Fairfax County leaders Tuesday threatened to sue Virginia if the state adopts a budget provision they say would further cripple already-reeling area schools.
County supervisors during their first meeting of the year pledged to push Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell to kill part of outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine’s budget stopgap — freezing a formula for fiscal 2011 thatdictates state education aid to counties. If that doesn’t work, the county will explore a legal remedy, the board said.
“This was basically politicizing something that had never been politicized before,” said Supervisor Pat Herrity, R-Springfield. Unlike his fellow board members, who said it was a waste of time to lobby the outgoing governor, Herrity urged them to continue to push Kaine until he leaves office Saturday, saying he “dumped the problem into the lap of the new governor.”
The education formula, known as the Local Composite Index, compiles income and retail sales, among other factors, in determining the amountof education funding for a given county. In other words, county leaders feel their score reflects a rosier economy rather than one that has nose-dived.
Critics, Fairfax officials included, already detested the system, saying it forced wealthier areas like Northern Virginia to shoulder too much of the state’s education costs. But with Fairfax amid a budget crisis, county officials expected their state aid to increase. Supervisors say failing to adjust the formula will cost the county about $60 million and Loudoun and Prince William counties another $60 million combined.
Calls to McDonnell’s transition office were not returned Tuesday afternoon. In a proposal released last week, Superintendent Jack Dale outlined $105 million in cuts to the school system’s budget, marking the third straight year of cuts and growing class sizes.
Kaine said the index freeze would protect 97 school districts — a move some labeled a parting gift to Richmond-area schools — that would have lost funds with a new calculation.
That’s no consolation for Fairfax residents, said Board Chairman Sharon Bulova. “Frankly, it’s rotten,” she said, explaining the county is being punished after years of abiding by the system.
