Va. lawmakers prepare to overhaul decades-old school funding formula

Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, and Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, at a joint subcommittee meeting on Sept. 16 in Richmond. (Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)

Virginia lawmakers are carefully examining the state’s 52-year-old funding formula, which determines the funding level for public schools.

During its first meeting in Richmond on Monday, a small subcommittee of lawmakers faced the reality that the transformation could take a while, with members of the public in attendance and watching online.

Lawmakers said they hope to move forward swiftly, but not too quickly, after a December study showed that local governments in Virginia are spending far more than the state for K-12 education to fund the state’s Standards of Quality in Virginia school divisions.

Researchers learned that for fiscal year 2021, school divisions needed close to $11 billion in state and local funding. Instead, schools spent $17.3 billion, $6.6 billion more than the funding formula indicated was needed. Researchers said local governments covered the “vast amount” of funding.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, which studied the formula, said lawmakers could partially replace the SOQ formula by using student-based calculations for special education and English learner funding, or fully replace the entire staffing-based formula with a new student-based formula.

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, since the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission published its report on the Standards of Quality last December, funding for public education is projected to increase by $1.85 billion between fiscal years 2023 and 2026. $1.17 billion of this new funding will result from new policy spending, including salary increases.

Policy experts told legislators from the House and Senate that other states have taken around three years to adopt new funding formulas. According to the Learning Policy Institute, a nonprofit that studies ways to improve education policy, nine states, including Tennessee and Pennsylvania, have adopted new funding formulas since 2000.

“The education system today does not look the same as it did when our funding system was designed,” said Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, serving as the committee chair. “This is our opportunity to evaluate the current system and ensure that it is aligned to meet the needs of our students and school divisions for the next half-century.”

Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, chair of the House Education Committee, said funding for public education is one of the largest components of the state’s budget. As a result, he said funding schools often impacts other priorities around the commonwealth.

“For that reason, we will be careful, thoughtful and deliberate as we move through this process to make sure we get it right,” Rasoul said.

Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, said he would like to see the Department of Education staff and the Secretary of Education involved in the lengthy process. Neither Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera nor any Department of Education staff appeared to be present for the meeting on Monday. The legislature allocated $600,000 to the department over the next two years to support the subcommittee.

“I don’t want to see us work through this very quickly,” Austin added. “Although we can move through it in a timely fashion with a good, organized work plan, … this is something that’s going to be very challenging because there is tremendous diversity in the commonwealth of Virginia from one border to another, both east, west, north and south.”

Some Democratic lawmakers, including Locke, believe much of the work the committee will be tackling could have been addressed in two omnibus bills that Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed last session. The bill would have raised teacher salaries to the national average.

In his veto, Youngkin said he supported the desire of “ensuring that teachers and state-funded education support positions are funded competitively,” but passed up on the legislation because it relied heavily on what he viewed as flawed data from the National Education Association , which represents educators across the country.

However, while the governor and legislature could not agree on the two bills, they agreed on reforming the funding formula.

Christian Martinez, a spokesman for Youngkin, said the governor has been clear that the funding formula is “archaic” and an “opportunity for real reform.”

“The commonwealth needs a more effective K-12 funding formula that strategically allocates resources to meet the specific needs of students, teachers, and school divisions, ensuring that critical needs are addressed effectively,” Martinez said in a statement.

The committee will keep its public comment period open through Thursday. Lawmakers will review a draft work plan at its next meeting on Oct. 31.

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