Fairfax County Public Schools - History

History

The public school system in Fairfax County was created after the Civil War with the adoption by Virginia of a Reconstruction-era state constitution in 1870, which for the first time in Virginia guaranteed free public education. However, during the Jim Crow era, a racially-separate system was mandated by Virginia funding laws.

Fairfax County refused to let black students attend and bused them out of the county to Manassas. Despite the 1954 Supreme court ruling to end racial segregation Fairfax County Schools did not allow any black students into designated white schools until 1960.

The county school system was previously headquartered at 10700 Page Avenue in an unincorporated area of the county completely surrounded by the City of Fairfax.

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