After reports that Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was planning a $700 million-plus cut to K-12 education during private meetings with staff members and legislators, McDonnell confirmed a $731 million cut during a press conference this morning.
Anita Kumar details the division of education cuts on the Washington Post’s Virginia Politics blog—among them, $225 million in cuts to support staff and $130 million in supplemental salaries. The Associated Press estimates the total $731 million cuts is "about 35 percent of the $2.1 billion McDonnell plans to trim overall to help reconcile a $4 billion, two-year budget gap."
McDonnell also announced during the conference that the Department of Taxation projected a "slight increase" in revenue during the next year. "I will encourage the General Assembly to put this additional revenue towards K-12 public education, employee compensation or other core services," said McDonnell during the conference. He also requested "no further cuts to higher education," and said that both public safety and higher education "cannot sustain further reductions."
But can local schools sustain them? In light of McDonnell’s call to unfreeze the local composite index, which determines state funding of local schools, the Charlottesville School Board is considering reductions in staff and the Albemarle County School Board discussed whether or not to send an unbalanced budget to the county Board of Supervisors to encourage an increase in real-estate taxes*.
*Post mistakenly read "income taxes."
