institutionalizing identity hierarchies — one might think the primary mission is accomplished and students are excelling in their public schools.

That’s not the case. Ironically, while Mr. Helmer tries to control the Jan. 6 narrative, according to the Virginia Department of Education, 34% of Virginia’s public school students failed their history standards of learning test last year. Delegates would better spend their work hours and efforts remedying the fact that fully one-third of Virginia’s students have a poor understanding of basic history.

Across the state, 29% of students failed their science standards of learning test, 28% failed math, 24% failed English writing and 26% failed English reading. The failure rates are even more dismal for Virginia’s economically disadvantaged children.

According to the Virginia Department of Education, 39% of economically disadvantaged students failed their English reading standards of learning test, 38% failed English writing, 41% failed math, 43% failed science and 46% failed history.

So while Virginia Democrats such as Messrs. Helmer and Cole and other equity warriors are introducing and passing legislation to prioritize fringe issues in public education, Virginia’s poorer students are failing at alarming rates. That’s the opposite of equity.

If state legislators truly want to improve public education for Virginia’s children, they should introduce legislation that requires school boards to allocate public funds based on students’ academic outcomes and limit expenditures in categories such as administrative staff and legal fees.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor to Independent Women’s Features, The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Originally appeared on The Federalist.

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Last month, Zenaida Perez, a teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), filed a lawsuit against the district for defamation and retaliation against a whistleblower. Strangely, King & Spalding, the law firm that the district’s superintendent, Michelle Reid, hired to be the “external independent investigator” of Perez’s allegations, is now representing FCPS in its defense.

In May 2022, Perez, who has taught FCPS’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students since 2008, told Centreville High School’s principal, Chad Lehman, that the school’s social worker, Carolina Diaz, facilitated an abortion for a minor student without her guardian’s consent.

In her signed statement (translated from Spanish), the student wrote, “Mrs. Carolina Diaz scheduled the appointment for me at the abortion clinic in Fairfax, paid the costs of that medical procedure, and kept everything quiet without informing my family.”

After Perez told Lehman about the school staff member’s involvement in the minor’s abortion, she says that she faced multiple incidents of retaliation and defamation from school and district administration. For example, her lawsuit states, “On April 8, 2025, an 18-year-old male student… confided to Perez that [Assistant Principal Montell] Brown instructed him to ask Perez for a ride in her personal vehicle to Costco, and that once Perez gave him the ride, he was to report the incident to Brown, so that he could write Perez up.”

Julie Perry, a teacher at Centreville High School who is familiar with the case and knows the student involved, believes that FCPS is retaliating against Perez for being a whistleblower. She said, “It makes me very sad to see my colleague, Zenaida, being heavily retaliated against because she was only doing the right thing by reporting illegal activity.”

Oddly, the district’s leaders didn’t seem concerned with Perez’s claims until the public was made aware of them. Only after the media reported on the abortion allegations did district leadership hire the expensive law firm to investigate. In an email to Centreville High School staff, dated Aug. 7, 2025, Reid wrote, “[T]he division has taken immediate action to engage an external independent investigator to get all the facts.”

Ongoing Investigation

In August and September, Fairfax County Public Schools paid the law firm $980,515.14 in taxpayer funds to investigate Perez’s claims. And while there is still an ongoing Virginia State Police criminal investigation into the matter, on Oct. 16, King & Spalding issued an inconclusive report stating that Perez’s allegations were “likely untrue.”

It seems that FCPS’s leaders are more interested in appearing to try to get to the bottom of things only when there is concern among the public that threatens the district’s image.

Conflict of Interest

Monique Miles, Perez’s attorney, noted that “King & Spalding can’t be both neutral fact finder and defense. There is an inherent conflict of interest in King & Spalding representing FCPS as counsel in both matters.” 

Miles further argues that “FCPS has lost all credibility by hiring King & Spalding to do an external independent investigation, where they released a preliminary report to the Senate [Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions] HELP Committee and the U.S. Department of Education Acting General Counsel inferring that Perez was a liar and claiming that the evidence doesn’t support her claims (when it does, especially the audio recordings), and then by hiring King & Spalding’s same attorneys, the very next week, to represent FCPS in defending against Perez’s lawsuit for defamation and retaliation.”

Perez on Administrative Leave

After King & Spalding released its inconclusive report in October, and while Diaz keeps her job as school social worker and Lehman was promoted, FCPS placed Perez on administrative leave. Perez believes that her suspension is permanent because, she said, district leaders insisted that she turn in her laptop, keys, and all district property. They also, according to Perez, terminated her email account and revoked her access to the student information system.

FCPS’s leaders were not interested in getting to the bottom of things until their public image was threatened. Now Perez’s lawsuit should reveal more about how they retaliated against the whistleblower.