Amendments to the 2000-2002 Biennial Budget as Proposed by Governor Gilmore

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O. BOX 2120
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 223
December 22, 2000

INFORMATIONAL

TO: Division Superintendents

FROM: Jo Lynne DeMary
Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUBJECT: Amendments to the 2000-2002 Biennial Budget as Proposed by Governor Gilmore

Governor Gilmore’s proposed amendments to the 2000-2002 budget were presented on Wednesday, December 20, 2000, before a joint session of the Senate Finance, the House Appropriations, and the House Finance committees. This budget will be considered by the 2001 Session of the General Assembly, which is scheduled to convene on January 10, 2001. The recommendations made by the Governor include several new initiatives, as well as technical revisions to the Standards of Quality and other related accounts.

Highlights of Governor Gilmore’s budget proposals include:

An additional $6.0 million in fiscal year 2002 to expand the Governor’s Academic Challenge Program. This program will provide funding for schools that are assigned the accreditation status of "Accredited with Warning" or "Provisionally Accredited/Needs Improvement."

An additional $4.2 million in fiscal year 2002 for the Standards of Learning (SOL) Algebra Readiness program. With this funding, the Governor proposes to reduce the program’s pupil to teacher ratio from 10 to 1 to 8 to 1.

An additional $914,863 in fiscal year 2002 to give students who fail an SOL test by a narrow margin the opportunity to retake the test on an expedited schedule.

An additional $543,553 in fiscal year 2002 for the Remediation-Retesting program, which allows students who fail an SOL test, but advance to the next grade, an opportunity to retake the test after they have participated in a remediation program.

The Governor’s recommendations also include technical adjustments to the Standards of Quality (SOQ), incentive-based, and categorical programs. Attachment A to this memorandum provides summary descriptions of the funding proposed by the Governor. Attachment B to this memorandum contains a document that reflects the revised estimated entitlements for the SOQ and other state-funded accounts that localities will receive in fiscal year 2001 (which began on July 1, 2000, and ends June 30, 2001) and fiscal year 2002 (which begins July 1, 2001, and ends June 30, 2002.) These projected entitlements reflect the department’s projected average daily membership (ADM) for each locality.

In addition to the information contained in Attachment B, a downloadable Excel file was created to assist divisions in calculating projected state entitlements and local matches for these programs. This file gives divisions the opportunity to change ADM to test the effect on state funding and projected local matches using the department’s projected ADM or a local projection of ADM. Attachment C to this memorandum provides detailed instructions for accessing the Excel file. The Excel file is located on the department’s website. The file can be downloaded from the following address:

http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Finance/Budget/calctools.html

It is important to remember that the information provided in Attachment B and the Excel template relates to the Governor’s budget as introduced. The House of Delegates and the Senate will have the opportunity to amend the Governor’s budget during the 2001 General Assembly session. The General Assembly will adopt a final budget at the end of the session, which is scheduled for February 24, 2001. Therefore, the estimated entitlements contained in the documents attached to this memorandum are only projections and are subject to change throughout the session. The department will provide additional information during the General Assembly session as changes occur.

If you have questions, please contact the budget office staff at (804) 225-2025.

JLD:kmr

Attachments

/administrators/superintendents_memos/2000/inf223a.pdf

/administrators/superintendents_memos/2000/inf223b.pdf

/administrators/superintendents_memos/2000/inf223c.pdf

TO:	Division Superintendents
FROM:	Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT:	Amendments to the 2000-2002 Biennial Budget as Proposed by Governor Gilmore