Why should
educators care about the Governor’s transportation plan – other than being
happy that someone may finally be doing something about the traffic in Northern
Virginia and Hampton Roads?
If the money
wasn’t taken, in part, from funding for our schools - we wouldn’t.
But,
McDonnell’s plan takes a good deal of money from the General Fund, the portion
of the budget traditionally used to fund core services such as education.
So how much
will our schools lose if the Governor’s plan passes?
The take
from the General Fund grows from year to year:
2014 - $48
million
2015 - $102
million
2016 - $158
million
2017 - $219
million
2018 – $283
million
Five Year
Total = $810
Public
Education currently receives approximately 30% of General Fund Revenues. So how much would we lose?
2014 - $14
million
2015 - $31
million
2016 - $47
million
2017 - $66
million
2018 - $85
million
Five Year
Total = $243 million
When our
state currently ranks 38th in per pupil state support for public
education, we can hardly stand to lose a quarter of a billion dollars for our
schools over the next five years.
Shouldn’t we fix our roads without taking funding for our schools?
