On Tuesday morning, a 16-year-old was hit by a car while walking to South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia. The student wasn't in a crosswalk, and the road where it happened had never been assigned a crossing guard in the first place. They were hospitalized afterward with injuries described as minor, but it could have been so much worse.

This crash happened just seven days after Fairfax County eliminated crossing guards from outside its high schools, a decision county leaders say saved roughly $400,000.

School Board member Melanie Meren said the crash happened "on the seventh day without crossing guards since the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the County Executive's budget which cut those services to help provide a 0.0025% tax cut." Supervisor Walter Alcorn, whose district includes South Lakes, said "our school safety programs should not be the target of discretionary cuts," and called for a broader look at speed and infrastructure improvements near every Fairfax school.

Fairfax County has already installed speed cameras near South Lakes to slow drivers down. That's a start, but it isn't enough. Teenagers walking to school deserve trained adults helping them cross safely, not a shrug and a small tax break.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors can fix this. Sign the petition to demand they restore crossing guard funding at every Fairfax County high school, before another student pays the price for a budget line item.