ACPS Stakeholders Show Out at City Hall

If you are interested in watching the full video of the public hearing you may do so at this link (HERE).

In a tremendous show of force ACPS educators and community members came out in droves to the March 11 Public Hearing on the FY25 budget for Alexandria. 

The hearing, which lasted just a hair over two hours, featured numerous powerful statements from various stakeholders in support of the addition the ACPS School Board added to their budget. This included community member Bridget Shea Westfall’s passionate testimony asking City Council to increase per-pupil spending, as it highly correlates to academic achievement and success. 

This view of needing to increase per pupil spending was also echoed by fellow community member Suzie O’Brien countering the narrative pushed by city leaders that Alexandria’s demographics make per pupil spending a poor barometer of the quality of the city’s investment. 

In response to this narrative Ms. O’Brien acknowledged that the City Council did have a point in that ACPS does have differences in demographics, alluding to Alexandria’s massive influx of immigrants. Due to this influx of immigrants, O’Brien pointed out that ACPS now has the highest English Language Learning (ELL) population by percentage compared to other Northern Virginia school districts like Fairfax and Falls Church, necessitating a higher per pupil spending figure.

Westfall and O’Brien’s sentiments were also shared by Alexandria City High School educator, Gabriel Elias, who teaches in the International Academy which services ACHS’ massive ELL population. In his comments he expressed worry that the lack of compensation for educators will result in an exodus of educators, not just from ACHS, but from ACPS as a whole.  He cautioned the city to move with urgency and shared his concern that we are moving into a period of new segregation based on economic inequality and linguistic background. He called for action now to accompany the moves for zoning reform and affordable housing. 

However, the most powerful testimonies came from ACPS students who made numerous appearances as well. I will not mention their names due to them being minors, but the general theme of their comments were centered on how they wanted educators in the classroom who are well taken care of because a happy educator makes for happy students. Additionally, the students talked about the potential long-term impacts of not having quality educators in ACPS classrooms, and what that would do to their own future prospects. 

Out of the mouths of babes as they say.

Ultimately, the City Council made points about how they are trying to raise Alexandria’s revenue to meet the demands placed before them; which included Council Member Canek Aguirre asking numerous ACPS stakeholders if they supported a tax increase to make up the difference between the Superintendent’s proposed budget and the one approved by the ACPS School Board. 

Every single person who was asked and/or testified had the same answer.

“Yes.” 

There is another Public Hearing on the FY25 Budget on Saturday, March 16 at 9:30 AM at City Hall. If you did not get the chance to attend on Monday we highly recommend that you attend Saturday. 

-Alex’s Pen