Virginia public schools seek solutions after Dept. of Ed error leads to $201 million shortfall
Statewide aid estimates for Virginia’s public schools were $201 million short of what districts expected to receive, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration confirmed last week after discovering a flaw in the budget in December.
On Friday, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow notified school division superintendents that the basic aid calculation tool used to determine how much funding school divisions will receive did not account for a provision to hold localities harmless from Virginia’s elimination of the state portion of the grocery tax. As a result, schools statewide project funding shortfalls for the remainder of the school year and inaccurate estimates for their budgets next year.
“Unfortunately, some school divisions have used these estimates for their own local planning and local budgeting purposes and now, they’re finding that these estimates overstated state aid,” said Charles Pyle, a spokesman with the Virginia Department of Education.
The agency learned of the error in December, according to Balow’s letter to the superintendents. VDOE has said it will release an updated calculation tool later this month that reflects the budgets produced by the Senate and House at the session’s midpoint.
Local budgets developed by governing bodies and public schools rely heavily on state funding. Among state revenue streams that help fund schools are sales taxes.
https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/01/31/virginia-public-schools-seek-solutions-after-dept-of-ed-error-leads-to-201-million-shortfall/
