Reprint from:
Opinion
Sun Gazette
November 17-23, 2023
Our View: More Analysis Needed on FCPS Growth
“There ain’t no good guy. There ain’t no bad guy. There’s only you and me, and we just disagree.” Therewith another 1970s song lyric that has relevance all these decades later.
Based on our coverage last week, the McLean Citizens Association (MCA) sure does seem to have a different take on the impact of new development in Tysons and how it will trickle down to stretch thin the existing school facilities that ring it.
The ballooning enrollment postulated by MCA is significantly more concerning than guesstimates put out by Fairfax County Public Schools, which appears to have adopted a don’t-worry-be-happy philosophy about the con- sequences of increasing urbanization in the county.
Not that there’s anything wrong with urbanization, nor are MCA’s figures necessarily a better gauge of the future than FCPS’s are. But local residents need to insist that there is a robust analysis of all available data, from all sources, and that it is done in a transparent and ethical way.
Whether MCA’s concerns about future crowding at local schools turn out to be right or wrong, the organization deserves credit for using its institutional oomph to put the matter in front of School Board members and FCPS staff.