Arlington Democrats are moving back onto offense while the county’s GOP continues its work to build a candidate slate for November.
A monthly meeting of the Arlington County Democratic Committee last Wednesday attracted at least 100 people to Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School.
Both contenders in Arlington’s Democrat School Board primary argue that leaders should rethink a plan to close a program for preschoolers with disabilities.
At a Wednesday candidate forum, June Prakash and Monique “Moe” Bryant contended that Arlington Public Schools leadership should have engaged more with affected families before introducing the proposal to close the Integration Station and disperse its students to other classrooms.
Supporters of the Arlington Outdoor Lab program at times have had to fight to maintain funding in Arlington Public Schools’ annual budget process.
This year, however, there are smiles all around.
An auditor’s report on extensive human resources shortcomings at Arlington Public Schools has leaders promising corrective action.
“There’s a lot of issues — training is desperately needed,” said auditor Alice Blount-Fenney, whose report laid less fault at the feet of front-line HR staff and more on broader institutional failings.
The proposed $845 million fiscal 2026 budget to fund Arlington Public Schools (APS) for the 2025-26 school year has again brought up concerns over how much funding should go into classrooms and how much is needed to provide central-office oversight.
Given fiscal challenges faced by the county government and school system, and the ongoing uncertainty over the region’s economic future, those concerns may be more pronounced this year.
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.
Three members of Arlington’s delegation to the House of Delegates launched re-election bids last week.
Dels. Adele McClure (D-2), Patrick Hope (D-1) and Alfonso Lopez (D-3) were widely expected to seek new terms.
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).
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.
Arlington school leaders are making strides in reducing chronic student absenteeism, but the results have been uneven.
Twenty-eight county schools showed year-over-year declines in chronic-absentee rates in the second quarter of 2024-25. But 11 posted an increase, Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members last week.
Ongoing challenges for political candidates and elected officials of color were the topic of a recent discussion with several local leaders.
Representatives of minority groups who make it onto the ballot and into office too often are looked on as “representational symbols,” said Christian Dorsey, a former two-term Arlington County Board member.
A major policy shift by the Virginia High School League (VHSL) could impact how Arlington Public Schools approaches transgender athletes.
VHSL announced this week that it will follow an executive order from President Donald Trump that attempts to ban students born male from competing on girls teams, threatening financial sanctions if schools don’t comply.
