Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposal to close a nearly $3 billion two-year budget gap would cut almost $700 million in education funding, Virginia education officials said Thursday, while Senate Democratic leaders spelled out hopes to avoid deep reductions in school funding.
Education funding has been largely spared from earlier rounds of cuts, but is one of the hardest-hit sectors in Kaine’s December budget proposal. Lawmakers a year ago added almost $1 billion to K-12 funding, and now face the painful option of stripping away the bulk of that money amid a recession and slowing tax revenues.
Assistant Education Superintendent Kent Dickey told the Board of Education that Kaine’s proposal would trim $96 million from direct aid to public education in the current fiscal year and $602 million the next. That translates to a 6 percent reduction, or $375 million, to local school divisions, he said.
Kaine in October said his budget plan would cut $400 million from K-12 funding, mostly from capping state dollars for support staff. Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said the larger figure laid out by the Department of Education includes automatic adjustments triggered by dropping tax revenues.
The hardest sell for the reductions is likely to be the Virginia Senate, which is led by Kaine’s own Democratic Party. The majority caucus said Thursday, a day after the beginning of the 2009 session, that they will look to one-time savings in an effort to soften the blow for schools.
“We know that reductions will have to be made in that area,” said Senate Democratic caucus Chairwoman Mary Margaret Whipple, D-Arlington. “But we are searching for one-time reductions we can make, so we don’t structurally change the funding of K-12 education.”
For example, Whipple said delaying new textbooks could save the state government about $80 million. Pulling the state’s share of health insurance for school employees who don’t enroll in the coverage could save $65 million, she said.
Kaine, in his penultimate State of the Commonwealth speech Wednesday evening, appeared to differ philosophically with Senate leaders over how to carry out cuts.
“I have also proposed cuts that position us better for the future, rather than just finding savings for today,” he said. “I have proposed real, long-term savings instead of relying solely on short term or one-time actions.”
