Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed unfreezing the Local Composite Index, a move that will greatly reduce 2011 state funding to some school districts while greatly increasing it in others.
Dickenson County would fair better than many under the proposal, with an increase of $49,575 in state funding. Norton city schools would also see a small increase of $34,469. However, Buchanan County would lose an estimated $37,417, while Wise County's state funding would be cut by $317,125.
McDonnell's recommendation must be adopted in the final 2010-12 budget by the General Assembly before it can be implemented.
WHAT IS THE LCI?
The Local Composite Index is the formula used to determine state and local education funding responsibility in the state budget. Historically, the LCI has been adjusted every two years to account for local economic conditions.
Former Gov. Timothy Kaine proposed to freeze the index, a move that would have reduced state funding in Northern Virginia by $128.3 million.
Recently, though, McDonnell announced his support of updating the LCI. In a news release, McDonnell noted that for nearly 40 years, the Local Composite Index has been an impartial means to determine state and local responsibility for education funding. The application of the index has been done using the most recent fiscal data to most fairly apportion state resources, the governor said.
"For many school districts, particularly in Northern Virginia, the biennial update of the index has meant far less funding from the state than that received by school districts in localities experiencing lesser rates of economic growth. Accordingly, I will not support the proposed freeze in the budget introduced by the previous administration. The Local Composite Index must be applied to all localities, at all times, in the same objective and fair manner by which it has always been utilized," McDonnell stated in the release.
However, opponents of the LCI argue the index is outdated and doesn't present a fair picture.
John Carpenter, director of fusiness finance for the Dickenson County school division, said under McDonnell's proposal, the majority of school districts in the state are losing funding. The lion's share of the money will go to a handful of large areas in eastern Virginia, said Carpenter.
The LCI is based in part on a district's tax base and real estate market, Carpenter explained. Because some areas in eastern Virginia have been hard hit by a crashing real estate market and have a large number of students, they are in line to receive huge increases in state funding under the LCI.
Some divisions are asking their delegates to intervene and try to prevent the unfreezing of the LCI. A letter from 14 superintendents in the greater Hampton Roads region states, "The unfreezing of the LCI will benefit approximately 39 school districts, most of these in Northern Virginia. The irony of 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."
Originally Posted by Gotch
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