Today we’re going to take a closer look at how much Virginia’s school funding formula is out of whack with reality.
You may recall that I wrote recently about how Franklin County was shocked to see that its score on the Local Composite Index — the state’s formula that is used to determine each locality’s ability to pay for its schools — had shot up to the highest in this part of the state, which translates into about a $3.7 million loss in state funding.
Two things are driving this: the influx of new residents around Smith Mountain Lake, who are helping drive up property values, which constitute a big part of the LCI. Also, the departure of some students out of the public school system for private schools or home schools. The theory is if a school system has fewer students, it doesn’t need as much funding, but that’s not entirely true — no matter how many students a school has, the building still has to be heated, the bus routes still have to be run, and you still need a first grade teacher whether there are 20 students in the class or 10.