The Fairfax County Public Schools system (abbreviated FCPS) is a branch of the Fairfax County government which administers public schools in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax. FCPS' headquarters is located in the Gatehouse Administration Center in Merrifield, an unincorporated section of the county near the city of Falls Church; the headquarters has a Falls Church address but is not within the city limits.
With over 180,000 students enrolled, FCPS is the largest public school system in the Baltimore-Washington and Northern Virginia Metropolitan Area. The superintendent of schools is Jack D. Dale. The school division is the 11th largest school system in the nation and maintains the largest school bus fleet of any school system in the United States.
The most notable commitment the county makes to its school system is the allocation of 53.5% of its 2011 fiscal budget to the school system. Including state and federal government contributions, along with citizen and corporate contributions, this brings the 2013 fiscal budget for the school system to $2.4 billion. The school system has estimated that, based on the 2013 fiscal budget, the county will invest $13,564 in each student during the 2012-2013 school year.
Read more about Fairfax County Public Schools: History, No Contact Rule, Debate Over Grading Policy, Controversy Over Disciplinary Policies, Schools, Transportation
Famous quotes containing the words public schools, county, public and/or schools:
“There are obvious places in which government can narrow the chasm between haves and have-nots. One is the public schools, which have been seen as the great leveler, the authentic melting pot. That, today, is nonsense. In his scathing study of the nation’s public school system entitled “Savage Inequalities,” Jonathan Kozol made manifest the truth: that we have a system that discriminates against the poor in everything from class size to curriculum.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“Jack: A politician, huh?
Editor: Oh, county treasurer or something like that.
Jack: What’s so special about him?
Editor: They say he’s an honest man.”
—Robert Rossen (1908–1966)
“Our security depends on the Allied Powers winning against aggressors. The Axis Powers intend to destroy democracy, it is anathema to them. We cannot provide that aid if the public are against it; therefore, it is our responsibility to persuade the public that aid to the victims of aggression is aid to American security. I expect the members of my administration to take every opportunity to speak to this issue wherever they are invited to address public forums in the weeks ahead.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“Good schools are schools for the development of the whole child. They seek to help children develop to their maximum their social powers and their intellectual powers, their emotional capacities, their physical powers.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)