Va. budget plan cuts books and schools staff

Virginia public schools students would have fewer new textbooks to study from, and fewer support staff to goad them along, under the bare bones state budget introduced Friday by Gov. Tim Kaine.

Textbook funding for local jurisdictions from the state — ranging in 2009 from $300,000 in Alexandria to nearly $5 million in Fairfax — will be eliminated from the current year’s budget in an effort to help fill the state’s $3.6 billion shortfall through 2012.