Economic Conditions Threaten Public Schools in Virginia

State governments are reporting record losses in budgets as the national economic downturn continues to impact revenue collections. With less funding available many state governments are cutting back on essential services.

Public schools nationwide are not immune to these negative economic implications. In Virginia this situation is compounded by the fact that local school boards do not have taxing authority -- they do in most states -- and therefore depend upon local appropriating bodies to fund school programs.

Current economic conditions present compelling challenges and threaten the sustainability of a high-quality system of public education. What this means in tough economic times is that Virginia schools typically take a double hit: a reduction in funding first from the state share of public educational costs, and a second reduction when the local appropriating bodies -- municipal governments -- find themselves short of revenue to support key services and as a consequence decrease school funding as well.

Proposed reductions by Virginia's governor in the basic aid funding formula may have devastating and lasting effects in every school division in Virginia. The governor's finance staff reports these changes as "technical adjustments" and thus insists they will not have a measurable impact on classroom instruction -- but educators know different. Every significant reduction in educational funding quickly finds its way to the classroom level.

Serious reductions to the current funding formula may result in immediate reductions in teaching positions and teacher-related support positions. This in turn will create much larger class sizes and increased pupil-to-teacher ratios. The larger class sizes will disproportionally affect services to our most susceptible children as resources are diminished at all levels.

Schools may have to eliminate after-school and summer-school programs for underachieving youth who need our help the most. Also at risk are programs that some would consider non-essential, such as the visual and performing arts, career and technical education, and even physical education classes.

In difficult economic times the families we serve that live at or below the poverty line are the most vulnerable. Many of them operate in survival mode, and the children of at-risk families often depend on public schools as the only source of stability in their lives. Schools provide to identified special-needs children many additional support services that may have to be reduced to some extent due to budget constraints.

Just a few additional children per classroom across schools could have a negative impact on the delivery of basic services. Children in large classes often lose their individual identity and must compete for the attention of an often-overwhelmed teacher. In fact, research indicates that there is a strong correlation between low class-size and increased student achievement, contributing to the overall success of all our schools in this era of standardized tests and federal regulations.

The core of every school budget is employee expenses. Our school budget in Dinwiddie County consists of 78 percent for teacher and employee salaries, health insurance, and benefits. Combine the cost of instruction with operations, maintenance, and student transportation, and the budget for these services constitutes 92 percent of the overall school fund. The remainder is for technology (4 percent), student health services (2 percent), and administration (2 percent).

There is little room to cut school budgets without seriously affecting what happens in the classroom. In fact, our school division participated in a voluntary state efficiency study just two years ago, resulting in a savings of more than $1.5 million when the recommended cuts and adjustments were implemented. Now we are asked to cut an additional $3 million from the state share of our budget. Our state contribution is only $26 million overall, so the net impact will be an additional 12 percent loss of state revenue.

State government leaders should reconsider the implications of severe reductions to school funding. State leaders could:

This is the wrong time to reduce support for educational funding. Every citizen needs to implore state lawmakers to preserve educational funding at current levels and not place in jeopardy Virginia's most precious resource: her children.

Charles Maranzano Jr. is superintendent of schools for Dinwiddie County. Contact him at (804) 898-5626 or .