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Governor reverses course on school funding
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has reversed course on a school funding plan that would have cost Prince William more than $22 million.
On Monday, the governor announced that he will update the Local Composite Index, a decision cheered by Prince William officials.
“We are very, very pleased by the governor's decision,” said Dana Fenton, the county's liason, who had lobbied hard for the change.
Just before leaving office, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) froze the Local Composite Index, a complicated formula that determines how much funding each school district will get from the state.
That formula has always been updated every two years by the Department of Education and when the latest LCI came out, it showed that Prince William should be getting more state money.
Kaine recommended that the state delay implementing those new numbers for a year and McDonnell initially agreed.
After intense pressure from Northern Virginia officials, however, McDonnell relented.
His reversal came a week after the chairs of the Prince William, Fairfax and Loudoun boards of supervisors met with McDonnell to urge him to reconsider.
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart (R) said Monday that he believes the meeting had a lot to do with the governor's change of heart.
“We were the three big jurisdictions that stood to lose $128 million,” he said, adding that he's “absolutely thrilled” by the outcome.
According Fenton, Prince William schools would have lost about $22.5 million if the update were delayed by one year.
Ninety-seven school districts would have gotten an extra $115 million or so, even though their student populations will drop by almost 2,300 students in the next year, Fenton said.
Nineteen school districts, including Prince William, would have lost almost $144 million from the delay even while their student populations grow by more than 11,000 students.
The LCI is based on a school district's ability to pay for education; the wealthier localities have to pay more and get less funding from the state to help out.
As Northern Virginia has grown in affluence, the region's schools have also gotten less money from the state, a fact noted by McDonnell in his announcement.
But because the real estate market in Northern Virginia has fallen so much in the last few years, the local LCIs also dropped, meaning Prince William, Fairfax and Loudoun are entitled to more state funding this year.
McDonnell noted that it would be unfair to change the rules now.
“The Local Composite Index must be applied to all localities, at all times, in the same objective and fair manner by which it has always been utilized,” he said in a written statement.
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