The General Assembly has Decisions to Make about Public Funds and Education

At the Statehouse, March 31, 2025

On April 2nd the General Assembly will enter another session where legislators will decide on whether to accept, amend, or reject Governor Youngkin's recommended changes in legislative bills and amendments in the conference budget. 

One would think that by his fourth and final year as Governor, Glenn Youngkin would recognize that the proven strategies and practices that improve academic achievement in public schools are not what he endorses for Virginia. Instead, the quality of public education in Virginia seems to be declining under his leadership, and his tendency to veto and amend changes to bills that have passed in the legislature, shows his lack of understanding on how to improve academic achievement. Or maybe he just doesn’t regard Virginia’ K-12 students. For example, the Governor heartlessly vetoed some essential bills including the bill that would have provided mental health support and services in a culturally responsive and language-appropriate way to Virginia’s public school students.

Also, the Governor amended the General Assembly's conference budget in ways that may be harmful to students, schools and communities if his amendments prevail, according to the Fund our Schools Coalition. He drastically reduced funding for school support staff, even after a bipartisan majority of state lawmakers passed a bill that would lift the cap or limit on state funding for support staff. The arbitrary support cap that is still in effect was put in place in 2009 during the Great Recession and it is well past time that the limit is removed. The Governor’s amendment was for $84.8 million when legislators determined it would take $222.9 million to provide the state’s share of the needed additional 4,725 support staff to help students succeed in the classroom. Another part of this bill that has not been funded is better support for students with disabilities. 

Instead of supporting those identified needs, the Governor proposed funding a private school voucher program and an already ample rainy day fund. This was in spite of the fact that the legislature already rejected a number of school voucher bills in the 2025 session, a voucher proposal in 2023, and that there was negative press on the subject. 

The Governor’s insistence on this program was in conflict with what we know about vouchers. Polls show that private school vouchers are highly unpopular among most Americans, do not tend to improve academic performance, can cause state budget overruns, tend to benefit the wealthy because low income families often can not pay the balance of the tuition (school vouchers would be $5,000 per student), and would use government money to support schools that discriminate against students. Yet Governor Youngkin insisted Virginia develop the program and amended the budget with $25m for that purpose in an apparent ongoing effort to privatize public schools. 

Another disappointment was the Governor’s rejection of funds needed to update Virginia's school funding formula. He removed all funds budgeted by the legislature that would support a commission for revising the funding formula, again rejecting recommendations by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) that Virginia needed to revise the K-12 funding formula. That commission reported that Virginia needs to change from the complicated staffing-based calculation to a simpler student-based calculation for funding schools. The Governor’s veto of that funding ($1 million) will set back the bipartisan effort to transform the calculation of public school funding with a formula that better reflects the needs of Virginia’s public school students and which also should improve academic performance. 

Youngkin’s refusal to follow the recommendations made by JLARC flies in the face of the commission’s report that showed Virginia’s public schools are seriously underfunded. Instead the Governor ignores the evidence that academic achievement in K-12 is closely tied to funding of the schools. Yet rather than budgeting for what is known to raise academic performance, the Governor instead has initiated a new accountability system that is fraught with problems and is unpopular with Virginians . This controversial accountability system with a cost in 2026 of $25m would label schools as “off track” and “needs intensive support”, and would then provide support when he often makes unfounded claims that Virginia Schools are failing. Furthermore, the conference budget that was approved by the legislature budgeted no money for this purpose, although a bill to postpone implementation of the system beyond 2026 failed during the 2025 session. 

Another of Youngkin’s pet projects that is controversial and that received no funding in the conference budget is for the Lab School program but that did not stop the Governor from proposing amendments to the conference budget with a $10m boost. Many object to Lab Schools because they divert funds from public schools and seem to have a bait and switch strategy.

The original, approved plan for lab schools indicated only public colleges were eligible for the program but it now appears to be open to private and even religious schools of higher education. As Ashley C. Kenneth, President and CEO of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis (TCI), notes “These are steps in the wrong direction” and seem to support the Governor’s agenda to privatize public schools. 

“These are steps in the wrong direction.” - Ashley C. Kenneth, President and CEO of TCI

On April 2nd, when the General Assembly returns, legislators will make decisions about Governor Youngkins recommended changes on legislative bills and amendments in the conference` budget. At that time, we hope that Legislators recognize that the Governor has proposed some unacceptable changes to their work. Public school advocates urge them to do what is best for Virginia’s public school students, and reject changes that undermine Virginia’s students, schools, and families.