I lived in Northern Virginia for over 35 years and there is a strange little drama playing out in Fairfax County (FC) now. Back in the 60's, the US government expanded, drawing a large number of young educated middle-class professionals to the DC area. Most couldn't have afforded the best areas of DC and didn't want to live in the other parts, especially if they had children. They flocked to the MD and VA suburbs in droves.

FC was largely rural then, land was a lot cheaper, housing developments went up in droves, including apartments. These folks demanded good schools and were willing to pay the taxes to support them. The FC schools quickly became known as among the best in the US. Back in the early 80's, a house in FC where there were good schools cost $50,000 more than a similar house in other parts of NoVA. So far, so good.

Sometime in the 90's, NoVA was inundated by immigrants, some well-educated. Many, however, were unskilled, poorly educated, unable to speak English, and often illegal. FC has a lot of apartments, which used to house mainly singles and adults without children. Many apartments in addition to houses now house large families of these unskilled and poorly educated immigrants - and their children. These children go to the FC schools.

There has been a big whoop in the Washington Post about the federal government's cracking down on FC's using a test other than the No Child Left Behind on its students who don't speak English well after the grace period has expired (New ESL students get a year, I think, before having to be tested.). FC moans that it doesn't want to set these children up for failure so it will test them ONLY when they speak English well enough. NCLB says how can you determine if these children are learning at their age/grade level if you don't test them just as you do with the other children at their age/grade level? I agree with NCLB.

The point here is that FC schools are no longer what they were in the 80's and FC knows this. You won't read this in the WaPo articles but FC's 4th graders have scored below Richmond VA. Richmond VA has inner city problems, which FC doesn't. This is nothing more than an attempt by FC to mask the deterioration of its schools as a result of a huge influx of poorly prepared largely ESL students. FC has been able to attract businesses, survive huge housing costs, and levy high local taxes by pointing to its great school system. How long can this last?

FC is heading in the direction of California, which also had some of the best schools in the US back in the 60's and 70's. CA is now down at the bottom with states like Mississippi and Alabama. And FC is headed that way for the same reason: massive third world immigration.

Posted by: D Flinchum on February 17, 2007 10:31 AM