Virginia’s 2024 Legislative Report

It is sometimes said that the real statement of an organization’s values is not found in its mission statement, it’s found in its budget. It is no surprise then that Virginia’s 2024 biennial budget was, without doubt, the most significant action taken by the General Assembly this year.

Last year’s nonpartisan Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) report on Virginia school spending was issued during the state’s elections for all the seats in both the House and the Senate. Its key finding: “Virginia school divisions receive less K–12 funding per student than the 50-state average, the regional average, and three of Virginia’s five bordering states. School divisions in other states receive 14 percent more per student than school divisions in Virginia, on average, after normalizing for differences in cost of labor among states. This equates to about $1,900 more per student than Virginia.”

Many legislators began the legislative session committed to closing that funding gap. It took additional time beyond the original adjournment deadline, but eventually the General Assembly and the Governor reached agreement on a significant increase in education spending – more than a billion dollars in new spending over the next biennium.  Among the key items:

• Funding for a 3% pay increase for state-supported school employees. Virginia’s state funding formula is weighted to provide greater funding for lower-wealth districts, so not all school divisions will receive the full 3% support for a pay increase.
• $371 million over the biennium for additional funding for At-Risk students.  The budget consolidates several smaller programs into a single program; transitions the proxy used to estimate the number of at-risk students from federal free lunch rates to federal Identified Student Percentage rates; distributes an additional 11 percent per student; and increases funding for divisions with the greatest number of At-Risk students. These recommendations were from the JLARC study.
• $72 million for the state’s share of instructional positions for English learners. The current standard has been 1 teacher for every 50 EL students. With the passage of the budget, the ratio will change depending on student proficiency: at Level 1, 1 teacher: 20 students; at Level 2, 1 teacher: 30 students, etc. State funding varies by the school division’s ability to pay.
• $250 million for school construction loans.
• Although the Governor’s budget proposed an additional $100 million for lab schools, the final adopted budget did not include any new funding for this program. However, $25 million in carryover funding is included to support the lab schools that have already been authorized. The budget also maintains language requiring that only public four-year institutions can house a lab school.  
• An inflation-adjusted increase in per-pupil spending from $7881 per student to $8338.

Other education legislation addressed college and career pathways, better access to education data, and teacher pay.

HB 1087established the College and Career Ready Virginia Program, opening up dual enrollment opportunities for Virginia’s 1.2 million high school students. The legislation requires each high school to offer each qualified high school student access at the high school to dual enrollment courses that would allow the student to complete a set of courses that are transferable or satisfy lower-division general education requirements at a public institution of higher education at no cost to the student. The program will also offer each high school access to online courses that will meet these requirements.

HB 1083creates a task force to make recommendations on ways to make it possible for K-12, postsecondary, and workforce data to be available to officials, policymakers, and the public. The goal is to create better information to improve the effectiveness of Virginia’s workforce pathways and to retool the Virginia Longitudinal Data System—the state’s repository for education and workforce development data— so that it ultimately combines K-12, postsecondary, and workforce data. This combined data would allow officials, policymakers and the public to better understand the effectiveness of the state’s education-to-workforce pathways.

SB 433is designed to provide greater support for Students with Limited and/or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE students) so they can stay in and complete high school in Virginia. It also would work to develop better formulas for calculating the high school drop-out rate and graduation rates, which currently do not include any SLIFE students who have not been enrolled in a public high school for at least two semesters.

HB 1345and SB 199require the Board of Education, working with the community college system, Career and Technical Education directors, and industry partners to develop a “current, comprehensive, and uniform list of industry-recognized workforce credentials that students may take as a substitute for certain units of credit required for graduation, including such credentials that are accepted as substitutes for electives credits and credentials completed outside of regular school hours.”  The bills require each school board to accept as a substitute for a required credit any credential listed as an accepted substitute for such required credit. 

SB 487directs the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) to conduct an analysis of the use of artificial intelligence by public bodies in the Commonwealth. It further authorizes the creation of a Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

HB 1477 requires local school boards to use flexibility waiving existing instructional clock hour requirements. For students enrolled in Career Pathways programs, the legislation directs local boards to allow students time within the school day to complete work-based learning opportunities or to complete dual enrollment courses that may not meet instructional clock hour requirements.   

For more information about Virginia and other states and how they are incorporating more equitable funding and pathways educational policies, check out All4Ed’s State Policy Center