(I had some technical difficulties the first time around so I'm reposting.  I'm leaving up the old post since it already had comments ...)

I wrote last week about Governor Kaine’s proposed income tax increase and my opposition to it. 

One thing less noted in the Governor’s proposal but more insidious to Fairfax County is the proposal to "freeze" the Local Composite Index. 

First, a word of background:         

The Local Composite Index is a mathematical calculation purportedly representing a locality’s “ability to fund” public schools.   It measures that by valuing the real property assessments, retail sales and personal incomes for each locality.  That aggregated wealth is then divided by the number of school age children in the jurisdiction.  The final figure is ranked on a sliding scale from 0 (poorest) to 1 (wealthiest).

Those state then funds K-12 public education in each locality in inverse proportion to its LCI rating.  In other words, if a locality has a 0.20 LCI, then the state funds 80% of the basic costs of education.  If the locality has a 0.80 LCI, then the state funds 20% of the basic costs of education. 

In recent history, the LCI has ranked northern Virginia localities at the top of the scale, which means we’ve been short-changed on state funding.  Due to the one-sided outcomes, I have contended that the LCI is not an objective measure but a pretext to export education  money from Northern Virginia to the rest of the state. 

The process peaked a couple years ago when Fairfax County – the state’s largest school division– reached a .77 LCI, which meant that the state was only funding 23% of its base costs to the system which educates170,000 students.   Due to our size, nearly every other school division became a beneficiary of our export.

Then a funny thing happened.  The real estate market crashed in Northern Virginia and personal incomes also decreased.

For 2010, the LCI is required to be re-balanced.  We have those estimates.  And, shockingly, the numbers were tilting more favorably to Fairfax and its neighboring localities.

For example, Fairfax dropped from .77 to .71.  Loudoun dropped from .67 to .58.  Prince William fell from .44 to .40.

These marginal increases represent enormous amounts of money.  For Fairfax, the 6% change represents nearly $60 million in annual spending for K-12 education -- or enough to put all-day kindergarten and music programs in every elementary school.

That was good news.  It was not unexpected.  And it was not undeserved.  Our localities have been short-changed for years.  We should gain ground.

Then the shocking news. 

In his speech to the Appropriations Committee, Governor Kaine stated that his proposed budget would “freeze the LCI” to its present levels in order to give localities “certainty” for budgeting.  Hogwash. 

The most infuriating part was the Governor’s claim that “seventy-nine school divisions” would benefit from the freeze.  Of course, that's because the big loser is Fairfax County, which has enough kids alone to equal these smaller counties.  Do our schoolchildren count less?

The push to freeze the LCI (and punish NoVA) is predicated on the fact that our leadership and our media can’t explain the issue or simply don't care.  I note that the first stories about this issue focus on the “reactions” of Fairfax lawmakers rather than the impact on our schools.

That’s unacceptable.

The voices for this region cannot just stand silent or repeat the same lame mantras (“fully fund the SOQ’s!”) which miss the real issues in Richmond. 

Every Fairfax lawmaker needs to fight against a budget that uses an out-of-date LCI and false economic assumptions.  Enough foolishness.  And this fight will continue no matter who is the Governor.