Public education is the cornerstone of democracy, but for years Virginia has been underfunding its public schools. Virginia’s contribution to public school funding is below the national average, affecting student education and putting an unfair burden on localities to make up the difference by raising local taxes. Often students must simply do without when localities can’t make up the difference. Now the Governor is threatening to veto the Conference budget (HB30) that contains critical funding needed for public schools as recommended by JLARC reports*. Our children deserve good schools and our legislators must insist that the Governor agree to adequately fund public schools.

* Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) Report on Virginia's K-12 Funding Formula, 2023. https://jlarc.virginia.gov/pdfs/reports/Rpt575-3.pdf (The General Assembly (via SJ 294) directed JLARC to study the cost of education in Virginia and make an accurate assessment of the costs of the Standards of Quality.)  

and

JLARC Report on Virginia's K-12 Teacher Pipeline. 2023 https://jlarc.virginia.gov/pdfs/reports/Rpt576-3.pdf 2023 (In 2022, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) directed staff to review the adequacy of the supply of qualified K–12 teachers in Virginia.)