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Local school officials are rallying with school officials across the commonwealth to advocate against inadequate state funding.
A letter, drafted and signed by the area’s three superintendents, was sent to Sen. Creigh Deeds, Del. Ellen Campbell and Del. Terry Austin. The letter implores the Virginia representatives to take action based on the recommendations of a recent study conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), Rockbridge County Superintendent Phillip Thompson told The News-Gazette.
JLARC’s research found that the Standards of Quality formula used to calculate the state funding for education is underserving Virginia’s public schools, especially compared to public institutions in neighboring states.
JLARC’s function is to “conduct program [evaluations], policy analysis, and oversight of state agencies on behalf of the Virginia General Assembly,” the organization’s website explains.
In its most recent study on Virginia’s K-12 funding formula, JLARC found that “Virginia school divisions receive less K-12 funding per student than the 50-state average, the regional average, and three of Virginia’s five bordering states.”
The report continues, “School divisions in other states receive 14 per- cent more per student than school divisions in Virginia, on average after normalizing for differences in cost of labor among states. This equates to about $1,900 more per student than Virginia.”
Superintendent Thompson believes that the lack of funding has been an issue affecting Virginia schools for years, hampering their ability to maintain all the positions needed to effectively educate students.
He said, “The Standards of Quality (SOQ) formulas used currently to fund Virginia schools do not appropriately fund the number of positions that are needed to properly educate students. As a result, school divisions are left looking for the funding difference from the locality which can place a strain on local funds. As of FY24, through the current SOQ model, the state funds approximately 50% of all the staffing required to educate the students of Rockbridge County.”
Thompson continued, “I don’t think anyone could effectively argue the fact that it would be extremely difficult for RCPS to educate students appropriately if we were to have only half of our current staff levels in every school. Trying to educate our students with 50% of our teachers, teacher assistants, school counselors, administrators, reading specialists, nutrition workers, custodians, bus drivers, etc., would be nearly impossible.”
Lexington City Schools Superintendent Rebecca Walters agrees with Thompson, saying that inadequate state funding makes it difficult to recruit and retain qualified staff. Walters also believes that funding is essential for equipment updates and improving educational programs.
“As mandates on K-12 schools, many unfunded, come down from the state, as the needs of our children continue to grow and change, and the goals of our schools grow to increase programming opportunities, the need for strong state educational funding remains essential,” Walters said to The News-Gazette via e-mail.
She continued, “As our school facilities age and require equipment updates, adequate funding is essential. And simply keeping up with the most current technologies and resources for educational programming, strong state funding is imperative.”
The Buena Vista School Board also decided to join the efforts of RCPS and LCS at its July meeting. As a smaller division, the Board members joked that Buena Vista City Schools should be headlined in the letter to prove the importance of additional funding.
Buena Vista School Board member Mac Felts mentioned that there is strength in numbers with the belief that having all three school districts in agreement will make a bigger impression on the General Assembly.
JLARC’s study concludes with a recommendation for the General Assembly to reconsider the SOQ formula or remove it altogether.
The report says, “The state needs to build a more robust and modern approach to maintaining and updating its SOQ funding formula that is removed from the budgetary processes. The IT application used by VDOE (Virginia Department of Education) to maintain the SOQ formula is cumbersome and old, and its internal calculations are opaque.
“School divisions lack the full information and understanding necessary to accurately report financial data that is used in SOQ funding calculations. Divisions also need more information and support from VDOE on financial reporting and budgeting,” the report continued. Ultimately, JLARC recommends that the General Assembly takes action to provide public school districts with more support.
The three superintendents hope the General Assembly takes heed of JLARC’s study. Thompson commented, “I and the Rockbridge County School Board are grateful that the General Assembly tasked JLARC with conducting this study because in order to have a top-tiered public education system in Virginia, we need to ensure that we are being funded fairly at the state level.”
