1. The featured speaker was Mario Schiavo, from the Fairfax County Public Schools, speaking about the Superintendent's Proposed Fiscal Year 2004 Budget.

   The slide presentation is available either on the web or as a downloadable PowerPoint Presentation

   The following comments are keyed to the slides in the referenced presentation

   • Slide 16: ERFC - Retirement Rate Increase

   • Slide 17:
     • The reduction of employee's contribution to the state retirement system by .5% is ongoing. Over the next 5 - 6 years the employee contribution will be fully paid by the county, at an estimated cost of $50 when finished.

     • Two additional teaching days will be added to the teacher's contract for $8.4 million.

   • Slides 18 - 20: Due to the revised Governor's state budget which did not cut funding to primary and secondary education, the proposed Fairfax County school budget cuts are no longer required.

   The School system is bringing on board an outside auditor who will conduct program audits. This is separate from the financial audits which are ongoing.

   The school system projects the number of school-aged children generated from rental apartments based on the cost of the apartments. It has found that the more expensive the apartments the fewer per capita children are generated.

   A copy of the full Superintendent's budget is available on CDROM. If interested in a copy, please send me an e-mail, or the pdf files are available in a zip file for downloading.

2. Committee Reports:
   1. Land Use and Transportation: (more detailed information can be found in the committee's January minutes and February Agenda)
      • Jeff Parnes discussed the revised request by Marlo.

      • Judith Heisinger discussed the planned Rt. 29 Bypass

      • Jim Hart discussed the Tri-County Connector Public Hearings

      • Tom McDonald, of the Springfield District Fairfax Center Land Use Committee, spoke about a planned Fairfax County Family Shelter to be located near the intersection of Lee Highway and Stringfellow Rd. He also spoke of a new MacDonalds planned near the Mobil station near Costco, and that the Camp 30 work station, on West Ox Road opposite Costco, is being closed and replaced with a $20 million communications facility.

   2. Public Safety - Tom McDonald

      The Fair Oaks precinct holds its Citizen Advisory Committee meetings of the 3rd Tuesday of the month.

   3. Education - Mark McConn
      • A new wing is planned for Westfield High School

      • He also mentioned from his own personal observation, confirmed by other school personnel, that there may be a problem integrating home-schooled children into the normal school population. They may come back to the school system with poor child-to-child interaction skills. They seem to relate better with the school's staff and other adults.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey M. Parnes
Chair, Chantilly Highlands Homes Association
Civic Affairs Committee