School Board Approves Increased LCPS Budget, Rejects DEI Funding Decrease

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — The school board endorsed a Loudoun County Public Schools budget with an increase Tuesday night and rejected an effort to cut diversity, equity and inclusion funding. The budget increase is dependent on the upcoming county budget decision by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors as well as state funding.

The school board voted 6-3 to adopt the more than $1.9 billion operating budget with some amendments altering Superintendent Aaron Spence's original proposal.

"We took the time to listen to our community, carefully considered their feedback, and made adjustments that reflect their priorities," said Chair and Dulles District representative Melinda Mansfield in a statement. "From increasing the number of athletic trainers in our high schools to enhancing in-person tutoring and expanding after-school programs in Title I schools, this budget demonstrates our commitment to supporting students both inside and outside the classroom. "

Leesburg District representative Lauren Shernoff was one of the three members opposed to the budget adoption. In a social media post after the vote, Shernoff expressed concerns about requesting a $23 million increase above the expected $100 million increase from the Board of Supervisors' county budget.

"I wanted to find ways to offset that request within the base budget, and while some efforts were made to reduce costs in the [Superintendent's Estimate of Needs], the final adopted budget ask will still be $123 Million because of the addition of other requests that came through amendments," Shernoff shared.

Ashburn District representative Deana Griffiths introduced a $2.802 million reduction to the LCPS Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility division. She proposed reallocating most of the funding to 23 new special education teachers and the remainder for a band and theater group trip application process. Griffiths cited the Trump administration's efforts to curb diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and the school district's initiative "jeopardizing" Title I school federal funding.

"I think if we had the data that told us exactly how it's been helping our LCPS students, that would help a little bit more," said Griffiths.

Catoctin District representative Kari LaBell said LCPS is one of the Northern Virginia school districts and localities that could face an inquiry into DEI initiatives and that President Trump has threatened removing Title I funds to states supporting DEI. She said the loss of the federal funds would represent over $48 million, or 1 percent of the LCPS operating budget.

In response, Spence said the concerns about federal funding may be "misguided," noting funds are allocated by Congress and cannot be removed by a presidential executive order. The superintendent noted that the inquiry mentioned by LaBell is related to a Trump executive order on gender ideology and the Gavin Grimm case on transgender bathroom allowances.

Other school board members defended the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility work of LCPS.

Broad Run District representative Linda Deans pointed to national research supporting positive impacts of DEI initiatives on student outcomes. She said defunding DEI would hurt the most vulnerable students.

"At its core, DEI is about ensuring that every child not some, regardless of race, background, ability or identity has the opp to succeed," said Deans. "Research consistently showed that schools with strong DEI initiatives see higher student achievement, improved graduation rates and increased student engagement."

"Education has always been and will always be one of the best ways to ensure access to the American Dream, and we cannot falter," added Algonkian District representative April Chandler.

Griffiths and LaBell were the only members voting to reduce the DEI funding.

Other amendments from Griffiths that did not pass were reductions to recovery school, elementary alternative program, elementary after-school pilot program and some behavioral health positions, as well as a lower staffing standard for instructional coaches and removal of a second welcome center. Griffiths had urged school board members to consider the reductions to stay within the current fiscal year's budget.

"All I see are programs that are not needed for the achievement of our students. LCPS is not being run properly," said Griffiths before introducing the amendments. "Like a business, I see too much waste so there should be cuts."

Vice Chair and at-large representative Anne Donohue introduced staff-recommended reductions totaling $1.524 million. The majority of the reduction was $1.2 million from the safety and security AI project to instead implement a more phased approach. Other reductions introduced by Donohue were a student services specialist reclassification, a decrease in the superintendent's training and continuing education budget, and removal of an enterprise resource planning trainer from the Department of Digital Innovation.

The school board passed several other amendments to the superintendent's budget proposal, including delaying changes to the retiree health benefits until staff investigate further. Other amendments were six additional trainers to provide a standard of two athletic trainers per high school, expanding the International Baccalaureate program to Park View High School, reallocating $500,000 of vendor-based online tutoring to in-person tutoring services during school hours, and adding a summer programs and after school services coordinator at five Title I schools.

Pay increases for staff were already included in the superintendent's original budget proposal. Eligible employees would receive annual step increases averaging 2.5 percent, while a one-time 1 percent payment would go to eligible employees at the top step of the salary scales. Scale A (teacher) employees would get a 4 percent scale adjustment, and Scales B and C (universal and auxiliary) would get a 4 percent cost of living adjustment.

The next step is awaiting the Board of County Supervisors budget, with the process beginning with County Executive Tim Hemstreet's proposal later in February. A joint budget work session with the school board and county board will be held at 6 p.m. on Feb. 24 at the LCPS Administration Building. If the LCPS budget request is not fully funded as the county and state go through their budget processes, the school board would need to amend the budget in May.