Bacon's Rebellion

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Northam Spending Spree Update: $1.2 Billion More for K-12

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

Hoo, boy! Governor Ralph Northam has added another priority to his list of new spending initiatives: $1.2 billion in the next two-year budget for extra K-12 schools.

About two-thirds of that sum will go to “rebenchmarking” the state’s Standards of Quality (SOQs), or required inputs into public schools. Another $145 million will boost teacher pay by 3%, $140 million will be distributed to school districts serving large shares of low-income students, $125 million will go to “flexible funding” for school districts, “$99 million will increase the number of school counselors, and smaller sums will provide for for English-as-a-Second-Language students and school meals for low-income students, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Northam’s plan falls short of what the Virginia Board of Education had asked for, which would have amounted to $2 billion in extra spending, said the RTD. But the $1.2 billion proposal is massive by any other measure. It also follows new spending initiatives for Virginia’s historically black public universities, maternal health, early education, low-income housing, free community college tuition, and environmental quality.

Bacon’s bottom line: Some increase spending on K-12 and other priorities is justified in a two-year budget that expects to see healthy revenue increases. Hopefully, the governor plans to set aside additional moneys to build up the state’s rainy-day fund and financial reserves. Likewise, it would be advisable to accelerate payments into the Virginia Retirement System to whittle down the massive unfunded liabilities festering there. We’ll know more about that when he unveils the full budget later today.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how much the governor proposes to invest in economic development, job creation, and growth of the tax base. So far, he has publicized social justice-style spending initiatives. Other than making good on promises to Amazon for locating its HQ2 project in Arlington, it doesn’t look like what you’d call a growth-and-prosperity agenda. But we’ll wait and see what the budget proposal includes.

— JAB

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6 responses to “Northam Spending Spree Update: $1.2 Billion More for K-12”

  1. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    It hasn’t rained money like this since George Allen’s last budget.

  2. djrippert Avatar
    djrippert

    We need to keep track of Blackface’s bar tab. I have $1.5b right now – $1.2b for K-12 and $.3b for HBCU. At $3.1b Northam will have exceeded population growth + inflation. Regardless of how “revenues” look this year any spending increases over inflation + population growth signal taxes hikes over time.

  3. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    Bottom line, the $138.8 billion (with a b) overall two year budget is a 12.5 percent increase over the same total two years ago. The budget is up by a full one-eighth in one cycle. It is the windfall (from the Trump tax cuts) and Wayfair (the case allowing states to tax interstate internet sellers.) Windfall and Wayfair. And our friend Secretary Layne said several times he was being cautious on the revenue projections, and I believe him. It could be much more.

  4. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Those “bottom line” numbers are misleading. They include revenue from all sources: general fund, federal revenue, transportation revenue, and other assorted special funds.

    If one looks at the general fund appropriations for operating costs, which is what is funded by general taxes on folks (primarily income and sales taxes), the picture is more reasonable.

    Current fiscal year (2020) (the base): 22.7 billion GF
    Proposed 2021: 23.5 billion, increase of 3.5 percent
    Proposed 2022: 24.6 billion, increase of increase of 4.7 percent over previous year

    Furthermore, some of the projected revenue growth is “natural” growth, apart from Trump windfall and Wayfair.

    1. Steve Haner Avatar
      Steve Haner

      No, you are trying to fuzz up an amazing explosion of state spending. Non General Fund money (tuition, licence fees) comes out of people’s pockets too. To focus on General Fund only is misleading. And the “natural” growth reflects an economy heavily juiced by TCJA and other policies. Presidents get all the blame so give them the credit when deserved…..Northam failed to thank Trump :).

  5. johnrandolphofroanoke Avatar
    johnrandolphofroanoke

    This increase in funding for public education is like trying to fill in a bottomless groundhog hole. This money will be wasted to fulfill the fantasies of the education bureaucracies. I know. I have been on the front lines for 27 years.

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