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Hampton Roads lawmakers wrote a letter to Gov. Bob McDonnell on Thursday, asking him to reconsider his support for a change in the state’s school funding formula that will cost the region dearly.

The change would generate $124 million for Northern Virginia. Almost half the money would come from a $58.4 million cut in funds flowing into Hampton Roads. The lawmakers noted in their letter that 93 of the state’s 135 school systems would lose cash under the new formula.

The formula measures the wealth of localities and determines the amount of state aid each school system receives. It is calibrated every two years. But former Gov. Tim Kaine recommended skipping a scheduled reset this year to spare Virginia a required $29 million increase in the state’s total share of education spending. That irked Northern Virginia officials because a sharp decline in real estate prices has cut their region’s wealth and entitled it to a greater share of state funds. They lobbied McDonnell, who took office in January, not to freeze he formula.

The letter was drafted by Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake. “We urge you to take action in a way that preserves the majority of your school districts from irreparable harm,” he wrote McDonnell.

“We can say without exaggeration that if this latest decision becomes a reality, the effects will be debilitating to communities across the state: Children will lose services; employees will lose jobs,” Cosgrove wrote.
The four-page missive is rife with statistics about the impact the formula change would have in each Hampton Roads school district. It urges McDonnell, if he can’t stomach the freeze, to phase in the new formula over two years.

Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, has declined to sign the letter. He’s a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which will be releasing its state budget proposal on Sunday. Jones, an effective behind-the-scenes worker, is concerned his signing could put him at public odds with fellow budget writers. He said there there will be ample opportunities to negotiate school spending in the four weeks left in the General Assembly session.

The formula change is one in a series tremors that is rocking education funding. Kaine and McDonnell have proposed separate rounds of cuts that would reduce state aid to schools by 9.3 percent for the budget year starting July 1.

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