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SunGazette
VOLUME 80 NO. 21
ARLINGTON’S SOURCE FOR HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1935
APRIL 16, 2015
Per-Student Spending Will Decline in Fiscal 2016
School Board Adopts $556 Million Budget, Waits to See How Much Funding Will Be Provided by County Board SCOTT McCAFFREY Staff Writer
Overall spending would rise to $556 million but per-student spending would drop 3.6 percent under the preliminary fiscal 2016 bud-
get plan adopted by School Board members April 9. The spending package is less than that proposed by Superintendent Patrick Murphy at the start of budget season, reflecting a tightening fiscal environment.
Although per-student spending is likely to remain highest among Washington-area jurisdictions, School Board Chairman James Lander called the adopted package a “very lean” budget. School officials now will have to wait until
April 21 to see if the County Board will fully fund their budget request for the coming year. The budget adopted by the School Board seeks $6.2 million more than proposed in Continued on Page 17
Wilson School’s Prospects Dim; Decision Looms
A TRIP TO NEVERLAND
Donnellan, Planning Commission Voice Opposition to Its Preservation SCOTT McCAFFREY Staff Writer
Peter Pan (played by Kelsey Meiklejohn) and the boys of Neverland are among those on stage as The Arlington Players rounds out its 2014-15 season with the classic musical treatment of the J.M. Barrie tale of never growing up. See Page 4 for a review of the production, which runs through PHOTO BY PETER HILL April 25 at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre.
The Wilson School in its heyday (top) and more recent times (above) in photos from the Arlington County government archives and Preservation Arlington, respectively.
western Rosslyn. “Consideration of a property for local Continued on Page 17
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Preservation advocates last week were unable to convince either the Planning Commission or County Manager Barbara Donnellan that the greater community good is served by retaining the 105year-old Wilson School in western Rosslyn. Donnellan on April 10 formally recommended that the School Board not designate the original portion of the school building a county historic district, pointing both to opposition from the School Board and the County Board’s own instructions related to the redevelopment of