Without fail, like snow coming to the Blue Ridge Mountains in January, when the General Assembly convenes every year some Republican delegate or senator introduces a bill to pretend they care about school funding.
For more than 20 years the Republicans were in the majority in the General Assembly and did nothing to address school funding. During most of those years, it wasn’t a slim 51-49 majority, when they might have had to make compromises. No. For much of that time the Republicans held a super majority in the low- to mid-60s, reaching a peak of 67-32-1 in the 2014-2016 election cycle. The Republican majority had ample opportunity to address the problem with school funding in Virginia and chose to do nothing.
Their lack of commitment and action on school funding was matched only by their slow and systematic defunding of the Virginia State Police over the past 20 years, and their lack of commitment to fund rural broadband. When the Democrats took over the majority in 2020, the Republicans had left us with a $27 million budget hole in VSP pay and salaries, which had resulted in 283 trooper vacancies. They were always there to support the families upon the tragedy of a trooper’s death but were unwilling to fund the troopers and their families during their lives.
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Similarly, under the Republican majority, funding for rural broadband was an anemic $14 million. Now under a Democratic majority, rural broadband funding has grown dramatically to over $118 million – an 800% increase in barely two-years of a Democratic majority.
We’re now cleaning up more than 20 years of neglect and it is going to take more than two-years for the Democrats to fix the multitude of problems left by the Republicans. But one thing is for sure: if the Republicans were to retake the House of Delegates in 2021, there is absolutely no evidence to indicate that they will change their ways and suddenly start funding schools, supporting law enforcement, or funding rural broadband.
To properly address the problems left us by the Republicans, we need to fully understand the scope of both the people costs and infrastructure costs that they neglected.
To understand the people’s costs, during the 2021 Special Session, we passed SJ 294 which directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the true cost of education in the Commonwealth and to provide an accurate assessment of the cost to implement the Standards of Quality.
To address the infrastructure costs, we passed SB 888 in the 2020 Session, which created the Commission on School Construction and Modernization to make funding recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I have also begun discussions with the Appropriations committee staff about the overall scope of the school construction/renovation problem, which we know could be between $5.7 billion and $18.0 billion.
Keep in mind the total two year state budget is $141 billion dollars. So where do we find a 13% increase in revenue to fund the deficit left by the Republicans? We might be able to issue state-supported bonds to address $2 to $3 billion of the problem, while still maintaining our AAA bond rating, but how do we prioritize which school system gets how much of those limited resources? How do we ensure that a locality is actually using the funding for a school, and not just diverting money for a new courthouse or a new local amphitheater?
The initiatives we have already undertaken will lay the foundation to finally get serious about school funding in the Commonwealth. In the meantime, when you see your Republican Delegate or State Senator at the grocery store, gas station, or your local school, ask them, “You were in the majority for more than 20-years – why didn’t you do anything to fix this problem when you had the chance?”