Rethinking School Funding in Virginia

On Monday Sept 16, the Joint Subcommittee to Study Elementary and Secondary Education Funding met for the first time. This joint subcommittee was established in the 2024 Virginia General Assembly, with the purpose of exploring a new “student-based” funding formula. Virginia has used its current staffing-based formula for decades, and it has now become antiquated; the majority of states have transitioned away from this model. 

This joint subcommittee heard from experts including the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), and Senate and House Appropriations Committees staff.

JLARC’s 2023 study highlighted how Virginia has been underfunding public schools. According to JLARC:

“Virginia school divisions receive less K–12 funding per student than the 50-state average, the regional average, and three of Virginia’s five bordering states. School divisions in other states receive 14 percent more per student than school divisions in Virginia, on average, after normalizing for differences in cost of labor among states. This equates to about $1,900 more per student than Virginia.”

Moving Virginia towards a student-based model could help address the consistent underfunding of public education and help to direct resources towards school divisions serving the students with highest-need.