Local Study: School Funding 2020

Local Study: School Funding 2020

School Funding in Montgomery County  PDF icon report May 2020

This is a local study by LWVMC 

An August 2017 report of the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis reported that there were 290 fewer staff serving students in the Montgomery County Schools than in the 2008–2009 school year. In 2017 dollars, school division operating funds from all sources had declined by $9.5 million over the seven-year period beginning in 2008–2009.

A study to examine the funding of the public schools in Montgomery County was approved by the members at the annual meeting May 9, 2018. The study includes four components that address the following questions:

  1. To what extent is state funding of public education in Virginia adequate and equitable, and how do those factors impact the funding of schools in Montgomery County?
  2. Has the Montgomery County School Board prepared budgets that accurately reflect the needs of the schools and has the Board of Supervisors funded those budgets?
  3. To what extent are properties in Montgomery County taxed fairly and equitably to reflect an appropriate balance of tax revenues coming from commercial and residential properties?
  4. Has the Montgomery County School Board created mechanisms that guarantee equal access to quality programs for all students attending the public schools in the County?

League members met to discuss the report on May 28, 2020, and accepted it by consensus. Further discussion will follow on actions to take. mfdh [at] aol.com (Mary Houska) and wworner [at] vt.edu (Wayne “Dempsey” Worner) serve as co-directors of the study.

 

Issues: