The dust has settled in Richmond. Lawmakers and lobbyists have gone home, and educators are licking their wounds after failing to get much more money for public schools.
Barbara Coyle is neatly dressed and coifed – polite and professional -- but a measure of frustration simmers under the surface when she talks about the plight of Virginia schools.
“The state dollars have been declining, the federal dollars have been declining and it’s been put back to the localities to make up that difference.”
As executive director of the Virginia School Boards Association, she talks with people across the state. Everyone was pleased when the governor found two percent more money for raises to teachers, but some couldn’t afford the matching money required to get that cash.
“Probably about 50% of our 134 school divisions weren’t able to step forward and offer those additional monies to our teachers, because the locals don’t have the money. If you have a community that doesn’t even have a Walmart, there is no employment, and the biggest area where they then seek the revenue is going to be real estate.”
And, of course, real estate values are down, which means there’s less money coming in on that front.
At the same time, she says, the state and federal governments continue to impose requirements like student-teacher ratios, special ed programs – even nutritional mandates for school meals.
“It’s costing local school boards more money to feed the kids. If it’s requiring a local producer or taking away some of the commodities that were provided from the feds, how much is it going to cost them? The children have to have a vegetable, a fruit, whether they want it or they’ll eat it, it’s going on the plate.”
She hopes state lawmakers will pay for what they require in the next session – and, once again, she urged the legislature to allow schools to open before Labor Day. Virginia is one of just two states that delay the state of classes so tourism has plenty of cheap summer labor. Unfortunately, Coyle says, Virginia High School student s are at a disadvantage, because there’s no time to refresh and prep for college entrance exams.
“Some of these kids could be short shrifted of scholarships and opportunities, because they haven’t had that extra time. The school systems that start prior to Labor Day tell me what a difference it makes when the test time comes around.”
About half of all high schools have requested and received an exemption allowing them to open earlier, and Coyle says the rest should be spared the paperwork and allowed to do what’s best for Virginia students.
