Gov. McDonnell, unfreeze the LCI.
For those of you who don't know, the LCI -- Local Composite Index -- is a formula used to deter-mine how much money various Virginia jurisdictions get for their schools from the state. It assigns a score to each jurisdiction. The higher the score, the less money the jurisdiction gets.
Typically, the Prince William County area gets high scores.
One criteria the LCI uses in determining money allocation is property value. Higher property values con-tribute to higher scores. And as we all know, jurisdictions in Northern Virginia generally have pretty high property values. As a result, Northern Virginia as a whole usually pays more to the state than it gets back.
But property values have plummeted and the LCI scores for Northern Virginia were all set to drop, mean-ing our schools would get a nice payday from the state. Then Gov. Timothy Kaine got involved and froze the LCI scores at last year's levels. That means we would continue to be shortchanged.
Now it is in Gov. Bob McDonnell's hands. It is his choice to unfreeze the formula . . . or not.
It should be done.
For years, area jurisdictions have bled money to the state so that it could give it to other areas deemed less fortunate. Well, we are the needy now, and it is unfair to freeze the LCI just before it reaches a point where it would finally start giving us our due.
The move was Kaine's, and due to the financial difficulties facing the state, it may have even made sense. We certainly don't blame McDonnell. But we in Northern Virginia are hurting, and it is in McDonnell's power to loosen the LCI lock and lend us some aid.
This is an opportunity for Gov. McDonnell to demonstrate how different he will actually be from his predecessor. We hope he takes it. We need the dough.
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