RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Department of Education acknowledges it made a mistake in calculating state aid for K-12 schools, a mistake that is leaving divisions with less funding than expected.
The error occurred because last year’s decision to exempt localities from eliminating the state portion of the grocery sales tax was not reflected, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. It means local school divisions will receive $201 million less than expected, including $58 million less for the current school year, according to the newspaper.
“It was human error on our part,” said Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Department of Education. “We regret that he has not been identified until December.”
State Superintendent Jillian Balow notified superintendents by email Friday, according to the newspaper, and House Appropriations Chairman Barry Knight said the news caught him off guard Monday.
“I didn’t know anything about it until this afternoon,” Knight said. “I’m not very happy. They didn’t bother to tell Assignments that the numbers had changed.”
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“We need to have open communication here,” he told the Times-Dispatch. “Now it’s up to me, what do we do?”
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