The 2009 General Assembly has adjourned
March 6, 2009
The General Assembly adjourned on Saturday, February 28 after approving changes to the biennial budget. The approved budget, as well as legislation passed during the just-completed 46-day session, now goes to Governor Kaine for his action. The governor has 30 days from the session’s end to act on bills presented to him; the legislature then gathers on April 8 for its annual reconvened session to consider amendments and vetoes proposed by the governor. It is expected that the governor will present a fairly extensive budget amendment package, as much additional information about the expected flow of federal stimulus money (the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA) becomes known in the coming weeks.
The remainder of this summary will be devoted to information about education-related budget amendments to the introduced 2008-10 state spending plan, as they were proposed by the budget negotiators and then approved by the legislature. The conference committee of senior budget writers worked past their deadline to reach a compromise spending plan. The budget agreement was not revealed until Saturday morning, allowing just a matter of hours for review prior to votes on the budget and then adjournment.
Budget Issues
The General Assembly accepted many of Gov. Kaine’s proposed policy changes, including the use of a cap on the number of support positions to be funded by the State (FY10 only). School divisions are to have discretion in how to adjust to the decreased state funding, as long as they continue to meet Standards of Quality (SOQ) staffing requirements. The approved budget includes language that localities are not to reduce instructional positions below the number of positions required by the SOQ as a result of the support cap, and that they shall meet the required local effort amount to fund state funded instructional positions. The Board of Education is directed to compile two rebenchmarking calculations for the next biennial budget, one based on this capped support position methodology and one not. The Board also is to review the current SOQ to evaluate the appropriateness of the existing staffing standards for instructional positions and the appropriateness of establishing ratio standards for support positions, and to review state laws, regulations and procedures that could be modified, reduced or eliminated in an effort to minimize administrative burdens.
The General Assembly also agreed to eliminate the $27.5 million school construction grants fund, and only partially restored the school divisions’ portion of lottery profits, using most of the lottery dollars to supplant state general fund dollars for education. The budget makes up for the reductions in state aid that would have resulted from the policy changes enumerated above with approximately $365 million in funding from the ARRA. It also directs that those funds be used in FY11.
The compromise plan also redistributes nearly $61 million from the Lottery Proceeds Fund's Funding Loss Cap account into the Additional Support for School Construction and Other Operating Costs account (flexibility is allowed in that these funds can be used for operating costs).
The budget provides an additional $1 million in FY10 to account for expected growth in the number of teachers eligible for National Board certification bonuses. It also restores $75,000 in FY10 to the Jobs for Virginia Graduates (JVG) initiative, which is a statewide program that helps at-risk high school students (mostly seniors) to graduate and obtain a job. Finally, it provides $200,000 to the Department of Education to support administration of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.
Budget language allows school divisions to use FY10 textbook funding for any operational expense and eliminates the required local match for such state funds; this is intended to be a one-time action. Other language stipulates that Career and Technical Education-based degrees are an eligible criterion for a student to receive a Virginia Teaching Scholarship. Finally, language encourages localities to allow school boards to carry over any unspent local allocations into the next fiscal year, and to provide increased flexibility to school boards by appropriating state and local funds for public education in a lump sum.
Click here for access to specific information about the approved budget amendments from the Department of Education.
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