Lisa Hodge told members of the Great Falls Elementary School PTA that she still could not wrap her head around the idea that the school’s Japanese immersion program could be cut. "The reality is, in very tight budget times, you have to look at everything," she said.

Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville) and the district’s School Board representative, Janie Strauss, made an appearance at the PTA’s meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 11 to discuss the possibility that the language immersion programs currently in place at 12 elementary schools in the county could be cut out of the budget. As revenue continues to drop off, the county is entering its third year of budget cuts, and Strauss said that virtually all non-mandatory school programs face the possibility of elimination.

Because it represents only a $1.4 million expense in the face of a possible $176 million shortfall in the school system, Foust said he would be surprised if the elementary school language immersion program ended up getting cut in the coming budget cycle, but it would be the School Board that decides how school funds are allocated.

"We will cut as far away from the classroom as we possibly can," Strauss said.

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT than teaching students Japanese, Hodge said, the language immersion program had taught her children to think globally. "They come to have this real awareness of global issues and being understanding of different cultures," she said. Also, she said, because languages like Japanese are so different from English, students need to begin learning them at a young age. "You literally cannot learn these languages at an older age," she said, noting that she had tried.

"It’s such a selling point for people who are looking at Fairfax County as a place to move into," said Diane Hara, who has also had children in the program. She noted that the county’s Economic Development Authority listed elementary school language immersion as one of the school system’s selling points and that foreign language proficiency was one of the stated goals of the School Board.

Several students also testified at the meeting. Third-grader Nick Hodge confirmed that his mother was unable to pronounce many of the Japanese phrases he had tried to teach her. "It’s really hard to learn Japanese, but once you learn it, it’s really fun," he said, adding that he hoped the program did not get cut "because I have so much more to learn" and because he was eagerly anticipating the trip to Japan that the students traditionally take in the sixth grade to visit their sister school.

Eliza Campbell, a freshman at Langley High School who had gone through the program at Great Falls Elementary, said it had made her a better student, given her the confidence to be a high achiever and introduced her to some of her favorite teachers. "It’s a great challenge that has tons of benefits," she said. "All these kids deserve to have the same opportunity I have had."

Strauss assured the audience that she and Foust supported the program. "That’s not the issue," she said. In the last few years, she said, the school system had grown by 9,000 students, and an additional 2,000 were expected next year, she said. "We don’t exactly understand it, but they’re here." And, Strauss said, under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools are held to higher standards each year. Meanwhile, the county has not been able to increase the school budget accordingly, and state funding has decreased. Strauss said the schools were expecting a $28 million decrease in state funding next year but had heard that more might be cut.

Foust said the Board of Supervisors intended at least to keep school funding at the same level by further cutting back spending on other county programs. "At the county level, what we’re doing is ripping into the way we operate," he said. He noted that $1.7 billion, more than half the money in the county’s general fund, went to the schools this year, in addition to the money spent on school resource officers, clinic aides and interest on school bonds. "Our number-one priority in Fairfax County at the government level is public schools," he said.

COUNTY FUNDING represents about three-quarters of the schools’ budget.

For the current budget year, the schools did receive $42 million in federal stimulus money, but that was a one-time payment, Strauss said. In spite of the federal money, the School Board froze all pay in the schools, eliminated 788 positions, downsized summer school, raised class sizes twice and cut back on custodians.

She said the list of proposed cuts and additional fees circulated at the meeting would cover about $120 million of the possible shortfall of about $176 million. Proposals listed included, among others, the elimination of general education summer school, one of the county’s alternative schools, and elementary school band and strings, as well as reductions in full-day kindergarten, sports and equipment replacement. More than 1,700 positions were considered for elimination.

Foust said the county was looking at another decline in revenue in large part because 64 percent of its funding comes from real estate taxes, which are projected to continue declining. About a fourth of the real estate taxes come from commercial properties, which are expected to depreciate by about 18 percent next year, while residential assessments are projected to fall by another 10 percent.

However, he said the county had some options for raising revenue. One would be to equalize the real estate tax rate by raising the rate so that the bill for the average homeowner would not change as real estate values fell. However, he said results would not be the same across the board, noting that home assessments in Great Falls fell by only 8 percent last year, while the county tax rate went up 12 percent, resulting in a net increase. Another option, he said, would be to reinstate the car registration fee, although he thought it was a regressive tax. "This year, I’m not sure we’re going to have the luxury of saying no to that," he said.

Local governments cannot run at a deficit, Strauss said. "We are individually, criminally liable."

She said the language immersion program required an increase in staff because another teacher was needed to keep down class sizes among the students not in the program. As to whether the program could be run without those teachers, "I expect we’re going to have some tough discussions," she said.

Asked whether the schools could charge for elementary school language immersion, Strauss said it would probably be deemed illegal, but the School Board would again request permission to do so.

SEVERAL PTA MEMBERS suggested that the county needed to come up with creative ways to raise money, but Foust noted that, as part of a Dillon Rule state, the county only had powers explicitly granted to it by the state and was left with few funding options.

"I believe that the people in this county have always been and are willing to fund world-class schools and world-class services," said Rich Sargent, PTA president at Kent Gardens Elementary, which has a French immersion program. "We need to tax ourselves enough to pay for the services we want." He was one of a number of audience members who suggested raising the tax rate.

Foust said the county was early in the budget process and needed to hear from the public about what approaches it should take to address shortfalls.