The Latest from VEA

Carol Bauer, president of the Virginia Education Association, issued the following statement in response to the release of Governor Youngkin’s proposed state budget for the remainder of the biennium:

“Despite billions of dollars in available revenue from recent reforecasts, Governor Youngkin’s proposed budget fails to deliver the bold investments our public schools desperately need, making no new ongoing state investments in public schools other than required technical updates and small investments in Central Office programming. With teacher shortages worsening in many schools, outdated infrastructure, and significant needs for investment in special education, Virginia’s education system is at a crossroads. Yet, instead of addressing these critical issues, the governor’s budget prioritizes private school vouchers and one-term gimmicks, leaving our public schools to languish.

“The governor claims to have added $1 billion to K-12 education, but this number is misleading. Rather than new, substantive investments, much of these funds represent federal money the state is passing through to local school divisions, as well as technical adjustments required by code, such as updates to enrollment and English learner data. Meanwhile, the Youngkin administration continues to divert public dollars to private schools through a $50 million ‘Opportunity Scholarship’ voucher scheme, which offers families earning up to $81,000 a chance to receive annual grants of $5,000 to send their children to private schools. While technically new funding, this program does not assist public schools, and actually risks reducing public school funding over time. If students disenroll from public schools to use vouchers, enrollment declines—and because state and local funding are based on per-student enrollment, this will ultimately harm public schools and the students who rely on them. In addition, research on vouchers like this program overwhelmingly indicates considerable harm to achievement outcomes for students who utilize them.

Failure to Address Teacher Pay and JLARC Recommendations

“The governor’s budget completely ignores the pressing need for teacher and school staff salary increases. Virginia’s teachers remain thousands of dollars below the national average, and the governor offers no new state funding for salary increases. Addressing our critical staffing shortages is essential, as they directly impact student learning and success. The VEA calls for at least a 3% increase in addition to the existing 3% scheduled increase in teacher and staff salaries for next year. This level of funding over each of the next three years would put Virginia on track to reach the national teacher pay average by the 2027-2028 school year. We also call for $10,000 in targeted supplemental pay for professionally licensed teachers in the top 10% of schools with the highest teacher vacancy rates to further address shortages. Moreover, critical JLARC recommendations, such as fully lifting the support cap and creating a special education funding add-on, are absent from this budget, despite the state’s $3.2 billion surplus.

Missed Opportunities in School Construction

“While the governor’s announced $290 million investment in school construction grants represents a gesture toward addressing our infrastructure challenges, it falls staggeringly short of meeting the scale of the crisis. None of this $290 million was new state funding. Instead, the governor shuffled around existing funds from state pots already dedicated to public schools. At last accounting, Virginia faced a $25 billion school construction backlog in 2021—a dramatic increase from $18 billion in 2013. This backlog has likely been growing by at least $1 billion annually, driven by rising construction costs and years of underinvestment. The Governor’s proposed investment this year is a recipe for allowing the backlog to only continue getting significantly worse.

“To make matters worse, this year the Governor vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have empowered localities to raise funds for school construction through a local sales tax referendum, tying the hands of communities desperate to fix crumbling schools while offering inadequate state support.

“Virginia students and educators deserve safe, modern learning environments, not classrooms plagued by leaking roofs, unsafe conditions, and outdated facilities. Substandard school buildings negatively impact student learning, teacher retention, and community well-being. Lawmakers in the General Assembly must reject this insufficient investment and work to develop a sustainable, long-term plan to reduce the school construction backlog. Our children’s futures depend on it.”

A Call to Action

“Virginia’s educators, students, and families deserve better. This year, we have a major opportunity to make significant investments in K-12 education, thanks to the large state surplus. We call on state lawmakers to reject this budget’s inadequate funding and instead craft a plan that prioritizes long-term success for our public schools. This includes raising teacher pay with at least an additional 3% increase this budget cycle, targeted supplemental pay for educators in high-need schools, fully funding near-term JLARC recommendations, making sustained, ongoing investments in schools identified as Needs Intensive Support or Off Track, and providing additional state support for comprehensive mathematics support.”