Besides the passel of candidates vying for positions on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, School Board, General Assembly and constitutional offices, voters also likely will be asked to pass the largest school-bond referendum in Fairfax County’s history.
School Board members on May 25 unanimously agreed to a consent-agenda item requesting that the Board of Supervisors authorize a $435 million bond referendum on Nov. 7 that would finance school renovations, relocation of some modular-classroom buildings and the addition of security vestibules.
Renovations at elementary schools would take up the vast bulk – $402.5 million – of the proposed referendum’s funds.
The referendum would pay for construction of renovations at these elementary schools: Bren Mar Park ($55 million), Brookfield ($53.5 million), Lees Corner ($51.7 million), Armstrong ($50.1 million), Willow Springs ($52.9 million), Herndon ($56.5 million) and Dranesville ($50.8 million).
Bond funds would allot $4 million for renovation planning-and-design work at each of these elementary schools: Cub Run, Union Mill, Centre Ridge, Poplar Tree, Waples Mill, Sangster, Saratoga and Virginia Run.
The bond also would dedicate $8 million for planning and design of renovations at Franklin Middle School, $9 million for relocation of three modular-classroom buildings and $2.5 million for construction of security vestibules.
Also baked into the referendum’s costs are a $10 million inflation adjustment for prior bond projects and $3 million for bond-issuance costs.
The bond referendum likely will encounter little resistance from county voters, who traditionally pass such proposals – held in odd-numbered years – by wide margins. The most recent referendums were for $250 million in 2013, $310 million in 2015, $317 million in 2017, $360 million in 2019 and $360 million in 2021.
Seeking to avoid situations where schools languish too long without renovations, School Board members said they are committed to accelerating the school system’s renovation cycle from once every 37 years to a 20- or 25-year time frame.
