It is never too early to begin to think about the Commonwealth’s Budget for Education and this is particularly true now as this year marks the first budget Governor McCauliffe’s administration will develop.
Advocacy from the MLWGS PTSA Advocacy Team (led by Laura O’Brien and Marianne Macon) resulted the General Assembly authorizing a review of the funding formula for Governor’s Schools that was conducted in 2014. http://leg2.state.va.us/dls/h&sdocs.nsf/By+Year/RD2812014/$file/RD281.pdf links to the study’s findings. As you will see, the study found that the historic/current funding strategy is “not based on any specific staffing or cost standard” (p. 10) and disproportionately impacts self contained, full-time Governor’s schools such as Maggie Walker, Thomas Jefferson, and Appomattox Governor’s school that “provide many of the programs, functions, and staffing present in comprehensive high schools, but also various specialized course offerings and enrichment activities adding to their cost” (p. 13).
We want to ensure that the progress that has been made to this point (i.e., funding study) keeps its legs as we head into the Commonwealth’s fiscal cycle. To this end, https://www.change.org/p/gov-mcauliffe-please-fix-funding-for-virginia-s-governor-s-schools links to an open petition that has been circulating for several months and that will be presented as we near the opening of the 2016 General Assembly Session. If you have not already done so, please consider advocating for the Commonwealth’s awesome Governor’s school students and those at Mil-wigs in particular!
