Caroline County’s School Board and Board of Supervisors recently agreed to a joint resolution urging support for the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study on funding K-12 public education.
The resolution, signed by School Board Chair Shawn Kelley and Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff Black, urged state elected officials to fully fund JLARC’s near-term recommendations of eliminating the support cap and restoring funding categories/methodologies that were removed in fiscal year 2009-10; calculating salaries and costs using division averages — not linear weighted averages; funding the modernization of K-12 reporting and Information Technology systems; and funding additional Virginia Department of Education staff to support school divisions.
The resolution also requested state legislators change the Local Composite Index (LCI) — a locality’s ability to pay education costs — to a three-year average instead of two.
County and school officials also mentioned JLARC’s long-term recommendations in the resolution.
Those suggestions include developing accurate, fixed and prevailing staff ratios; routinely updating salary cost assumptions during the re-benchmarking process; replacing the cost of competing adjustment with a Virginia-based labor index and adopting an economies-of-scale-adjustment for divisions with less than 2,000 students.
The resolution asserts that JLARC is “a respected nonpartisan body” that conducts studies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and equity of Virginia’s public programs. It noted that JLARC’s findings are driven by data and requested they be adopted by state legislators.
“Adequate and equitable K-12 funding is critical for students, schools and local governments, particularly underserved communities like Caroline County,” the resolution states. “Localities like Caroline County face increasing challenges in meeting education costs due to inadequate state funding, rising expenses, and growing local contribution demands.”
A copy of the resolution was sent to the county’s representatives in the General Assembly, Del. Hilary Pugh Kent (R-Richmond County), Del. Bobby Orrock (R-Spotsylvania) and Sen. Richard Stuart (R-Westmoreland County).
