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On the record

• OtherAnsweredSep 6, 2026

  Hello Alex, What is your stance on funding public schools? Will you support the Virginia 1% sales tax referendum?

  — Karen Graf

  Alexander’s response

  Thanks for the great question! I believe our county has an obligation to fund public education. Schools are one of the core services residents expect their government to provide along with emergency services. In fact, public schools are one of the few things Virginia law actually requires counties to fund, so the way that I see it: we should fund our essential/core services first, then everything else should follow. If we can’t fund our core services, we have a problem. On the November 3rd referendum: yes, I will personally be voting for it. However, I want to be clear that I am not telling anyone how to vote, and that my own personal support for this referendum does not mean I am keen on raising anyone’s taxes. Here’s why I support it: regardless of how anyone feels about the new high school, it’s going to be built. We will likely need new ones in the future if we continue to grow. That also has to be funded. To fund it, we have several options, and a sales tax is the best one. Why? A sales tax collects revenue from everyone who shops in our county, not just residents, so visitors help carry a cost that would otherwise fall entirely on property owners. It is also voluntary, and after a year in which five taxes were raised, this is the only tax residents get to vote on. School construction costs are also the excuse that our county uses to justify rezoning farmland for industrial projects and data centers. The revenue from the sales tax takes that fiscal pressure off the table and additionally, gives us more of a reason to expand tourism.

• OtherAnsweredSep 11, 2026

  I just had a conversation with the mother of a five-year-old who is doing fifth grade math. He is so far ahead of his classmates that he quickly gets bored with predictable results that the teacher is not equipped to handle. Apparently, the Frederick County school system has no gifted student program, so they put him in a "special needs" program aimed at the physically handicapped and kids with learning disabilities. Should we not be seeking out such kids to challenge them to be all they can be, not slapping them down to be average?

  — Christopher John Barltrop

  Alexander’s response

  I’m sorry to hear about the mother’s frustration. I don’t know where she may have heard that FCPS doesn’t have gifted education, but I do believe that Frederick County actually offers a gifted student program, though to be fair to the kid’s unique situation, it may not meet his particular needs. For the K-2 Discovery program, which the five-year old would fall under, it’s only 50 minutes a month. If the student is that precocious, then 50 minutes a month is definitely inadequate as that would amount to roughly 8 hours of gifted education in the entire school year! That’s probably not enough to keep the kid from being bored and definitely not enough to keep a mom from being frustrated. Unfortunately, the gifted program FCPS offers doesn’t become weekly until students are in the 3rd grade. At that level, students are pulled out for 75 minutes a week, which for the child, still probably wouldn’t be enough. Everything else (GEMS, PRISMS, Governor's Schools, GIS, etc.) starts in middle school or later. However, it’s not hopeless, and honestly, for a child this far ahead, I wouldn’t recommend gifted programs. According to FCPS, the principal has the authority to send the kid to a higher grade's classroom for math or English or any other subject, and the mother herself can request that. Now, I want to be straightforward: as Chairman, my jurisdiction would be limited because curriculum decisions belong to the elected School Board, not to me. While I believe that gifted students should be challenged to be all they can be, I’m limited to what I can do. The role of the board is the county's annual transfer to the schools, which I can speak on. Regarding the gifted program, the state sends about $558,000 for gifted education, but the county's budget document never discloses what the program itself costs or spends. For 21 schools, that honestly seems a bit low. If I get into office, I will want to work with Frederick County Public Schools to identify their specific needs and requests.

• OtherAnsweredSep 12, 2026

  What is your stance on public sector collective bargaining. Would you be willing to back this so LEO, Firefighters and EMTs, teachers and those that make the county work day in and day out have the abillity to come to the table to negotiate wages, benifits and working conditions?

  — Anonymous

  Alexander’s response

  Thanks for the question and I’ll do my best to answer it clearly: So through an ordinance adoption, the Board of Supervisors can authorize bargaining for county government employees. For teachers and school staff, the School Board, not the Board of Supervisors, holds that authority. For LEO, deputies work for the Sheriff, an independently elected constitutional officer, so law enforcement coverage would require the Sheriff's participation. So I wouldn’t be able to vote on LEO and school staff. Now here’s my answer: I’m supportive of collective bargaining, but considering the shortfall we have and our budget issues, I think a fiscal cost analysis before an ordinance is considered would be the most appropriate course of action. I’d also want the public to weigh in on it, because the government is ultimately responsible to them. I firmly believe that when it comes to any financial decisions (and collective bargaining is one), we need to be transparent and include the public in every step of the process. As of right now, however, the public is not included and our budget is not transparent. One of the things I aim to work towards, if elected, is budget reform and to ensure more transparency in the financial process. I’m pragmatic, so I think that bringing forward a motion to adopt an ordinance on collective bargaining when we have an outdated budget model (and can’t even figure out our Development Impact Model, the tool the county uses to estimate what new development costs taxpayers) and facing fiscal pressure is premature. We need budget reform first. I aim to be responsible with taxpayer’s money and to always be honest about what I can and cannot do. I’ll always tell you the truth about what’s possible and what’s not possible at the current moment. I’d also be one of seven votes. The rest of the board is unlikely to support such a motion. That's why elections matter. If you want a board that takes questions like this seriously, that majority has to be built.