Education Funding Faces Budget Fight
Colleges Vie With Public Schools

By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

RICHMOND, Feb. 19 -- Virginia's colleges and universities are competing with local school districts over securing more money from lawmakers, who are struggling to prepare a state budget amid a slowdown in revenue.

Facing a shortfall in the current year's budget, the Republican-controlled House of Delegates is establishing different priorities from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Senate Democrats as both sides dig in for a budget fight that could go on until the session ends March 8.

The question is whether colleges and universities can afford to forgo some funding increases this year so there is more money for K-12 education and Kaine's initiative to expand preschool education for low-income residents.

The debate, a mix of political posturing and public policy, could have an impact on teacher salaries, the cost of going to college and the state's effort to better prepare 4-year-olds for kindergarten.

"Remember, before you can get through higher ed, you've got to get through all other stages of education," said Sen. Yvonne B. Miller (D-Norfolk). "And pre-K is the beginning. By the time a child is 5, 90 percent of a child's brain is developed."

Del. M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights), the House majority whip, countered that most Virginians are more worried about the cost of college than spending tax dollars on expanding access to pre-kindergarten education.

"The biggest issue we have is dealing with tuition affordability," said Cox, a high school teacher. "I've got four boys, I am middle class and have to worry about college. . . . It's an ideological difference. There is just no interest in pre-K in my district."

While both sides stress that the debate is not designed to pit colleges against local school districts, there are clearly some fault lines developing as lawmakers try to come up with a final budget before leaving town next month.

Facing a $1.4 billion shortfall through 2010, Kaine proposed last week a 2 percent cut in aid to the state's colleges and universities. The proposed reductions are in addition to the 5 to 6.25 percent reduction made to higher education last year.

Kaine also proposed a $100 million cut in aid for K-12 school construction but is not pushing for decreases in school operating budgets.

Instead, Kaine has proposed spending an additional $890 million for public elementary and high schools as part of a constitutionally mandated readjustment in the costs associated with teaching those students.

Kaine, backed by the Senate, is also pushing for a $43 million expansion in subsidized pre-kindergarten for an additional several thousand 4-year-olds from low-income families.

House Republicans, who are scheduled to approve their version of the budget Thursday, are staking out a different agenda.

Sensing an opportunity to generate goodwill from parents and college students struggling to pay tuition, the House Republicans say they won't go along with Kaine's proposed cuts in higher education.

GOP leaders say Kaine's reductions could result in 7 percent tuition increases next year, or about $700 a student on average over two years.

"Virginia cannot simply afford to abandon its responsibility to fund higher education," said Del. Harvey B. Morgan (R-Gloucester). "While belt-tightening is understandable in tough economic times, families need respite from increasing college tuitions."

House Republicans also want to reward colleges that do not raise tuition. Colleges that do not increase tuition next year will be able to share an additional $41 million to help offset their expenses. The extra money should cover the needs of any college that had been contemplating a tuition increase of 4 percent or less, according to House budget analysts.

Senate Democrats concede that their budget proposal, which does not restore all of Kaine's cuts in higher education funding, could lead to increased tuition at some of the state's 17 public colleges and universities.

"We acknowledge that our institutions of higher education will certainly have to raise tuition to maintain some progress," Sen. Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William), chairman of the Finance Committee, said Sunday. "It is expected."

But Kaine and the Virginia Education Association, which represents the state's teachers, say House Republicans are not doing enough to fund K-12 education.

In developing their proposal to meet the state-mandated Standards of Quality, House Republicans are rewriting some funding formulas to try to save the money, according to Virginia Education Association officials.

The change means House Republicans want to spend $110 million less than Kaine does on funding the Standards of Quality adjustments, according to the association.

"I think the proposed cut they are suggesting has a much more dramatic effect on education funding than the one I proposed," Kaine said in an interview Tuesday.

Robley S. Jones, director of government affairs for the Virginia Education Association, says the House plan will have a lasting impact because local governments will have to absorb more costs of paying teacher salaries.

"If it is allowed to stand, it will further erode woefully inadequate state support for teacher salaries and K-12 education," said Jones, who noted that Virginia ranks 31st in teacher salaries nationally.

"The impact in future budgets will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars," Jones added.

House Republicans dispute suggestions they want to spend less than Kaine does on secondary and elementary schools.

They say their budget proposals include a 2 percent pay raise for teachers this year, at a cost of $127 million. Kaine's proposal does not include a pay raise for teachers and state employees until next year.

"This year, we have again surpassed all competing proposals when it comes to funding education, demonstrating anew our willingness to make education a top priority regardless of economic climate," said House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford).

But House GOP leaders are far less receptive toward Kaine's preschool initiative, slashing funding for it by about half. Kaine plans to take his case to the public Wednesday when he visits a pre-K school at Langley Air Force Base.