A proposed change in how Virginia distributes its education dollars has left regional loyalties in the General Assembly trumping party cohesion, pitting both Democratic and Republican lawmakers from Northern Virginia against legislators whose school districts stand to lose millions in state funds.
The debate, which spilled out onto the House floor, centers on whether to update a funding formula to let suburban Washington schools keep a greater share of tax dollars that would otherwise be sent downstate.
That formula — called the local composite index — fluctuates based on the comparative growth and prosperity of Virginia localities. Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to undo his predecessor’s proposed freeze on the index, restoring $129 million to Northern Virginia to reflect the economic slump.
Many lawmakers outside the most affluent part of the commonwealth, however, want to delay updating the funding formula because of the corresponding hit to their schools.
House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry, cataloged the millions of dollars lost to schools in southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads and the Richmond area: “It doesn’t take long to figure out whether it’s going to help your school district or hurt it.”
Northern Virginia, in any event, still would be subsidizing poorer jurisdictions with the vast majority of its tax dollars. And every school district is facing a budget crisis, with towering shortfalls in both state and local tax collections.
The region “will continue to contribute to the needs of the commonwealth $4 for every dollar we get back,” said Del. Vivian Watts, D-Annandale.
“But when the formula says it’s 90 cents when we [should] get a dollar, I don’t want to get just 90 cents,” she said.
Freezing the local composite index would leave Virginia open to legal challenge, said Del. Dave Albo, R-Springfield, because the state would be basing its funding allocations on obsolete data. He said the reason the update now benefits Northern Virginia counties “is because for so many years it hurt us.”
