Superintendents Unite to Preserve State Funding

By Amber Lester Thursday, February 11, 2010

School superintendents across Hampton Roads have a message for Gov. Bob McDonnell: A change to the Local Composite Index will hurt us, too.

Superintendents from Chesapeake to York County have drafted a letter to the legislators representing Hampton Roads in the General Assembly explaining the negative impacts of any change in the LCI.

McDonnell announced Monday that he does not plan to uphold former Gov. Tim Kaine’s suggestion to freeze the planned change of the LCI, a number assigned to each locality that determines how much educational funding it will receive from the state. The LCI has historically been readjusted every two years to reflect each locality’s changing ability to finance its public schools. Each locality’s LCI is determined by a formula that calculates the true value of real property, adjusted gross income and taxable retail sales. The higher the composite index, the lower the state funding.

In the Historic Triangle, the LCI index is set to increase. McDonnell’s proposal to continue with the planned change could cost Williamsburg-James City County schools approximately $2.3 million and cost York County schools approximately $635,502. Across the region, Hampton Roads school districts could stand to lose a total of $58,425,949 in state funding.

In his announcement on Monday, McDonnell cited the negative impact on Northern Virginia schools as part of his reason for not approving a delay. If the LCI index did not change as planned, Northern Virginia schools could lose $128.3 million in state funding. Read more here.

The 14 superintendents’ letter outlines the “devastating effects” of McDonnell’s decision and calls on legislators to convince the governor to maintain the proposed freeze. The loss of funding could result in what the superintendents call “severe cost-cutting strategies,” such as raising class sizes, eliminating programs, furloughing or laying off employees and delaying or eliminating capital improvements.

The letter goes on to say the unfreezing of the LCI would benefit 39 districts, mostly in Northern Virginia. The letter says, “The irony in this situation is that the economic blow will be delivered to the 93 localities least able to absorb the impact — many of them urban and rural districts … The bottom line is that more school districts will suffer than gain from the Governor’s proposal and the children who need the help the most — the poor and at-risk — will suffer.”