A proposed $845.4 million budget unveiled last night will not please everyone, Arlington Public Schools leaders acknowledged.
The Fiscal Year 2026 budget package represents a spending increase of 2.3% from the current budget, and anticipates $650 million in revenue coming from Arlington County. Nevertheless, “we had to make hard decisions,” Superintendent Francisco Durán said in detailing the spending package Thursday evening.
Arlington’s proposed FY 2026 budget continues after-school programs kicked off last year aimed at curbing substance abuse among local teens.
Data shows that Arlington overdoses did, indeed, decline last year among juveniles and in the general population. However, it’s somewhat unclear how much of a role the new Arlington Public Schools programming played in this.
Arlington County Board members have a lighter-than-usual agenda as they plan to gather for their monthly meeting on Saturday (March 15).
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some items worth watching. Among them:
A trial date has been set for a former Washington-Liberty High School substitute teacher accused of taking indecent liberties with a high school student.
The trial of Timothy McGhee, 47, is scheduled to begin in Arlington’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on April 23.
A popular drop-off event for electronics and hazardous household materials has been canceled, due to high expected attendance at an Arlington Public Schools job fair.
Arlington County announced on Friday that its spring E-CARE event, originally scheduled to happen this Saturday at Wakefield High School, was being canceled due to an APS recuitment event set to happen around the same time.
Arlington Public Schools’ recent decision to stop posting on the social-media platform X is getting some scrutiny from a School Board member.
Miranda Turner at the Feb. 27 Board meeting sought clarification of the reasons behind leaving the platform — formerly Twitter — and the 21,000 people who followed APS’s main X account (among smaller school-level accounts).
A new policy limiting state and federal law enforcement’s access to Arlington Public Schools facilities is going into effect.
The Arlington School Board has approved a policy revision that restricts access for law enforcement agencies other than the Arlington County Police Department.
Advocates are speaking out against potential cuts to programs and personnel as Arlington Public Schools staff finalize a budget draft.
“[Stop] all the wasteful spending. We’ve got to cut stuff, not staff,” said Melissa Hyatt, an instructional technology coordinator (ITC) at Innovation Elementary School, during the Thursday night (Feb. 27) School Board meeting.
Pre-K students attending Arlington’s Integration Station program could be moved to neighborhood-based classrooms next year.
Last week, parents were informed that Arlington Public Schools’ new budget proposal will include moving students currently attending Integration Station — at 4770 Langston Blvd — “closer to their home schools” within the district.
No tax-rate rise for property owners, but increases in the meals tax and charges for some county services, are part of the $1.69 billion draft fiscal 2026 budget unveiled Saturday (Feb. 22) by Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz.
The proposal represents an increase of 2.2% from the current spending package. Schwartz said it aims for a balance between meeting core needs, addressing concerns from homeowners about tax burdens, and contingency planning for uncertainty in federal spending and the economy.
Arlington Public Schools is abandoning X for Bluesky.
The school system announced Wednesday that it will no longer post updates on X — formerly Twitter — although its account will “remain open.”
An LGBTQ+ advocacy group is calling for Arlington Public Schools to take a more aggressive stance in support of transgender students.
Equality Arlington released a letter this week urging the school system to “stand up for the rights of transgender athletes and oppose all discriminatory policies from whatever source they come.”
