By Carla Branch
alexandrianews.org
With only two-and-a-half weeks remaining in the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session, the focus is on the proposed State budget.
The House and Senate are proposing radically different ways to close a $4 billion State budget gap. The House proposes slashing K-12 school funding and both houses are considering deferring payments to the Virginia Retirement System, which would save hundreds of millions of dollars temporarily.
“The problem with deferring payments to VRS is that they are simply postponing spending the money. Eventually those payments will have to be made up. We should oppose this proposal vigorously,” said Alexandria Vice Mayor Kerry Donley.
Both houses of the General Assembly have agreed not to postpone recalculating the composite index under which public schools receive funding. However, the House would like to change the way funds for at-risk students are distributed.
“Right now, there is a pool of money that is set aside for at-risk students in grades K-12, about $200 per student,” said Bernie Caton at Tuesday night’s Alexandria City Council meeting. “These funds are given to public schools around the State based on the number of students who receive free and reduced meals.
“In the House version of the fiscal year 2011 budget, there is a proposal to distribute these funds equally to all school districts in Virginia without regard to whether they have at-risk students or not. For example, a school district that has 10 000 students and no at-risk students would receive exactly the same amount of money from these funds as a school district of 10,000 students that has thousands of at-risk students. The Alexandria City Public School system could lose about $2.2 million next year if this proposal stands,” Caton said.
School districts in Northern Virginia with small numbers of at-risk students would benefit from the proposal. “These include some of the same school districts we supported over deferring recalculation of the composite index, which would not have effected Alexandria,” Caton said.
Mayor Bill Euille offered to make calls to other local legislators in the region. “We need to do everything we can to oppose this proposal because it is just wrong,” he said.
Donley agreed. “They are taking money away from the students who need it the most. This is just crazy,” he said.
The Senate’s proposed budget would maintain level funding for K-12 education. Under their proposed budget, Alexandria’s school system would receive just over $31.4 million in FY2011. The House’s proposed budget would cut ACPS’ allocation by $4.3 million, to $27.1 million next year.
The Arts
On Monday, the Virginia House Appropriations Committee voted 15-7, to cut state funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts by 50% in 2010-11 and to eliminate the agency completely as of July 1, 2011. The Senate Finance Committee has adopted the proposal in the budget bill submitted by former Governor Tim Kaine to not make further cuts in state funding for the Commission. There will be votes on the House and Senate floors later this week on the proposals from the two committees.
The prospect of losing the Commission has made waves across the State. Last year alone, the Commission helped make possible 39,943 arts events, which reached more than 7.7 million people, including 1.9 million school children.
The Commission made matching grants to local governments of $500,000 in FY2009-10 to support festivals and programs generating tourism and attracting business and cultural activities. Twelve Alexandria arts organizations, two schools and one library received $225,725 from the VCA in this year. In addition, the Alexandria Office of the Arts received $13,500. Total VCA funding in Alexandria is $239,225.
These local organizations received VCA funds: the Alexandria Choral Society; the Alexandria Symphony; the Art League; Del Ray Artisans; the Mount Vernon Community School; Douglas MacArthur Elementary School; the James M. Duncan Library; the Eclipse Chamber orchestra; Empowered Women International; MetroStage; the Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre; the Norther Virginia Fine Arts Association; QuinTango and the Virginia Chamber Orchestra.
Delegate David Englin (D-45) today issued the following statement in response to House Republican plans to cut $2.2 million from the Virginia Commission for the Arts in fiscal year 2011 and then eliminate the Commission entirely in 2012:
“In a year where economic development — and especially job creation — has been a paramount concern in the General Assembly, I believe it is economically shortsighted for the House to pass a budget that will completely eliminate funding for an activity that is currently returning $7 in investment by private citizens, businesses, and local governments for every one dollar of state money invested. The Virginia Commission for the Arts has a proven track record in economic development and has helped revitalize local economies across the Commonwealth. In the 45th District, the Torpedo Factory Art Center, the Art League, MetroStage, Signature Theater, Del Ray Artisans, Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theater and numerous other arts organizations and programs supported by the Commission over the years have strengthened our economy and enhanced our community as a tourism destination, creating jobs and contributing to tax revenues that support core services like education, health care, and public safety. Moreover, House Republicans have found room in their budget for investments of similar scale in movie industry incentives, despite the fact that the conservative Tax Foundation’s recent comprehensive study of these incentives call into question any purported return on that investment. By eliminating the already modest investment in a proven economic driver in favor of a similar investment whose returns are questionable and speculative, the House Republican budget is advocating a risky fiscal scheme that I oppose.
“This is not the only or even the most shortsighted, high-risk scheme contained in the House Republican budget. For example, massive cuts to public education and health care and raiding the state pension trust fund will result in tens of thousands of lost jobs, hinder our economic recovery, threaten our triple A bond rating, and diminish our coveted rankings by independent groups as best state for business, best state to raise a child, and best managed state. However, given the importance of the arts to the economy of the 45th District, this is an additional particular concern that I will continue working to address as the budget process moves forward, “Englin’s statement said.