The Latest from VEA

The House and Senate appropriation committees released their proposed budgets on February 20. Each body made some new investments in public education and the House, overall, made large cuts to Virginia’s schools. Like Governor Northam’s proposed budget, both new budgets fall short in funding the Virginia Board of Education-prescribed Standards of Quality (SOQs) – the minimum recommended standards by our state’s education experts.

Based on topline numbers released Sunday, the Senate budget invests hundreds of millions of additional dollars in K-12 schools, while the House budget cuts $638 million in state direct aid.

The average per-pupil state direct aid reduction in the House budget was $525 but was more than three times larger in the 20% of school divisions with the highest share of student poverty ($1,023), than in divisions with the lowest share ($325). Additionally, the cuts in state direct aid in the House budget hit rural school divisions particularly hard, averaging $836 per student versus only $442 for non-rural school divisions.

The VEA has prepared a number of documents to assist our members and stakeholders in understanding the House and Senate budget proposals.

• The first is VEA’s Budget Statement released on February 22nd, 2022. Download here.

• The second is VEA’s Comparison Chart of Three Proposals (Northam’s Budget, the House Budget, and the Senate Budget) and how they stack up. Download here.

• And lastly, VEA’s Governor, House, and Senate Direct Aid Analysis by Poverty and Rural Status. Download here.

The VEA encourages members and stakeholders to share this information with their respective constituencies.

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