Prince William school funds may take a hit

It's only June, and they have until October to decide, but Prince William supervisors are already starting to discuss what their requests to the General Assembly for 2010 should be.

Money will be tight, said Dana Fenton, director of legislative affairs for Prince William, in reference to the two-year budget the General Assembly will soon discuss.

"With revenue shortfalls facing the general fund and transportation trust fund," according to back-ground documents to the board, "there will be a need to consider further program reductions and revenue enhancements in the 2010 General Assembly."

In fiscal 2009, shortfalls in the state's budget reportedly hit $225 million and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine re-quested that agencies reduce spending. Financial predictions are that the shortfall will likely continue into next year, and possibly through fiscal 2012. And since local governments receive 52 percent of the state's general funds, the impact of these projected shortfalls and revenue dips will prove a "substantial impact" to Prince William, according to background documents for the board.

Education will feel the pinch most.

"The largest source of aid to local governments is K-12 education," with $10.9 billion of the state's general funds budgeted for Virginia's school systems between fiscal 2009 and 2010, according to the research presented by Fenton.

Affecting how much Prince William receives of this pot is the composite index, a state measurement of each local-ity's ability to pay for education. The index figure is based on real estate values, incomes and retail sales—the logic being that those communities with growing housing and commercial markets that are also home to the wealthy are better able to raise revenues and pay for schools. In other words, they don't need as much help from the state as poorer or less populated communities.

The index ranges from .2 to .8 and the higher the composite index number, "the more the locality pays for educating children," background documents state.

Prince William's index is currently .4437, according to the agenda documents. But by the end of this year, the state's indexes will be updated using data from 2007—when Prince William's housing market was booming, along with real estate tax collections.

That means in fiscal 2011 and 2012, when these new composite indexes will be applied, Prince William will receive less money from the state in terms of general fund disbursements for education.

That's just one challenge facing the state and localities; the outlook for transportation improvements is simi-larly bleak.

"Transportation revenue sources have not escaped the affects of the recession," according to the back-ground documents. "Through April 2009, transportation revenues [at the state] were down 2.1 percent … [and] the ability of the state to fund the state's share of new projects, such as the VRE extension to Gaines-ville-Haymarket, is in doubt."

The session with Fenton on Tuesday was informational. On Oct. 13, supervisors will be presented a recommended legislative priority list for discussion and approval. In the 2009 General Assembly session, the county "achieved or made progress on nine of 23 issues," according to Fenton.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.