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How Well Funded Are Our Schools?
There is no disagreement that K-12 education needs more funding. Depending on the situation, politicians tout increased funding the last several years, and it is true that more money has been budgeted for education. On July 10, JLARC (Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission), the oversight arm of the General Assembly, issued a report on education funding commissioned in 2021. It showed that “Virginia school divisions receive less K-12 funding per student than the 50-state average, the regional average, and three of Virginia’s five neighboring states (Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia). School divisions in other states receive 14 percent more per student than school divisions in Virginia, on average, after normalizing for differences in cost of labor among states. This equates to about $1,900 more per student than Virginia.” (Richmond Times Dispatch, 7/11/23) JLARC also noted that well-funded schools lead to increases in student performance.
The SOQ (Standards of Quality) are requirements that must be met by all Virginia public schools and school divisions and must be reviewed (re-benchmarked) every two years. These revisions are recommended by the Board of Education and must be approved by the General Assembly. JLARC found that the funding formula for the SOQ does not adequately account for a school division’s size, number of higher-need students or regional labor costs. Most states use a K-12 funding formula based on the number of students, but Virgina’s formula is based on an arbitrary number of staff that the state is willing to pay for, and almost every locality finds it necessary to employ more than the GA will fund. JLARC recommended replacing the staff-based formula with the student-based formula or use student-based calculations for special education and English learner funding. The 2022 General Assembly did not provide adequate funding for the prescribed revisions made by the Board of Education in 2021; in fact, they have never fully funded the SOQ.
The current budget stalemate is over refusal to compromise on how to spend a large surplus. Some want to use part of it for tax relief and others insist that now is the time to use it to support the growing needs of K-12 education and other necessities that have suffered for a lack of funding. The FOS (Fund Our Schools) coalition representing 22 Virginia organizations, including VRTA, has sent a letter to the Board of Education supporting the JLARC recommendations. They have also included other suggestions for consideration as they make the 2023 revisions. The draft revisions will be released in September.
In order for Virginia to provide the education our students need, we must convince candidates of the necessity of implementing the JLARC recommendations.
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