Virginia Democrats push budget amendments to fund more support staff positions in schools

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia Democrats are hoping to send more money to K-12 schools to try and hire more support staff.

Currently, the state helps to fund 24 school support positions per every 1,000 students, which Democrats say is an arbitrary number reached after several increases after the cap was originally put in place during the Great Recession.

“Virginia is a wealthy state, yet we are nickel and diming our kids,” said Delegate Shelly Simonds (D-Newport News).

However, with language in both the proposed House and Senate budgets, Democrats are proposing raising that to 27.9 school support positions per 1,000 students, which they say is the current state average.

"This is about the front office staff who greet our students every morning," said Senator Lashrecse Aird (D-Henrico). "The maintenance teams who keep our schools safe and functional. The technology professionals who ensure our students have access to modern learning tools."

According to an analysis done by The Commonwealth Institute, the change would send an additional $222.9 million to local school divisions to help fund 4,725 additional school support staff positions.

“Our students deserve a safe and supportive learning environment and that includes access to trained school staff who can meet them where they are, help them work through issues, and achieve their full potential,” said Henrico County parent Monica Hutchinson.

Plus, the increase in funding would allow localities already paying for more support stuff to invest in other areas as well.

“When the localities are paying for those support positions, whether its behavioral health counselors or teacher aids, or all of the other very critical positions, those are dollars that have been taken away from other quite necessary needs for those localities,” explained Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond), who chairs the Senate Education and Health Committee. 

Some Republican lawmakers and the Virginia Department of Education oppose the idea saying that lawmakers should instead focus on replacing Virginia’s entire school funding formula, something most lawmakers agree is outdated.