Sarah Roderick-Fitch | December 10, 2024
(The Center Square) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has announced an additional budget investment of $290 million to further school construction and modernization.
The latest additional funding brings the total amount in the current biennium budget to $700 million, and it has totaled $2 billion since the governor took office nearly four years ago.
The governor is touting the $3.4 billion in total leveraged by contributions from the commonwealth, local, and federal funds, which he says are being invested in school construction projects.
“Over the last three years, we have invested historic amounts in our education system, including our public school facilities,” said Youngkin.“Our record economic growth and the resulting surplus allows us to make this critical investment to ensure every Virginia student has access to high-quality school facilities that support academic success.”
The $290 million will come from non-general funds, which the governor’s office says will support “critical public school construction projects by expanding competitive grant opportunities” for schools in “high-need areas” while addressing critical infrastructure needs that support learning environments for K-12 education.
The latest funding round follows an education funding announcement Monday that the commonwealth will “invest” over $50 million to “accelerate K-12 student success” by targeting critical students identified by the Virginia Department of Education School Performance and Support Framework.
“We at the Board of Education want to prioritize those school divisions in greatest need that have missed out on prior grant opportunities, especially rural divisions,” said Virginia Board of Education President Grace Creasey. “We also know that school divisions are eager to adopt seat time flexibility and competency-based models which requires us to design learning environments and spaces differently. This new investment will make this possible.”
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