FCCPTA's 2004 Legislative Positions in the Virginia General Assemble

FCCPTA joins with the Fairfax County School Board and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and jointly endorses the following priorities for critical education funding issues[1]:

n Exempt all state aid for K-12 public education from spending restrictions which may be undertaken to manage Virginia’s continuing budget deficits;

n Support increased state funding of K-12 public education through full funding of the Standards of Quality; and

n Support tax restructuring and enhanced revenue capacity for localities in order to address pressing K-12 public education capital costs and other local needs.

We also strongly urge that existing state sources of K-12 education funding be preserved.

Discussion of priorities and recommendations on other significant issues

We offer the following discussion of these main priorities, and make additional recommendations for positions on other significant issues.

STANDARDS OF QUALITY

FCCPTA supports a significant increase in state education funding, so that the state fully funds its share of the actual costs of meeting the Standards of Quality (SOQ). We also support basing the SOQs on prevailing practices in local school divisions. Further, FCCPTA strongly urges the governor and General Assembly to continue to implement recommendations from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) 2002 Review of Elementary and Secondary School Funding, which documents how the state fails to cover the costs of implementing the SOQs. Specifically, FCCPTA believes:

1. The state constitution should be amended to obligate the state to pay its full share of the SOQs, just as localities are obliged to pay their shares.

2. An independent, non-partisan state agency or department should be required to calculate annually whether the state is adequately funding its share of the SOQs.

3. The SOQs should be revised to reflect prevailing “best practices” for K-12 education. Revisions should focus on funding class size reductions, Standards of Learning remediation classes, educational technology, and school construction and renovation. Today's SOQs are decades out of date and recognize primarily the working environment and salaries and benefits of instructional personnel.

4. The state should not shift its constitutional responsibility for funding public education onto localities, as it is effectively doing now. School divisions are held accountable to state academic achievement standards, whether or not sufficient state funds are provided. As a result, local governments are faced with increasing taxes, to the limited extent they have the authority to do so, or cutting funding to other public services in order to fulfill unfunded state and federal mandates, such as the Standards of Learning or No Child Left Behind.

TAX RESTRUCTURING AND ENHANCED REVENUE CAPACITY

FCCPTA supports efforts to revise and restructure the tax code of Virginia in a way that provides localities with more stable and diverse revenue sources that reliably generate sufficient funds over time to support vital local services without cutbacks.

1. FCCPTA supports giving counties the same taxing authority as that available to cities. Most counties now provide the same services as cities, but with fewer options available for funding those services. As a result, counties such as Fairfax County are increasingly reliant on property taxes as their main source of revenue. We believe counties should be given taxing authority similar to cities, in order to ease the growing burden of the property tax.

2. FCCPTA supports providing localities with the authority to add a local education “piggy back” onto the state income tax. Fairfax County Public Schools calculates that a quarter-cent local “piggy back” on the state income tax could raise $80 million annually. By contrast, state school funding would need to increase by about $1 billion—an impossibility in the current climate—in order to produce the same revenue for FCPS.

3. FCCPTA supports increasing the state tax on cigarettes, as well as allowing counties the ability to impose additional taxes on cigarettes, with at least a portion of funds raised designated towards K-12 public education.

4. The Local Composite Index (LCI)—the formula through which state education aid is distributed to localities—should be adjusted annually (currently, allocations for FY 2005 and FY 2006 are based upon economic data from as far back as 2001), and LCI calculations should include a population density factor in order to recognize the extra costs of providing public services in localities with high population density.

5. FCCPTA supports legislation allowing counties and cities to hold a voter referendum for authorization to levy additional local sales taxes, with the proceeds of such taxes dedicated to school facilities in their own jurisdictions.

6. FCCPTA opposes any arbitrary state restrictions on localities' revenue-raising or spending authority, such as a cap on local real estate property taxes or spending restrictions based on population growth and/or inflation.

VOUCHERS, TUITION TAX CREDITS, AND TAX DEDUCTIONS

FCCPTA joins with the Fairfax County School Board and the Virginia and National PTA in opposing the diversion of any K-12 public education funds to nonpublic schools, either directly or indirectly, and specifically opposes the use of tuition tax credits, tax deductions, vouchers or other vehicles as a means of funding private schools of any type, for whatever rationale.

NOTIFICATION OF STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN GANG-RELATED CRIMES

FCCPTA joins with the Fairfax County School Board in seeking amendment of the Code of Virginia to require that the superintendent of a local school division receive prompt notification by an appropriate court officer of any student enrolled in the school division, regardless of age, who is charged with committing a crime in association with a criminal street gang as defined in Section 18.2-46.2 of the Code of Virginia.

PUBLIC SCHOOL CALENDAR

FCCPTA joins with the Fairfax County School Board supporting legislation to repeal the so-called “Kings Dominion Law,” which mandates that local school boards set the opening day of school after Labor Day. Virginia is the only state that prohibits local school boards from opening school prior to Labor Day. Spring testing schedules, summer remediation programs, and increased professional development opportunities for staff should all be factors considered in determining school opening schedules. Local school boards should be given the flexibility to set the opening day of school based upon these factors, along with input from parents, teachers, school staff, and the local community.

[1] See Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and School Board Joint Legislative Positions, 2004 General Assembly, December 8, 2003.