When Gov. Bob McDonnell announced his biennial budget proposal last month, state higher education officials were pleased to hear that he was recommending a $200 million increase in funding for state colleges and universities. This infusion of money into a higher education system which has endured declining state support for five consecutive years is necessary if McDonnell hopes to follow through on his pledge to confer an additional 100,000 degrees to Virginians in the next 15 years.
The way McDonnell plans to pay for those investments in higher education, however, could lead to significant reductions in funding for the commonwealth's K-12 system. McDonnell's budget would require local governments to pay about $1.1 billion into the state pension system to cover the employer portion of school teacher retiree benefits. This would impose a severe burden upon localities already struggling to cope with depressed tax collections which have been brought about by a sluggish economy, and it may force many of them to compensate by laying off teachers or otherwise slashing the amount of money dedicated toward K-12 education.
Moreover, the McDonnell budget would devote an additional $92.5 million from the state general fund to higher education. Because more than a third of general fund monies currently go toward K-12 education, there is justified concern among school officials that this might lead to cutbacks in state support for public elementary, middle and high schools. Thus, although McDonnell should be commended for identifying higher education as a crucial priority in his biennial budget, the lawmakers in the General Assembly who will build upon the governor's proposal must find a more holistic approach to funding state colleges and universities which would not involve undercutting the very K-12 system which prepares students for earning college degrees.
Unfortunately, that seems unlikely since members of the state Republican Party, which currently possesses undivided control of the Virginia government, have ruled out tax increases as a way to balance the upcoming biennial budget. This approach might be reasonable if the commonwealth regularly updated its tax rates to take account of inflation and changes in income distribution, but in fact such crucial sources of revenue as the gas tax and the income tax have not been raised since 1986 and 1972, respectively. These chronically choked revenue streams have created a situation in which the commonwealth lacks the money it needs to fund all of its core services, which has forced it to resort to other gimmicks to balance its budget in recent years.
For example, the state government was forced to borrow $620 million from its retirement system to make ends meet when it refused to raise taxes during the previous budget cycle, and now it must repay that money or risk adding to the commonwealth's $17.6 billion of unfunded pension liabilities. McDonnell is hoisting much of the burden for this repayment upon localities, however, which may cause them to divert resources from hiring teachers, renovating buildings or investing in other projects which could improve the quality of K-12 education in Virginia.
Furthermore, the existing pot of general fund revenue cannot fund core services such as K-12 education while simultaneously allowing for increased support for higher education. Pretending that it can will only starve the K-12 system of the resources it needs to produce students ready for a college environment, which will undermine the commonwealth's goal of producing a more educated citizenry. State lawmakers must keep this in mind as they consider revisions to McDonnell's budget proposal during the ongoing General Assembly session, and they should adopt a plan which supports the entirety of the Virginia education system.
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