The 2007 General Assembly is now in session
March 2, 2007
The General Assembly adjourned on Saturday, February 24 after quickly and unanimously approving changes to the biennial budget. The approved budget, as well as legislation passed during the just-completed 46-day session, now goes to Governor Kaine 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 4 for its annual reconvened session to consider amendments and vetoes proposed by the governor.
The remainder of this summary will be devoted to information about education-related budget provisions for the remainder of the 2006-2008 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. The budget agreement was not revealed until Saturday morning, allowing just a matter of hours for review prior to votes on the budget and then adjournment.
The Budget
The approved budget decreased funding for direct aid to public education by an additional $1.2 million in FY07 and increased it by $8.1 million in FY08, primarily due to the cost of increasing the retired teacher health care credit. Governor’s Kaine’s budget amendments had reduced K-12 spending by $43.4 million in FY07, primarily due to decreases in average daily membership (ADM), and increased it by $26.9 million in FY 2008, primarily due to more funding for the state-share of a 3% salary increase for SOQ-supported instructional and support staff, which was maintained in the final budget, to take effect December 1. The approved spending plan adds $11.9 million the second year for state costs to increase the retiree health care credit from $2.50 to $4.00 per month for each year of creditable VRS service (cap on years of service is eliminated). The cost is based on a rate of 1.16%, an increase of 0.46% over the introduced budget.
The budget maintains a $4.1 million expansion of the Early Reading Intervention program, as proposed by the governor, to include 100% of the eligible children in first and second grade (currently the state funds half of these students identified as needing service). The spending plan rejects the proposed SOL Algebra Readiness initiative ($3.9 million) proposed by the governor. The current program targets 7th and 8th graders, and had been proposed to expand to 6th graders. It also alters the governor’s $4.6 million proposal for the Virginia Preschool Initiative to establish pre-kindergarten pilot programs; it leaves $2.6 million (captured from the At-Risk Add-On program) for eligible school divisions that have existing partnerships with private, nonprofit providers and elect to participate in the pilot for at-risk preschool students not being served. Funding of $2.8 million for implementing an associated voluntary quality ratings system for child day care preschool programs also was eliminated.
In addition, the budget increases funding by $150,000 for the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program to allow an additional 40 full-time scholarship awards of up to $3,720 each, in order to increase the number of teacher candidates pursuing careers in critical teacher shortage areas. It provides the same amount for a one-time allocation to supplement the salaries of 12 mathematics specialists that have been placed at five school divisions in the state through a National Science Foundation grant. It adds $100,000 to Project Discovery, a dropout prevention and college access preparatory program offered through 19 community action agencies to 4th through 12th graders, and also provides $100,000 to increase the Jobs for Virginia Graduates matching program, bringing the total allocation to $500,000. This program assists high school seniors to remain in school, graduate and transition from school to career-based employment. These funds will allow specialists to be placed in up to four additional school divisions, serving up to an additional 120 students.
Finally, the approved budget plan provides $500,000 the second year for school divisions to purchase secondary career-technical equipment. This action will increase the current allocation from $2,000 to $3,000 for every school division, and will raise total state funding from the current $1.8 million to $2.3 million to help career and technical education programs keep pace with the equipment needed for industry certifications and assessments. The same amount is provided for establishing a Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership to provide professional development to teachers and administrators in schools and divisions struggling to meet SOL and NCLB requirements.
As the legislature faces another SOQ rebenchmarking next year, along with various increased staffing proposals from the Board of Education, budget language directs that a joint subcommittee composed of one member of both the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees review K-12 costs drivers and trends, a task that had been tackled this past year by various agency staff.As contained in the Kaine amendments, language was approved to provide greater flexibility for the Literary Fund interest rate subsidy and technology notes programs by removing the “seasonality” requirements that restrict the VPSA interest rate subsidy sale to the fall only and the technology notes sale to the spring only. Another amendment allows projects on the Literary Fund’s Second Priority Waiting List to participate in the interest rate program if unused appropriation remains once the participation of projects on the First Priority Waiting List is confirmed.
Click here for access to specific information about the approved Budget Compromise.
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