Virginia’s budget with raises for teachers, state employees goes into effect

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – Virginia’s new budget that went into effect July 1 comes with pay raises for state employees and teachers and what lawmakers called a record-breaking investment in K-12 public schools.

The nearly $188 billion two-year budget , which runs until June 30, 2026, gives 3% pay raises to public school teachers, K-12 support positions and state employees in each of the next two fiscal years.

The wage increases apply to adjunct faculty, graduating teaching assistants at colleges and universities and state-supported local employees.

Virginia’s new two-year budget also includes $2.5 billion in more K-12 public education funding, more than $1 billion in funding than what Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) initially proposed in his budget plan.

Over the next two fiscal years, the state’s spending plan also comes with more than $200 million from the state’s general fund in new behavioral health spending, nearly $150 million in additional funding to support the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, more than $100 million for toll relief for low-income individuals in Hampton Roads.

After being divided on their spending priorities, state Democrats who control both chambers of the legislature and Gov. Youngkin agreed to re-work the state’s spending plan and eventually reached a compromise on a budget deal in May.

The General Assembly voted to approve budget bills for the current and next spending plans – 94-6 in the House of Delegates and 39-1 in the state Senate.

The final version of the two-year spending plan didn’t include an expansion of the state’s sales tax to include digital services and goods like streaming services, which was in the conference report passed by the General Assembly in March.

The expansion of the tax, initially proposed by Youngkin but with tax cuts that the administration said would end up with $1 billion in tax decreases, was a sticking point in budget talks as Youngkin expressed strong opposition to the proposal over his concerns that it would raise taxes. Youngkin had vowed not to sign any budget that increases taxes.

The final deal also removed language that Democrats wanted to include that would have made Virginia rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate effort aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

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