UPDATE ON THE BUDGET

The conference committees have finished their work and the General Assembly is expected to adopt their report on the budget.  Our earlier blog gave you a link to the conference report.  The good news is that the final product is much closer to the Senate amendments than to the House amendments.  It appears that 38 school divisions will share in approximately $16.6 Million in LCI hold harmless funds and all school divisions will share in approximately $60 Million.  It is important to note that it appears that none of this money will be built into the basic aid for rebenchmarking purposes. 

Here is how the House Appropriations staff described the additional funds for K-12:

Conference Report includes a one‐time supplemental payment to all school divisions for the state’s share of a $129.62 per pupil amount (PPA) that totals $87.7 million in FY 2012

• The intent of this payment is to be one‐time in nature and shall be taken out of the base expenditure totals for the purposes of calculating the cost of the FY 2012‐2014 biennial budget and for future rebenchmarking considerations

• Reprograms $55.0 million from the Hold Harmless payments and $5.9 million from textbooks in the adopted budget for this allocation

The Conference Report also includes $16.6 million to make whole the remaining 38 school divisions that would have received Hold Harmless in Chapter 874.

The Conference Report increases the employer rate in the adopted budget from 5.16% to 6.33% for a cost of $31.0 million in FY 2012.

Click here for links to more information about the budget from the House Appropriations Committee.

Click here to see the House Appropriation Committee's projected distribution of additional funding to each school division.

Click here to open a presentation on the budget prepared by the Senate Finance Committee staff. 

Budget Alert

The Conference Report on Budget Amendments was released earlier today.  You can access the report here. 

The House and Senate will reconvene this evening to consider the final budget amendments.

Check back for often for updates.

UPDATE ON THE BUDGET

It appears that the budget conferees may have reached agreement on the K-12 portion of the budget. Consistent with what was reported in the newspapers this morning, it appears the conferees agreed yesterday to $75 Million in additional money (over the Governor's introduced budget) for K-12. What had not been agreed to was how that money was going to be parceled out. We understand that the conferees may have agreed to utilize the approach set forth in the Senate amendments with appropriate pro rata reductions. The Senate amendments had approximately $17 Million for the LCI hold harmless and $83 Million for discretionary operating dollars solely for educational use, including, but not limited to, bonuses, retaining instructional positions, and textbooks. If what we hear is correct, the $17 Million and the $83 Million should each be reduced by 1/4th to get the appropriate amounts for hold harmless and for discretionary educational use.


While it has been reported that state employees will be given a 5% raise to offset having to pay the 5% employees' share of the VRS premiums, the budget will not contain a requirement that school board employees pay their share of the VRS premiums or money to give school board employees a raise.

There are still some unresolved budget issues. Consequently, the final budget amendments may not be voted on before tomorrow or early next week.

HB 1483 Passed by the Senate

HB 1483 (Del. Cleaveland) provides a narrow exception to the post-Labor Day school opening requirement for a school division that is entirely surrounded by a school division that has received a waiver from the Board of Education to open before Labor Day. Del. Cleaveland has explained that the purpose of his bill is to address a unique situation faced by the Roanoke City Public Schools, which has a high percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch (70%+). The school system makes every effort to keep the schools open during inclement weather so that the students are fed. Consequently, Roanoke City Public Schools are not closed due to inclement weather as frequently as the surrounding school divisions and, therefore, they do not qualify for a waiver to the post-Labor Day opening requirement under the current waiver system. Del. Cleaveland’s bill would allow Roanoke City Public Schools to have a waiver and operate on the same schedule as the surrounding school divisions. 

The tourism industry strenuously opposed this bill, claiming, incredibly, that it would be detrimental to tourism in the Commonwealth to allow Roanoke City Schools to start before Labor Day because the families of Roanoke City students would otherwise travel during the Labor Day holiday. Efforts earlier this week to rerefer the bill to the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee (where the tourism industry would again try to defeat the bill) were unsuccessful. The bill was debated extensively on the floor of the Senate this week and was ultimately passed by the Senate today on a vote of 22 to 18. 

Waiver Bill Passed by the Senate

Late last week, we asked for your assistance in seeking support for Del. Scott's waiver bill (HB 2494). This bill will permit a school board to seek waivers from the Board of Education from state regulations and for an Individual School Accreditation Plan on behalf of one or more of its schools. We are very pleased to report that this bill was passed by the Senate today on a vote of 33 to 7. Thanks to all of you who urged your Senators to support this important bill.

Parental Notification Bill Defeated in Senate

HB 1548 (Del. Kory) would have required that the school principal or designee notify the parents of any student who violates a school board policy or the compulsory attendance requirements when such violation "is likely to" result in the student's suspension or the filing of a court petition. We opposed the bill because it imposes additional reporting requirements on school personnel and because it may lead to parental interference with investigations of student misconduct and challenges to disciplinary decisions. Yesterday we, along with VASS and VEA, distributed a letter to every Senator seeking their support in opposing the bill. On the floor of the Senate, several Senators spoke in opposition to the bill, reading from and citing to our joint letter. Yesterday, the Senate defeated the bill on a vote of 28 to 12.

Update on Family Life Education Bills

SB 967 (Sen. Northam) would have required every school division to implement a family life education curriculum.  Under current law, school boards may, but are not required to, teach family life education. This bill died in the Teachers and Administrative Action subcommittee of the House Education Committee on a vote of 4 to 4.

SB 906 (Sen. Deeds) requires that those school divisions that choose to teach family life education must teach the SOLs relating to dating violence and abusive relationships at least once in middle school and twice in high school. This bill was recommended for reporting by the Teachers and Administrative Action Subcommittee on a vote of 8 to 0.

65% Solution Bill Killed by Senate Education and Health Committee

Del. Loupassi’s HB 1416 was before the Senate Education and Health Committee yesterday. At the Delegate’s request, the bill was amended to remove the requirement that school boards allocate at least 65% of their funds to "instructional spending." As amended, the bill would have required that school boards annually report their "instructional spending" to VDOE and that VDOE, in turn, report to the money committees. The bill would have allowed the Board of Education to define what is meant by "instructional spending." We opposed the bill even in its amended form because school boards already report all expenditures annually to the Board of Education and we were concerned that the 65% requirement would be reinserted at a later date. The bill failed to report out of the Committee.

Del. Cleaveland’s Labor Day Opening Bill Advances

HB 1483 (Del. Cleaveland) was considered by the full Senate Education and Health Committee yesterday. This bill would allow Roanoke City Public Schools (which does not often close due to inclement weather because school officials want to ensure that students eligible for free and reduced lunch are fed) to obtain a waiver from the Board of Education to open before Labor Day. You can read more about this bill here. When the bill was heard in subcommittee earlier this week, a representative from the Virginia Tourism Authority testified that the Governor was opposed to this bill. Interestingly, the Governor has softened his position. Before the full Committee, the representative of the Virginia Tourism Authority testified that while the Governor is opposed to generally applicable bills to change the post-Labor Day opening requirement, he was not taking a position on this particular, narrowly-drawn bill. The bill was reported out of the Committee on a vote of 10 to 5.

CTE Bill Reported by Committee

Del. Greason’s CTE bill (HB 1493), which would require that every automotive career and technical education program maintain industry certification and that the instructor of such program be certified, was considered by the Senate Education and Health Committee yesterday. Representatives of the Virginia Auto Dealers Association represented again that the association would work with school divisions to enable them to obtain and maintain certification for their programs and personnel. The bill was reported by the Committee on a vote of 11 to 4.

HB 1775 Dies in Subcommittee

HB 1775 (Del. Gilbert) was considered by the Immigration Subcommittee of the Senate Courts Committee earlier this week. In its original form, the bill would have required schools to inquire about the immigration status of students’ parents and then report that information to the Secretary of Education. The bill was amended in the House to require school boards to report to the Board of Education the number of students enrolled in ESL courses and the number of students who were enrolled without birth record. The bill died in the Immigration Subcommittee.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED ON HB 2494

HB 2494 (Del. E. Scott) was reported out of the Senate Education and Health Committee today and will go to the full Senate. This bill will permit a school board to seek waivers from the Board of Education from state regulations and for an Individual School Accreditation Plan on behalf of one or more of its schools. This is purely permissive legislation. It does not require a school board to seek waivers, nor does it require the Board of Education to grant any waivers. This bill simply extends to all schools the same opportunity to seek waivers and an alternative accreditation plan that is now granted to charter schools and regional schools. Please contact your Senator now and ask him or her to VOTE FOR HB 2494.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED ON HB 1548

HB 1548 (Del. Kory) was reported out of the Senate Education and Health Committee today and will be before the full Senate soon. This bill requires that the school principal or designee notify the parents of any student who violates a school board policy or the compulsory attendance requirements when such violation "is likely to" result in the student's suspension or the filing of a court petition. We already have elaborate reporting procedures in place for absences and student discipline. This bill would impose additional reporting requirements on school personnel. Moreover, we are concerned that this bill will enable parents to interfere with investigations of student misconduct and to challenge disciplinary decisions on the grounds that the notice required by this bill was not given early enough. Please contact your Senator now and ask him or her to vote AGAINST HB 1548.

PE Bills Continue to Advance

As we have previously reported, there are two bills – SB 966 (Sen. Northam) and HB 1644 (Del O’Bannon) – that would require school boards to provide 150 minutes of physical education (not health) per week in grades K-8. Both bills have been passed by their respective Houses of introduction. Sen. Northam’s bill has also been amended and passed by the House. Most recently, Del. O’Bannon’s bill was recommended for reporting by the Public Education Subcommittee of the Senate Education and Health Committee. We expect this bill to come before the full committee on Thursday. We will continue to oppose this bill as an unfunded mandate.

CTE Bill is Amended and Recommended for Reporting

Del. Greason’s CTE bill (HB 1493) was amended in subcommittee, at the patron’s request, to apply only to automotive programs. The bill, as amended, would require that every automotive career and technical education program maintain industry certification and that the instructor of such program be certified. According to testimony from the bill’s supporters, only about 48 of the approximately 120 automotive CTE programs in the state currently carry the industry certification. During the subcommittee meeting, Senator Ruff extracted a promise from the representatives of the Virginia Auto Dealers Association to work with school divisions to enable them to obtain and maintain certification for their programs and personnel. The bill, as amended, was recommended for reporting by the Public Education Subcommittee of the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Parental Notification Bill Fails to Report Out of Subcommittee

Del. Kory’s HB 1548 was considered by the Public Education Subcommittee of the Senate Education and Health Committee earlier this week. The bill would require principals to notify the parents of a student who violates school board policy if the violation is "likely" to result in suspension or the filing of a compulsory attendance petition. Sen. Howell made a motion to report the bill out of the subcommittee but there was no second to that motion. The full Committee may still consider and act upon the bill.

Narrow Exception to Labor Day Opening Advances

HB 1483 (Del. Cleaveland) provides a narrow exception to the post-Labor Day school opening requirement for a school division that is entirely surrounded by school divisions that have received waivers from the Board of Education to open before Labor Day. Del. Cleaveland has explained that the purpose of his bill is to address a unique situation faced by the Roanoke City Public Schools. Roanoke City Public Schools has a high percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch (70%+). The school system makes every effort to keep the schools open during inclement weather so that the students are fed. Consequently, Roanoke City Public Schools are not closed due to inclement weather as frequently as the surrounding school divisions and, therefore, they do not qualify for a waiver to the post-Labor Day opening requirement under the current waiver system. Del. Cleaveland’s bill would allow Roanoke City Public Schools to have a waiver and operate on the same schedule as the surrounding school divisions. This bill was recommended for reporting by the Public Education Subcommittee of the Senate Education and Health Committee. It was opposed by the hospitality industry and the Governor.

Bills Requiring Implementation of Economics and Financial Literacy SOAs Beginning July 1, 2011 Advance

Two bills were introduced this year, HB 1554 (Del. Wilt) and SB 810 (Sen. Obenshain) to delay the implementation of certain Standards of Accreditation until July 1, 2012. We supported both bills in their original form. Similar bills were introduced and passed last year in recognition that the General Assembly has not appropriated funds for school boards to meet the new requirements of the SOAs. The patrons of both bills, however, with the support of the Governor, agreed to amendments urged by the banking industry to exempt from delay the implementation of the SOAs related to economics and financial literacy. While the financial literacy curriculum is important, we opposed the amendment because it is, at present, an unfunded mandate. Both bills were passed by their respective Houses of introduction with the amendment. The Senate bill, SB 810, was reported by the House Education Committee earlier this week and is now on the House floor. The House bill, HB 1554, has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Voucher Bill Killed in Senate Finance Committee!

Del. Massie’s HB 2314, which would have provided a tax credit for companies that donate money for scholarships for kindergarten and first grade students eligible for free and reduced lunch to attend private schools, came before the Senate Finance Committee this morning. This bill was one of Governor McDonald's initiatives this year. It was strongly supported by the private and parochial schools. Supporters of the bill argued that it would not take money away from public education, but that it wouldl actually result in a profit for the state! We are adamantly opposed to this bill because we firmly believe that it will take money away from the general fund and away from public education. We are very pleased to report that HB 2314 was passed by indefinitely by the Senate Finance Committee this morning on a vote of 9 to 6.

THE BUDGET - NEW DEVELOPMENTS

THE BUDGET - NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Today the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Appropriations reported their respective amendments to the 2010-2012 budget.  By far, the Senate committee treated K-12 more favorably than the House Committee.  As stated in the Senate Committee's report on K-12, "K-12 education is so vital to the higher education pipeline and to ongoing workforce efforts of the Commonwealth that we felt strongly that reinvestments in school aid must occur in tandem with initiatives this year in higher education and economic development.  To the end, we are recommending a net $100 million more than the budget as introduced for elementary and secondary education to regain some of the ground lost during the last two Sessions."  Included in this amount is $87 million representing the state's share of an additional $130 per student, and $18.4 million for the state's share of $76 per student for textbooks.  The Committee also noted that "[t]he final FY 2010 general fund Direct Aid to Education appropriation was reduced almost 20 percent from the original appropriation, to below the FY 2007 level."  The additional $100 million proposed by the Senate Committee will make us some of this reduced funding and is appreciated. 

As stated above, the House Appropriations' Committee was not nearly as generous to K-12 as its Senate counterpart.  Here are the guts of the House proposal: "included in our recommendations are a number of adjustments that will provide nearly $66.0 million in state allocations to provide a 2% bonus for teachers.  School divisions will be permitted to use their Job Funds funding towards the local match.  However, for those school divisions who choose not to offer a bonus, these dollars can be used to purchase buses and textbooks or be used for other high- priority educational expenditures."  On the other hand, the House Committee took the second year of the LCI hold harmless funding and it reduced funding for resource teachers to pay for the state's share of a 3.3% VRS rate increase.  The "good" news is that school boards do not have to pay their share of this rate increase, but the committee warned that school boards will be paying higher rates in 2013. 

Here are the links to the Senate and House reports on the amendments to the 2010-2012 budget, including the reports on subcommittees on K-12 budget:

http://sfc.virginia.gov/index.shtml

http://hac.state.va.us/documents/documents.htm

MORE URGENT ACTION NEEDED NOW

The Senate Committee on Education and Health reported out SB 1031 (Barker-Fairfax), which provides that any local funds appropriated to a school board that are left over at the end of a year shall remain the funds of the school board and can be spent the next year without the need for an appropriation. This legislation has been a priority of school boards for many years. As can be expected, boards of supervisors and city councils are contacting the Senators asking them to vote against this bill.

We need for you to call or email your Senator NOW to ask him or her to VOTE FOR SB 1031.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED! Contact your Delegate Today!

The House of Delegates will be taking a vote on Monday on HB 2314, the voucher bill sponsored by Delegate Massie (Henrico) and supported by the Governor. The bill provides tax credits to companies that donate money for "scholarships" for kindergarten and first grade students eligible for free and reduced lunch to attend private schools. While the immediate impact of this bill is limited to $25 Million, it represents the proverbial camel's nose under the tent. When this voucher bill was first announced, both the Governor and the patron said it was a Florida-type program. Florida has a full-blown voucher program that sucks a tremendous amount of money out of the state treasury and away from public education. The proponents of this bill claim that it will not cost school systems anything because they will be relieved of the cost of educating the students, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you take a student off of a school bus, it does not reduce the cost of the fuel to run the bus or the bus driver to operate the bus. It simply increases the per capita cost of operating the bus. This voucher bill, which is just the beginning, will take tax money away from public education and drive up the per capita cost of educating our students. It is bad public policy and it is harmful to our students at a time when state funding for public education has dropped to the 2007 level or below.

PLEASE CALL YOUR DELEGATE TODAY AND ASK THAT HE OR SHE VOTE AGAINST HB 2314!

Highlights from House Ed

HB 2494 (Del. E. Scott), which will allow school boards to request from the Board of Education a waiver from certain state regulations and approval of an Individual School Accreditation Plan, was reported by the House Education Committee this morning. This bill will allow school boards to apply on behalf of one or more of its schools for waivers just like charter and regional schools are now permitted to do.

HB 2009 (Del. LeMunyon) was reported by the House Education Committee. In its original form, the bill would have required school boards to adopt open enrollment policies and would have dictated the contents of such policies. The bill was amended in committee to allow, but not require, school boards to adopt open enrollment policies and it lists certain items that school board may, but is not required to, consider when adopting such a policy.

HB 1554 (Del. Wilt) which, as amended, delays implementation of certain SOAs, except those relating to the economics and financial literacy curriculum, was reported by the House Education Committee. We are opposed to the provision letting the economics curriculum become effective now because it is an unfunded mandate.

Paraprofessional Autism Training Bill Tabled by House Appropriations Subcommittee

HB 1720 (Del. Massie), which was already reported by the House Education Committee would, among other things, require school divisions to provide 80 hours of training in student behavior management to any aide assigned to work with a teacher who has primary responsibility for students with an autism spectrum disorder.   We, along with VASS, opposed this bill.  The bill was tabled this evening by the Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriation.  

The subcommittee tabled two other bills, HB 2204 (Del. Comstock) and HB 2484 (Del. Watts).   

SOQ Subcommittee of the House Education Committee

This morning the SOQ subcommittee voted to recommend reporting HB 2494 (Del. Scott).  This bill would allow school boards to request from the Board of Education a waiver from certain state regulations and approval of an Individual School Accreditation Plan.  We, along with VASS, strongly support this bill.   

The SOQ subcommittee also voted to report HB 1554 (Del. Wilt), which delays implementation of certain SOAs for another year.  Before reporting the bill, however, the subcommittee adopted an amendment that provides a carve out for economics and financial literacy.  The bill, as amended, would require school boards to implement the economics and financial literacy curriculum beginning on July 1, 2011.  As we reported here, a similar attempt to amend the identical Senate bill was defeated.  We will continue to oppose the amendment and to support the bill in its original form.