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The 2005 General Assembly
February 28, 2005
The General Assembly adjourned on Sunday,
February 27 after quickly approving changes to the biennial budget.
The approved budget, as well as legislation passed during the
just-completed 47-day session, now goes to Governor Warner for his
action. The Governor has 30 days from the session’s end to act on
bills presented to him; the legislature then gathers on April 6 for
its annual reconvened session to consider amendments and vetoes
proposed by the governor.
The Budget
The remainder of this weekly summary will be
devoted to information about education-related budget provisions for
the remainder of the 2004-2006 state spending plan as proposed by
the budget negotiators and then approved by the legislature. The
conference committee of senior budget writers worked past their
deadline to reach a compromise spending plan. A budget agreement was
not reached until early Saturday morning (the original deadline had
been Tuesday night). The amendments were made available on Sunday
morning, allowing a short amount of time for review prior to votes
on the budget and then adjournment. Provisions of the compromise
spending plan related to public education include the following:
Direct Aid to Public Education
The
approved budget allocates an additional $42.4 million for the
biennium for direct aid to public education and an additional $1.6
million for the Department of Education. These figures are slightly
below those contained in the introduced budget. Salary increases for
SOQ-supported instructional and support staff, included in the
introduced budget, were maintained in the approved spending plan.
Specifically, the amount for teacher salaries ($54.8 million)
represents the state share of a 3% increase, to be effective
December 1 of this year. Language is included that the goal is to
improve the average classroom teacher salary by 3%, but that the
funding is not a mandate to increase salaries.
The budget also adds $10 million in FY06 to the Literary Fund, to be
used for school construction loans for projects on the First
Priority Waiting List. The introduced budget diverted nearly $136
million from the Literary Fund to pay for teacher retirement, and an
additional $20 million for interest rate subsidies for school
capital projects.
Nearly $2.3 million is added to restore half of the eight percent
reduction taken in 2002 to at-risk add-on funding payments. Truancy
prevention also is added to the list of programs that may be
supported with this funding, with $675,000 specifically directed for
a one-year pilot truancy program in the City of Richmond.
The spending plan redirects unanticipated increases in FY 2004
lottery proceeds entirely to support Basic Aid, but allows $26.4
million in estimated FY05 and FY06 lottery proceeds to be split
between basic aid and local school divisions.
It also provides just over $1 million in general and nongeneral
funds over the two years to support the state's portion of the
contract for the turnaround specialist credential program. This is a
nearly $151,000 reduction from the introduced budget. Funding is
included to provide salary incentives for 10 principals in the
program for three years.
The budget adds $800,000 to provide support and additional
vocational-technical education equipment for all school divisions
and $400,000 for the Career and Technical Education Resource Center,
which provides statewide vocational curriculum and instructional
materials.
It adds $200,000 for the Jobs for Virginia Graduates program, which
provides career specialists to support school-to-graduation-to-work
programs. A language amendment allows basic aid funding attributable
to school nurses to be used to purchase defibrillators at high
schools offering interscholastic sports.
The approved budget eliminates the $1.6 million proposed in the
introduced budget for a new state-supported school breakfast
reimbursement that provides an additional $0.05 cents per meal.
Finally, the budget removes proposed new language and $3.6 million
in the introduced budget that changed the current methodology for
reimbursing school districts for medical service costs. Language
allows school divisions awarded competitive leadership development
grants in either year of the biennium to retain any unspent balances
and spend the remainder for the intended purposes during the next
two fiscal years.
Department of Education
The approved budget requires consolidation of
the residential deaf, blind, and multi-disabled education services
currently offered at the two schools at Staunton and Hampton, at a
new facility to be identified in a plan adopted by the Board of
Education. It also provides nearly $1.2 million in FY06 for school
efficiency reviews, down from $1.4 million contained in the
introduced budget. The spending plan reduces funding by $500,000 in
FY06 for a new statewide on-line career planning system, by $1.2
million for expansion of “Race to the GED” instruction and testing
(it also eliminates just over $643,000 for GED radio announcements),
and by $200,000 for a proposed pilot through the PASS initiative to
train school board members from four low-performing school
divisions.
Additional funding for the DOE to conduct
reviews of schools that are accredited with warning, and federal
funds for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act initiatives, as contained
in the introduced budget, also are retained in the approved plan.
Click here for access to specific information
about the approved
Budget Compromise.
Please contact CEPI if you have any questions
or need additional information about the 2005 General Assembly.
Questions or More Information? Please contact
CEPI if you have any questions or need additional information
about the 2005 General Assembly.
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