Virginians want more support for schools
Legislators should listen
You can’t talk about budgets without talking about numbers; however, a budget is much more than a listing of dollars and cents. At its core, it’s a blueprint of our priorities.
Where we spend our money is an accurate picture of our values. And the budgets recently proposed by the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate lay out a very different version of the importance they place on our public schools and, by extension, our young people.
The House, for example, cuts some $22 million in muchneeded funding to hire teachers for students who have limited English proficiency. Our state becomes more diverse every day and we’ve never needed those teachers more. In addition, the House makes a 20% reduction to the proposed salary increases for teachers and staff proposed by then-Gov. Ralph Northam. How does that help us hire and keep the best educators we can for our children?
While the Senate maintains the proposed increase in the budget for schools serving students from low-income families, the House proposes $210.2 million less over the next two years. Overall, the Senate increases per-pupil funding for school divisions, while the House decreases this funding, with the deepest cuts hitting rural schools and high-poverty schools.
As a final budget is hammered out in the next few days, lawmakers can choose to make stronger investments in our schools and build on the current introduced budget. That will require making tax policy decisions in the compromise budget bills. Right now, House lawmakers are working with nearly $2 billion (yes, with a b) less in general funds than the Senate because of their decision to make a drastic change to the state standard deduction, which would make significant, on-going cuts to state resources.
For those who do not know, general funds are the resources state lawmakers have the most discretion over in the state budget and could be used to provide strong public schools, close
existing health care gaps, and more. With $2 billion less, which does not include additional tax cuts that are not replaced with new, progressive taxes, House lawmakers crafted a budget that fails to direct much-needed resources to public schools.
Strong public schools are critical to a more just and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers and staff have been on the front lines of
helping students and families navigate uncertain times. The state budget that lawmakers approve this year can provide students, teachers and families with the tools and resources they need or further exacerbate existing racial and wealth inequities across Virginia.
Our tax code is the foundation of our budget, and it is currently upside-down. This means people making less pay more of their income in state and local taxes compared to those with more. By avoiding irresponsible tax cuts that do not fix our upside-down tax code, such as doubling the state standard deduction and raising new revenue by ensuring very wealthy individuals and profitable corporations pay their fair share of taxes, lawmakers would have the resources to meet the moment.
Voters have made it clear, according to new polling by Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center, that they want lawmakers to direct resources to historically under-resourced government services such as public schools rather than passing tax cuts or rebates.
Lawmakers still have time to pass a budget that invests in all of us and demonstrates a more forward-looking perspective. I invite people across Virginia to stay engaged, make their voices heard, and be a part of this process by talking to their lawmakers about the need to fund our schools and fix our upsidedown tax code.