On March 9, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction released a memo on state funding that is projected to be distributed to school divisions in fiscal years (FY) 2023 and 2024. As previously reported, the 2023 session adjourned sine die on Saturday, February 25, as scheduled, but without resolving differences between the House and Senate on revisions to the biennium budget. Instead, budget conferees proposed, and both chambers adopted, a “skinny budget” that included a fix for the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) miscalculation of basic aid payments to ensure that the sum of basic aid and sales tax payments a school division receives in FY 2023 is at least the sum of basic aid and sales tax payments that was communicated to school divisions in June 2022. All school divisions were made whole through the $90.5 million net increase in FY 2023 funding provided through increased sales tax estimates, and the General Assembly’s appropriation of an additional $16.8 million in general funds to ensure that no school division receives less funding for Basic Aid and sales tax than was originally communicated in the Chapter 2 Calculation Tool in June 2022. More information on this particular amendment is provided in here and the FY 2023 funding distributions are shown here.
Some members of the General Assembly will continue to work on budget amendments that may be considered by the full Assembly and Governor Youngkin. If finalized changes impact public education, the VDOE will inform school divisions via another superintendent’s memo. If the Governor convenes a special session of the General Assembly and additional amendments are adopted to the 2022-2024 biennial budget, VDOE will publish an updated Calc. Tool. The Calc. Tools published by VDOE are provided as a resource to school divisions to assist them in estimating the state funding they will receive based on particular points in the state budget process, but do not reflect actual or final payments for a fiscal year.
VACo will continue to advocate for additional state support of county governments including and especially for K-12 education needs such as restoration of support position funding, school infrastructure, and other priorities and provide updates as they become available.
VACo Contact: Jeremy R. Bennett