General Assembly wrap up
Coalition says House budget hurts schools
Members of the Fund Quality
Schools Coalition said this past Tuesday
that a budget proposal passed by
the House threatens funding for local
public education.
The coalition consists of groups
such as the Virginia School Boards
Association and the Virginia Education
Association.
The House budget would change
the way the commonwealth calculates
its share of funding for local schools,
including capping inflation rates and
basing funding for salaries on older
data. At a press conference, the coalition
said the proposed changes would
cost local school divisions about
$356 million during the 2010-2012
biennium.
Currently, Virginia ranks 31 in the
nation in average teacher salaries and
33 in providing funds to local schools,
the coalition said.
VEA President Princess Moss said
those rankings are unacceptable, and
the House proposal would make the
situation worse.
“Virginia already shortchanges its
schools and its teachers,” Moss said.
“How can the General Assembly
even consider reducing its future
commitment to school funding and
salaries?”
Tom Smith, the superintendent
of Fluvanna County schools, said
the proposed reduction could have
a devastating effect.
“As a superintendent, the only way
that we could make up this deficit
would be . to reduce services (including
teacher positions); cut teacher
salaries; or ask our localities to raise
local revenue,” Smith said.
Petersburg Mayor Annie M. Mickens
said raising this money would be
a problem for many localities.
Brief by Meredith Kight
Senate approves DEQ bills
Revamped requirements for members
of the Virginia Department of
Environmental Quality unanimously
were approved by the Senate this
past week.
If approved by Governor Timothy
M. Kaine, House Bill 1332 would
enforce standards of expertise for DEQ
staff members, as well as for members
of air- and water-control boards.
The bill was controversial when
first proposed because it took the
power to issue permits away from
the environmental-citizen boards and
gave that authority to the DEQ.
However, controversy subsided
after the language of the bill was
updated.
Both HB 1332 and a partner bill,
Senate Bill 423, have been moving
steadily through the legislature
since.
Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, D-Tazewell,
who proposed SB 423, said he is
confident both bills will become law.
He said the updated versions of the
bills are a compromise between the
environmental-citizen boards and the
general public.
Brief by Julia Linden
Senate approves computer-recycling bill
Virginia computer manufacturers
might have to establish recycling
programs for their used products.
The Senate voted 37-3 Wednesday,
Feb. 27 to approve House Bill 344,
which would require the manufacturers
of more than 500 pieces
of computer equipment to collect,
recycle and re-use items returned by
consumers.
The bill’s sponsor, Delegate Kenneth
R. Plum, D-Reston, said the
requirements only apply to monitors
and central-processing units. Printers,
keyboards and speakers are not
included.
Plum addressed some concerns
– including waste volume in landfills,
environmental hazards and material
recovery – that were raised by those
who opposed the bill.
“The lifetime of computer products
seems to be relatively short, and there
are a high number of them,” Plum
said. “There is a high likelihood that
we’re going to have a high volume of
these products coming into landfills
if we don’t do something to divert
that.”
Between 2004 and 2006, the Virginia
Department of Environmental
Quality received several grants from
the computer company Dell to
conduct electronic-waste collection
in Russell, Buchanan, Dickenson,
Page and Bedford counties. According
to DEQ’s Web site, almost 50 tons
of electronics were collected for
recycling in a measure to prevent
them from being deposited in Virginia
landfills.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Web site states that between
1.5 and 1.9 million tons of electronics
waste were deposited in U.S. landfills
in 2005, while between 345,000 and
379,000 tons were recycled.
Brief by Alex Bahr
