The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
Hampton Roads lawmakers promised Thursday to fight against Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan to shift millions in school funding from schools across the state to Northern Virginia.
They agreed to draft a letter, signed by members of the Hampton Roads caucus, expressing their displeasure and urging McDonnell to find some sort of middle ground.
And they sounded a bit betrayed. Chesapeake Del. John Cosgrove wondered aloud what area of the state McDonnell, a former Virginia Beach delegate, used to represent.
"Apparently Fairfax," said Del. Sal Iaquinto, R-Virginia Beach.
McDonnell said this week he plans to update a complicated formula, known as the local composite index, that distributes state school funding based in part on real estate values. Wealthier localities are expected to pay for more of their own school system costs. Poorer localities get more help from the state. Former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had proposed freezing the formula to save the state $29 million.
Updating the index would cost Hampton Roads schools more than $57 million this year and hurt schools in most areas of the state, according to an analysis by Fiscal Analytics, a Richmond-based research firm. That includes school divisions on the Peninsula and in Western Tidewater.
Virginia Beach would lose nearly $15 million under the updated formula, according to Fiscal Analytics. Norfolk would lose about $ 9 million, Chesapeake would lose about $11 million, and Suffolk and Portsmouth would each lose about $4 million.
Northern Virginia schools would receive $128 million more in funding under McDonnell's plan. That's because Northern Virginia property values have fallen so sharply, the area is judged to be less wealthy than it was the last time the index was updated.
Officials from Northern Virginia had been lobbying McDonnell for weeks, saying that failing to update the formula because of temporary financial considerations would be unfair.
Hampton Roads officials were in Richmond on Thurs day to urge local lawmakers to launch their own lobbying campaign, even just to soften the blow a bit.
School divisions were given "no notice" that they'd be losing more money on top of already proposed state cuts, said Virginia Beach School Board Chairman Dan Edwards.
"We recognize the LCI is fair and that's where we need to end up," Edwards said, referring to the local composite index. But he said the rest of the state should get "at minimum a transition, which would be some sort of partial approach" to adjust to McDonnell's plans.
York County Schools Superintendent Eric Williams said the impact is "significant" and could include larger class sizes and the elimination of some teaching jobs.
Alicia Wittmeyer, (804) 697-1561, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com
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kudos
Kudos to all that challenge McD.
"Hampton Roads lawmakers promised Thursday to fight against Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan to shift millions in school funding from schools across the state to Northern Virginia."
KUDOS
Kudos again to JC, now he needs to come up with a workable plan, Which I know he is capable of.
The monies need to be comparable to all, and not because some school divisions/cities/counties are more in debt than others. Share the wealth, share the blame.
More to come
Frankly, this debate is just another diversion from the tsunami that school divisions around the state will face when the Governor finally gets around to announcing the additional budget cuts he will make. Since those have not yet been announced, this gives him another week to avoid the universal condemnation that will come from local officials who must deal with laying off thousands of teachers, public safety workers, human service employees, and employees in the courts and the detention facilities. Hold onto to your anger and your rage for the product now being formulated in sub committee meetings of the Legislature in the dead of night with little or no public input or discussion. The wave is just off the coast and it is about to crash on the shore, and it will make the current debate pale by comparison.
McD Never An Advocate of Public Schools....
Many knew that Bob McD was not, and never had been, a supporter of public schools. However, to use public school's and children as political pawns is the lowest of the low. For a guy who wears his religion on his sleeve, his political ethics have yet to surface.
The bottom line is, Virginia does not and has not lived up to its obligation to fund schools. It ranks below the national average in school funding. Teachers salaries have fallen and the state average per pupil expenditure is low.
Far too many Va students are attending classes in portables; many schools are decrepate and electrical systems not up to 21st Century needs; roofs leak; windows are drafty.
While many are proud to tout Va as a low tax state...this is the price our children are paying for agendas that place politics over the needs of its citizens.
The Truck has arrived...
Yes, the goal of the anti tax majority is to make the condition of our school infrastructure rival the condition of our roads and bridges. Remember Grover Norquist's anti tax pledge: the goal of an elected official is to cut off the arms and legs of government so it can be drowned in a bath tub. The delivery truck has arrived in Richmond, and the tub is being off loaded.
I don't know about everyone
I don't know about everyone else here but, being one of your "anti-tax" nutters, I have to say that I am not so much against taxes as I am the flagrant waste of my taxes by, for example, the school systems. How is it possible that the tuition at many private schools, in VB no less, is LESS that what VBCPS spends per student ($12,000/yr?) and yet while the private schools seem to do just fine with less, the public schools seem almost insatiable in their need for more and more money? Even worse is your position that we HAVE to give them more money because the spendthrifts in charge have hired so many people and committed so much money that those poor people would be laid off and that would be sooo sad. It's a vicious cycle and somehow or another it needs to be stopped. Do you know, for example, the school offices are encouraged to spend ALL of the money allotted to them - even if they have to buy junk they don't need - because if they don't, they wouldn't get as much in the next round? Knowing that, how am I supposed to sympathize with their budget woes?
Goal
Well Harvey, in this case, you are just plain wrong. The schools are not asking for more money. They must educate all comers, not just those selected to attend a private school, and of course they must meet state and federal performance standards and provide transportation as well. As a businessman, I support the public schools because we need an educated work force to compete and prosper. Last year, the Beach schools actually returned significant money to the city, belying your argument above. You must have been thinking about federal agencies like John Moss runs that do that all the time. Our objective ought to be to improve our schools, not to decimate them.
Actually, I believe they
Actually, I believe they have returned money every year (since I can remember) to the City Council...in some years it has been as much as $24M.
what one minute there partner
'They must educate all comers, not just those selected to attend a private school, and of course they must meet state and federal performance standards and provide transportation as well.'
Private schools educate all comers too. The difference is whether the parent is capable and willing to invest money ABOVE those tax dollars already taken for a public education. The other factor is the student. Students with a laundry list of documented problems can be denied entry into a private school. My daughter's private school accepts NO federal/state funding. They operate at a HIGHER level of performance than the public system by keeping riff-raff out and demanding discipline. She is there because the public system is not capable of dealing with the gang mentality or the ignorant parents. She was being denied a proper education. Political correctness has totally crippled the public system. The out of pocket cost is financially hard on me. I also pay additionally for transportation. Every penny is worth it!
While I will always maintain
While I will always maintain that public schools are underfunded...I agree with you....spending priorities within the school system itself need to be examined. But nobody holds the administration accountable and no one seems to care, even the SB. Oh, people complain on posts here, but as a person who has been intimately involved in the VBCPS, no one ever shows up for budget hearings and finding someone to run for the SB is like asking someone to volunteer for a root canal.
I, myself, told the Superintendent that the VBCPS were top heavy. He lectured me, saying I should be more supportive. I questioned decisions at SB meetings only to be punished and accused of not liking children.
Everyone thinks that teachers are the root cause of poorly performing schools....but they are at the bottom of the food chain and no one asks or cares.
In VBCPS if you question the administration, you can count your career dead.