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Kaine approves $300M in spending cuts
Gov. Tim Kaine (D) said Monday he has taken the first steps to address a projected $641 million budget shortfall. Proposed cuts at state agencies will save about $300 million, and Kaine said he will take additional steps to address the remainder of the shortfall, according to a release from the governor's office.
The governor’s decisions, based on agency proposals to trim government spending from 5 percent to 7 percent, protect core services in public education, public safety and public health.
Cabinet secretaries proposed spending reductions in the 16 percent of the budget that supports nonexempt, general fund programs. That includes funding for core agency operations and non-state agencies, direct services, aid to localities and higher education. For the most part, those cuts will go into effect immediately.
“Throughout this difficult process, we made a determined effort to keep these budget cuts from impacting our most vulnerable citizens,” Kaine said in a release. “In fact, we rejected proposals to cut programs such as Meals on Wheels, children’s mental health, safe indoor plumbing projects, free health clinics and campus security."
Kaine said he will propose addressing the remaining portion shortfall through the carryover of unspent balances, and through use of the Revenue Stabilization Fund, which currently holds about $1.2 billion.
Accreditation for most schools
All but two of the 190 Fairfax County public schools earned full accreditation from the Virginia Department of Education based on the 2006-07 Standards of Learning tests. All Fairfax County schools earned full accreditation last year.
Glasgow and Holmes middle schools, both in the Alexandria section of the county, are accredited with warning in mathematics. Schools that are accredited with warning are required to undergo academic reviews, adopt and implement school improvement plans, and adopt instructional programs proven by research to be effective in raising achievement.
When the first calculations of Virginia accreditation were computed based on the results from SOL tests given to students in spring 1998, only 2 percent of the schools in the state and only 7 percent of schools in Fairfax County met the accreditation criteria. The percentage of schools attaining these benchmarks in Fairfax County has been either 99 or 100 percent for each of the last three years.
In middle and high schools, at least 70 percent of students must pass tests in all four subjects for full accreditation. In elementary schools, a combined accreditation passing rate of at least 75 percent on English tests in grades 3, 4 and 5 is required. Elementary schools must also achieve passing rates of at least 70 percent in math, grade 6 English, grade 5 science, and combined grade 4 and 6 history, as well as passing rates of at least 50 percent in grade 3 science and grade 3 history.
VDOT gets federal dollars
The Virginia Department of Transportation announced it has received an additional $33.9 million in federal transportation spending authority, reallocated to Virginia from other states.
The money will fund $8.2 million in congestion-management projects in Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg, according to VDOT, as well as $11.2 million in state transit projects and $14.4 million for bridge projects around the state.
Each September the Federal Highway Administration reviews all states’ ability to spend allocated federal highway dollars as the federal fiscal year draws to a close. States that have not allocated their federal dollars must return that spending authority. That authority is then redistributed to states that have obligated all of their federal allocations and have more eligible projects ready to move forward.
VDOT has not yet determined specific projects to receive the funding but said eligible projects must meet federal funding requirements, be included in Virginia’s Six-Year Improvement Program and be ready to move on to their next phase of development by the end of September.
Park Authority gets $90,000
The Fairfax County Park Authority announced that it will receive $90,000 in Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund grants from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. The $90,000 grant will be matched by $410,000 in local capital improvement funding.
Two Park Authority projects were awarded funding – restoring 20 acres of wetlands at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria and stabilizing a degraded stream bank along Turkeycock Run, also in the Alexandria area.
The state grants support certain types of water-quality improvement projects along Virginia waterways. It is estimated that the 37 projects announced statewide will result in an estimated annual pollution reduction of 135,130 pounds of nitrogen, 8,580 pounds of phosphorus and 7,960 tons of sediment, according to a Park Authority release.
Attorney general cuts budget
Attorney General Bob McDonnell (R) announced Monday that he is voluntarily reducing his office’s general fund budget 5 percent to assist with reducing the state’s budgetary shortfall.
“As good stewards of the taxpayers’ money during this time of belt-tightening, it is important that the Office of the Attorney General voluntarily reduce our budget,” McDonnell said in a release.
The 5-percent cut translates to more than $1 million of the total $21.4 million annual general fund budget, according to McDonnell's office.
Gov. Tim Kaine (D) has mandated that executive branch agencies cut their general fund budgets by 5 percent. As an independently elected statewide official, the Attorney General is not required to comply with the governor’s directive.
The budget reductions include implementing a hiring slowdown, revising certain business practices and reducing operating expenses.
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