Why This Page Exists
We believe transparency matters. Below you’ll find the official communications Arlington County has sent to gymnastics families, and public discussions of the proposed cuts — presented unedited so you can read them for yourself and draw your own conclusions.
DPR FY 2027 Proposed Budget Presentation Tomorrow
Dear Members of the Arlington Parks and Recreation Competitive Gymnastics Community:
Tomorrow, Saturday, February 21, the County Manager is scheduled to release the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Proposed Operating Budget. Ahead of this release, the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) wants to ensure competitive gymnastics families are made aware of important impacts to the County’s gymnastics programs. The budget proposal addresses guidance given by the County Board, which directed the Manager to prepare a balanced budget that reflects County priorities while acknowledging the economic pressures experienced by taxpayers and homeowners. To balance the budget, the Manager was directed to propose service and program efficiencies as well as reductions that make this year’s budget especially challenging.
As a result, one proposed reduction is the elimination of Arlington’s competitive and recreational gymnastics programs with plans to repurpose Barcroft Sports & Fitness Center (BSFC) for other operational needs. If adopted, the BSFC facility would close for at least one year and the competitive Aerials and Tigers gymnastics programs would be discontinued, effective May 16, 2026, which is the last day of the season for each team.
This is a difficult decision that was not made lightly. While DPR has been able to minimize major reductions in the past, departments across the County are facing significant impacts this year, requiring them to make tough choices. Since the pandemic, DPR’s competitive and recreational programs have seen a decline in participation. As a result, these programs have experienced on-going challenges with meeting cost recovery goals, recruiting and retaining staff, and serving a broad range of participants. Despite this difficult news, DPR acknowledges the meaningful impact these programs have had on the area’s youth and athletes over the years. While this reduction means DPR would not be able to directly provide these services moving forward, Arlington is fortunate to be part of a region that offers many non-County alternatives.
We encourage you to learn more about the proposed budget and specific impacts at the County Board’s work session with DPR on Thursday, March 5 at 1:00 p.m. While community members are permitted to watch and listen, there is no opportunity for the public to participate in this work session.
The County Board will host two opportunities for public comments on budget issues:
- Tuesday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. — Public Budget Hearing
- Thursday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. — Public Tax Rate and Fees Hearing
All hearings and work sessions will be held in the County Board Room at the Bozman Government Center, 2100 Clarendon Blvd, 3rd Floor and are also available to view online. Resources can be found on the County Board meetings and agendas webpage. Community members can also share their views online by emailing dmf@arlingtonva.us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this update. Should you have any questions or need further information do not hesitate to contact me directly at bcharris@arlingtonva.us or 703-228-1872.
Ben Harris
Arlington County Government
registration@arlingtonva.us | 703-228-4747 | arlingtonva.us/DPR
What This Email Left Out
We present the email above unedited. Below is our analysis of what it says — and what it doesn’t.
Recreational and adaptive families received nothing
This email was sent only to families registered for competitive gymnastics. If your child takes recreational classes or parent-tot classes at Barcroft, you likely never received this notification — even though your program is being eliminated too. Families of children in adaptive gymnastics programs for kids with disabilities were also not notified.
Adaptive programs are not mentioned once
The words “adaptive,” “therapeutic,” and “disability” do not appear anywhere in this email. Barcroft hosts one of the only publicly accessible adaptive athletics programs for children with disabilities in Arlington County. Those families were neither mentioned nor notified. The county’s own email erases them from the conversation entirely.
“Non-County alternatives” — but which ones?
The email states:
Private gymnastics programs in the region cost 2–3x what county programs charge. For families who depend on affordable public programming, “go elsewhere” is not an answer. For adaptive families, there is no comparable alternative — the county did not name one because none exists in Arlington.
Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the budget release
This email was sent at 2:34 PM on a Friday. The full budget was released Saturday morning. Barcroft staff received severance offers that same day, with less than 45 days to decide. Families had less than 24 hours to absorb the news before the proposal went public. This is notification, not engagement.
No details on what Barcroft becomes
The email says the facility will be repurposed for “other operational needs” but provides no specifics. A 28,000 sq ft purpose-built athletics center — funded by taxpayers — will be closed for at least a year, and the public has been given no information about what replaces it. We have filed a Virginia FOIA request to find out.
The Board directed the budget targets — not this specific cut
The email states the County Board “directed the Manager to prepare a balanced budget.” The Board set deficit-reduction targets. The County Manager chose to propose eliminating gymnastics and closing Barcroft. This means the Board can still reverse this specific cut without contradicting their own budget guidance — they just need to hear from you.
County Manager’s Budget Message — Key Findings
We read the 65-page FY 2027 Manager’s Message so you don’t have to. Here’s what it reveals about gymnastics and Barcroft. Read the full document →
County Manager calls gymnastics “nice to have”
On page 2 of the Manager’s Message, County Manager Mark Schwartz explicitly categorizes gymnastics programs as services that are:
He then claims these services “continue to be available in our community through private providers.” This framing reduces a 30-year public program serving hundreds of children — including children with disabilities — to a luxury the county can simply outsource to the private market.
Less than one-tenth of one percent of the budget
Closing Barcroft and eliminating all gymnastics programs saves $969,542. The total county budget is $1.69 billion. That means the county is eliminating all competitive, recreational, and adaptive gymnastics to save 0.057% of the budget — roughly 6 cents for every $100 spent.
For context, the average Arlington homeowner is already paying a $444/year tax increase in this budget. The gymnastics savings amount to approximately $4.50 per Arlington household per year.
Barcroft will be closed for a year — before they know what to do with it
The budget document states:
Read that carefully: they are proposing to close a 28,000 sq ft purpose-built athletics center, lay off the staff, and end all programs before they have a plan for what comes next. The “operational needs” cited in the DPR email above? They don’t exist yet.
22.75 positions eliminated — 19.75 currently filled by real people
The Barcroft closure eliminates 13.0 filled permanent positions, 3.0 vacant permanent positions, and 6.75 filled temporary positions. These are coaches, program coordinators, and facility staff — many of whom have served Arlington families for years. Staff received severance offers the day before the budget was made public.
Barcroft is part of a $150 million line of credit
The Manager’s Message reveals that Barcroft’s debt is part of a $150 million county line of credit used to finance multiple facilities. The county allocated $5 million in FY 2026 to pay down Barcroft’s floating-rate debt — then deferred that payment. Closing Barcroft doesn’t eliminate the debt; it just means taxpayers pay it for a building that sits empty.
No enrollment numbers, no cost recovery data, no alternatives
The 65-page budget document provides detailed participation data for after-school programs (1,028 participants), youth initiatives, and behavioral health services. For gymnastics? Zero. No enrollment numbers, no waitlist data, no cost recovery calculations, and no analysis of alternatives like fee increases, public-private partnerships, or phased reductions. The county is asking the Board to eliminate a program without providing the data to evaluate it.
The word “adaptive” does not appear in the DPR section
Just like the DPR email, the Manager’s Budget Message makes no mention of adaptive or therapeutic gymnastics in its discussion of the Barcroft closure. The DPR section describes the facility offering “classes, recreational and competitive gymnastics, and a fitness center” — but does not acknowledge the adaptive programming that serves children with disabilities. A program that doesn’t exist on paper is easy to cut.
County Board Budget Meeting — February 21, 2026
~7-hour meeting where the proposed elimination of gymnastics and closure of Barcroft was publicly discussed for the first time.
On February 21, 2026, County Manager Mark Schwartz presented the FY 2027 Proposed Budget to the Arlington County Board. The meeting lasted approximately 7 hours and covered a $37 million budget gap across a $1.7 billion county budget. Below are the key moments related to gymnastics programs and Barcroft Sports & Fitness Center, with timestamps linked directly to the video.