UPDATED: While regional discontent hasn’t shaken Gov. Bob McDonnell’s resolve to update the formula used to dole out state education dollars for the upcoming budget, he said this morning that he supports calls to examine the way it’s calculated.

“I think what is fair to do ... is sometime after the session to get a work group together to look at the index itself,” McDonnell said after a speaking event this morning.

“The formulas haven’t been changed in 40 years and I think what some people are saying is maybe there are some other factors that aren’t included in the formula that need to be looked at. I think that’s a fair request.”

The index is based on each locality’s daily average attendance, overall student enrollment, real estate values, and retail sales tax. In other words, the higher the index, the more wealthy the locality is and therefore, the less state money the school system receives.

But, it’s updated every two years based on lagging data—this year, for example, from 2007.

Northern Virginia lobbied hard to reverse outgoing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s decision to freeze the index at current levels, saving the state about $29 million in fiscal year 2011. School districts based their budgets on that recommendation, which McDonnell wants to reverse.

“To try to change the rules that have been in place for 40 years, I just dont think is the right thing to do,” McDonnell maintains.
Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, said in a speech on the floor of the House of Delegates last week that according to the formula, Richmond ranks as the wealthiest locality in the metro area. The school system has about 70 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced lunch and is looking at an $11 million hit if the formula updates.

McClellan said regardless of whether it updates this year or not, the formula needs to be reviewed.

Also this morning, after addressing the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. legislative breakfast, McDonnell warned that there will be more squeezed out of education budgets.
 
In addition to the formula adjustment, he said, “I believe there will have to be some additional, significant reductions across the board in K-12 funding.”
McDonnell is seeking about $700 million in cuts in the next two years from state spending on K-12 education.
“It’s one of the few areas that has been largely unscathed throughout the last couple of years of budget cuts,” he said. “It’s also been an area that’s grown about 35 percent in the last five years alone.”
And with these cuts—the regions will share in the pain.
“There are going to be some larger budget cuts that everybody will participate in regardless of where they are.”

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