Category Archives: Local News

OP-ED: Fairfax County’s Dropout Problem Among English Learners

OP-ED: Fairfax County’s Dropout Problem Among English Learners

Many high schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, have surprisingly high dropout rates. The large majority of students dropping out are those labeled “multilingual learners,” formerly referred to as English language learners. The number of multilingual learners and associated costs have grown precipitously in Fairfax County…Read more

LETTER: Fairfax County Leaders Are Missing COVID-Era Regulations

LETTER: Fairfax County Leaders Are Missing COVID-Era Regulations

Fairfax County’s local government recently announced that it would begin addressing grass complaints. If a neighbor’s grass is taller than 12 inches in height, we’re now encouraged to call Big Brother, who will then “investigate” these law-breakers and then fine them for lawn services. The impetus of such a ridiculous regulation, generally under the domain of a nosy, intrusive neighborhood homeowners’ association, is unclear…Read more

Maryland Joins Blue States Raising Taxes to Fill Budget Holes

Maryland Joins Blue States Raising Taxes to Fill Budget Holes

Maryland’s steep tax increases follow the lead of other liberal-leaning states that love to spend and are now desperate to raise revenue to dig out of growing deficits and fund new spending. Under the state’s $67 billion budget that the General Assembly passed this month, Marylanders will pay $1.6 billion for a dizzying array of new taxes and fee increases beginning in July…Read more

Officials Nearing Deal for New Commanders Stadium at RFK Site

Officials Nearing Deal for New Commanders Stadium at RFK Site

The Washington Commanders are nearing a return to the District after playing more than 25 seasons in Maryland. The franchise is reportedly close to an agreement with D.C. officials to build a new football stadium on the site of the old RFK Stadium, NBC4 reported on Wednesday. One source familiar with the negotiations told The Washington Times that a deal had not been finalized…Read more

White House planning a military parade

White House planning a military parade

President Trump is expected to have a military parade in the streets of Washington, something he has wanted since his first term in office. The parade never came to be during his first term, but times may have changed. Plans for a military parade are apparently in the works for Saturday, June 14, which is the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, Flag Day and Mr. Trump’s 79th birthday…Read more

‘Virginia School Choice Week’ Celebrated in Arlington

‘Virginia School Choice Week’ Celebrated in Arlington

EdReform Virginia’s 3rd annual School Choice Week event drew a crowd of more than 50 on Saturday, Feb. 1. The event, held in Arlington, featured remarks from a variety of speakers on the need for educational freedom. “The Nation’s Report Card came out just last week — and the results, frankly, were abysmal,” said EdReform Virginia Executive Director Nathan Brinkman. “We should view this as a five-alarm fire…Read more

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Category Archives: Local News

OP-ED: Fairfax County’s Dropout Problem Among English Learners

OP-ED: Fairfax County’s Dropout Problem Among English Learners

Budgetary Considerations Must Take Student Outcomes Into Account

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora | May 1, 2025

(The Washington Times) — Many high schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, have surprisingly high dropout rates. The large majority of students dropping out are those labeled “multilingual learners,” formerly referred to as English language learners.

The number of multilingual learners and associated costs have grown precipitously in Fairfax County since 2019. The number of students who require language services increased with President Biden’s porous southern border policies, and even more so after January 2021, when the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passed a sanctuary policy titled the Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy. As a result, by fall 2024, 26.8% of Fairfax County Public Schools students were multilingual learners.

With the concentration of multilingual learners in certain high schools, some school administrators are concerned that dropout rates, chronic absenteeism, and low standardized test scores among multilingual learners will affect their high school’s accreditation.

The table below shows that multilingual learners in Fairfax County’s most problematic high schools have much higher dropout rates than the class of 2024 student cohort and that 82% of the students who drop out are multilingual learners.

With a proposed fiscal 2026 expenditure of an extra $5,572 per English language learning student, the district’s price tag for English language instruction is now $210 million, up from $93.9 million in fiscal 2019.

Despite the substantial increase in spending on multilingual learners, their outcomes remain undeniably abysmal. As the class of 2025 graduation season approaches and county leaders discuss public school funding priorities, they clearly need to make changes.

Fairfax County residents, who are facing their largest tax increase in 10 years, can no longer afford the sanctuary policy, which is likely responsible for attracting many illegal immigrants who need English language services. Moreover, the Board of Supervisors, which likely would rather ignore its $300 million fiscal 2026 budget shortfall, must immediately repeal its Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy.

Fairfax County Public Schools leaders are also failing their most vulnerable students. Any budgetary considerations must take student outcomes into account. Rather than bloating district headquarters with even more egregiously paid and unnecessary, non-school-based administrative positions, Fairfax County’s leaders must ask what needs to be done to foster student learning and prevent students, particularly multilingual learners, from dropping out of school and then allocate funds accordingly.

Although Superintendent Michelle Reid and other district leaders are likely to claim that more money is the answer to all these problems, including the multilingual learner dropout rate, the real answer is that we need competent leaders and an intensive, external audit of the budget.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network. Her articles have also appeared in Fox News Digital, National Review, Daily Signal, WMAL.com and Townhall.


Disclaimer: The reports, views, and opinions written/expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of News Talk 105.9 WMAL.

LETTER: Fairfax County Leaders Are Missing COVID-Era Regulations

LETTER: Fairfax County Leaders Are Missing COVID-Era Regulations

Fairfax County’s local government recently announced that it would begin addressing grass complaints. If a neighbor’s grass is taller than 12 inches in height, we’re now encouraged to call Big Brother, who will then “investigate” these law-breakers and then fine them for lawn services. The impetus of such a ridiculous regulation, generally under the domain of a nosy, intrusive neighborhood homeowners’ association, is unclear…Continue Reading

Maryland Joins Blue States Raising Taxes to Fill Budget Holes

Maryland Joins Blue States Raising Taxes to Fill Budget Holes

Maryland’s steep tax increases follow the lead of other liberal-leaning states that love to spend and are now desperate to raise revenue to dig out of growing deficits and fund new spending. Under the state’s $67 billion budget that the General Assembly passed this month, Marylanders will pay $1.6 billion for a dizzying array of new taxes and fee increases beginning in July…Continue Reading

Officials Nearing Deal for New Commanders Stadium at RFK Site

Officials Nearing Deal for New Commanders Stadium at RFK Site

The Washington Commanders are nearing a return to the District after playing more than 25 seasons in Maryland. The franchise is reportedly close to an agreement with D.C. officials to build a new football stadium on the site of the old RFK Stadium, NBC4 reported on Wednesday. One source familiar with the negotiations told The Washington Times that a deal had not been finalized…Continue Reading

White House planning a military parade

White House planning a military parade

President Trump is expected to have a military parade in the streets of Washington, something he has wanted since his first term in office. The parade never came to be during his first term, but times may have changed. Plans for a military parade are apparently in the works for Saturday, June 14, which is the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, Flag Day and Mr. Trump’s 79th birthday…Continue Reading

‘Virginia School Choice Week’ Celebrated in Arlington

‘Virginia School Choice Week’ Celebrated in Arlington

EdReform Virginia’s 3rd annual School Choice Week event drew a crowd of more than 50 on Saturday, Feb. 1. The event, held in Arlington, featured remarks from a variety of speakers on the need for educational freedom. “The Nation’s Report Card came out just last week — and the results, frankly, were abysmal,” said EdReform Virginia Executive Director Nathan Brinkman. “We should view this as a five-alarm fire…Continue Reading

Two giant pandas are set to arrive in Washington with a specially prepared menu for the trip

Two giant pandas are set to arrive in Washington with a specially prepared menu for the trip

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Zoo’s long dark panda drought seems to be coming to an end. Eleven months after the zoo sent its three wildly popular pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — back to China, a new pair of bears is set to arrive. A pair of three-year old giant pandas, named Bao Li and Qing Bao, have left a research facility…Continue Reading

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