Fairfax County school board members overwhelmingly rejected a proposed $300 annual fee for middle school after-school programs at a work session Tuesday, Aug. 18, instead backing a voluntary donation model that would keep the programs free for families at Cooper Middle School and 26 other county middle schools.
The compromise, floated by Springfield District representative Sandy Anderson, would ask families to contribute what they can to Educate Fairfax, the nonprofit foundation supporting FCPS, rather than pay a mandatory fee. Anderson called $300 "the wrong amount" and suggested a more nominal voluntary sum. She said she would develop the proposal into a formal plan in coming weeks.
"We should try this out this year with a pay-what-you-can model," Anderson said at the work session.
The Middle School After School program enrolled more than 23,000 students during the 2025-26 school year, roughly 80% of the county's middle school population, according to FFXnow. Average weekly attendance topped 15,000. The program costs about $11 million annually to operate, with FCPS covering 64% and Fairfax County government contributing approximately $3.9 million.
The funding squeeze
The fee idea originated with county government, not FCPS. In the FY2026 budget cycle, the Board of Supervisors kept $3.93 million in after-school funding but directed FCPS to find cost offsets, including a fee-based model for families who can afford to pay. The FY2027 budget, adopted in May 2026, went further, proposing the $300 fee outright. That charge was projected to generate $1.1 million annually.
Superintendent Michelle Reid told the board she was presenting the fee concept because county counterparts had insisted. Tom Horn, executive director of the FCPS Office of Student Activities and Athletics, said the fee was not his office's proposal.
Students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals would have been exempt, as would students at six schools covered by the federal Community Eligibility Provision.
Board pushback
Nearly every board member opposed the fee. At-large member Kyle McDaniel said county officials were "putting the proverbial guns to our heads," describing a bind: impose fees and watch participation plummet, or refuse and risk losing the county's full $3.9 million contribution.
Dranesville District representative and School Board Chair Robyn Lady, who represents the McLean and Langley pyramids, supported Anderson's voluntary donation alternative. Student representative Newt Shosteck, a Hayfield Secondary student, questioned who would even enforce payment. FCPS staff had no answer.
What's next
No formal vote has been scheduled. Anderson said she would flesh out the donation proposal in coming weeks. The program's 26 school coordinators and roughly 1,200 staff members, including 350 volunteers, remain in place as the school year opens Monday, Aug. 24. For now, families at Cooper Middle and other McLean-pyramid schools will not face any new charges when students return.
