The battle over Virginia’s obligation to fully fund the costs of public education has resumed in the General Assembly with the same price tag but a new intensity because of the potentially devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on public schools.
Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, and Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, have reintroduced legislation to require the state to meet the obligations that the State Board of Education formally prescribed 15 months ago for Virginia to provide a quality education for students K-12 and redress inequities arising from poverty across the state.
“It is long past time that we invest in our children,” McClellan said in a news conference Monday to promote the “School Equity and Staffing Act” that she and Aird have introduced in the General Assembly for the second consecutive year.