On February 9, the House Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend laying on the table HB 412 (Cole), which was subsequently left in committee. The bill, as introduced, would have required the annual budget for educational purposes prepared and approved by each local governing body to meet or exceed the funding levels set out in the needs-based budget prepared and approved by the school board and submitted by the division superintendent in accordance with relevant law.
In its original form, HB 412 would problematically alter the current appropriations relationship between local governing bodies and local school divisions. The patron subsequently submitted substitute language that would have required the Joint Subcommittee to Study Elementary & Secondary Education Funding (the Joint Subcommittee) to study and recommend best practices, to include the use of memoranda of understanding, for developing, submitting, and emphasizing the importance of funding by localities of annual needs-based school board budgets and submit its findings and recommendations no later than November 1, 2026, to the Chairs of the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations.
VACo testified in committee thanking the patron for the substitute language that addressed VACo’s concerns and welcomed the opportunity to highlight how local governments invest more than $6.6 billion in K-12 education funding than they are required to do so under the state funding formula and the Standards of Quality.
VACo Contact: Jeremy R. Bennett