Fairfax County middle schoolers who qualify for advanced academic courses will no longer have to leave their neighborhood schools to take them.

The Fairfax County School Board approved a plan on a 10-1 vote Thursday, Aug. 27, to expand Advanced Academic Program (AAP) centers to all 11 middle schools that don't currently offer them. The rollout will take place over four school years, starting in fall 2026.

Cooper Middle School in McLean and Longfellow Middle School, which feed into Langley and McLean high schools respectively, already operate as AAP centers. But the expansion addresses a countywide pattern that has affected families across the district: students opting out of their local school to bus to a distant AAP center, draining enrollment at some schools while overcrowding others.

"Students no longer have to choose between staying in their neighborhood-based school or taking AAP," at-large board member Kyle McDaniel said at the Aug. 27 meeting.

The rollout

Poe Middle School in Annandale was approved last fall and already offers AAP to incoming sixth graders in the 2026-2027 school year. Five more schools follow in fall 2027 with seventh-grade AAP: Franklin, Hayfield, Key, Whitman and Holmes. Four schools gain seventh-grade AAP in 2028-2029: Herndon, Liberty, Robinson and Stone. Irving and Thoreau middle schools round out the plan in 2029-2030.

Each phase still requires a separate school board vote after community engagement sessions. Superintendent Michelle Reid told the board that Virginia law requires public hearings because the change technically moves students within attendance boundaries.

Costs and savings

The price tag is modest. Teacher certifications needed for advanced coursework will cost about $330,000 across the district over several years. Construction at Thoreau and Irving to handle added students is estimated at roughly $675,000 total. Franklin Middle School also faces overcrowding from the expansion but is already scheduled for renovation starting in fiscal year 2030, so no additional construction costs are expected there.

Equity concerns

Board members said the expansion should ease enrollment imbalances between the county's high school pyramids. Franconia District representative Marcia St. John-Cunning described the strain in her own district, saying schools there are over capacity because students bus to Mark Twain Middle School, the only AAP center in the Franconia area. She said the expansion will redirect students to Key Middle School, which has room.

The next step is community engagement for the five schools set to add AAP in fall 2027. The board is scheduled to vote on that group in December.