The Virginia Senate and House are girding for a two-week fight over education spending after each chamber adopted state budget proposals with vastly different spending plans for K-12 education. About $93 million in state cuts from K-12 spending would be made in the House budget bill, with no locality spared. Northern Virginia counties such as Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William, which boast three of the largest school districts in the state, would suffer some of the heaviest reductions. Cuts of $5.9 million, $3 million, and $6.4 million would be made in each county, respectively.
Smaller school systems would have to deal with proportionately smaller reductions. Arlington County and Alexandria schools each could lose about $700,000 in state funds.
“It comes on the backs of the fact that the state government has for several years reduced education every year,” said Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Fairfax. “And local governments have had to reduce education as well. The school systems are really getting into a jam.”
| House cuts to education spending: Arlington County: $681,534 |
| Fairfax County: $5.9 million |
| Loudoun County: $3 million |
| Prince William County: $6.4 million |
| Alexandria: $667,370 |
| Falls Church: $40,621 |
| Fairfax City: $86,464 |
The funds are tied to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s desire to save $150 million of a $400 million general fund surplus in a new transportation bank.
While the House set aside the funds in its budget bill, the Senate voted to return the money to the general fund, where about $83 million was apportioned for increasing education spending by $100.6 million, according to Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax.
“There’s going to be two sizable needs butting against each other,” Plum said, “and do we split the baby in half or do we recognize that we need to keep transportation funding on the transportation side and keep education whole?”
Plum passed out the report, which outlines how much each city, town, and county in Virginia stands to lose in K-12 education funding, hoping that delegates would look it over on their way back to their jurisdictions so they could explain why school funding was being cut, he said.
The divide in education spending priorities is a routine move between Virginia Republicans and Democrats, according to Stephen Farnsworth, professor of communications at George Mason University. Democrats tend to represent more urban and suburban districts that have greater educational needs than the more rural districts, typically represented by Republican senators and delegates.
However, the matter of whether to spend $150 million of the state’s surplus on transportation or general fund expenses won’t be easy once the House and Senate meet to hash out their budget differences.
“There’s no question that Virginia has immense transportation demands that aren’t being met by state government,” Farnsworth said. “The Republicans think that the $150 million surplus, if devoted to transportation, can help deal with that public demand.”
Saslaw said schools once again should be one of the state’s top spending priorities.
“We don’t have to worry about national defense, we don’t have to worry about sending a man to the moon, and we don’t have to go over and fight wars,” Saslaw said. “The biggest part of what we do is educate kids.”
