State funding for education took a hit from this year’s budget cuts, causing community colleges to increase tuition and VCU to eliminate 91 jobs, but county funds will pay legal bills of the Gloucester Board of Supervisors.
Gloucester County resident, Visiting Judge Thomas Hoover, failed in court to block a motion passed last week by the supervisors that will use $343,000 in county funds to pay legal bills the supervisors incurred over the past year.
Hoover failed to uphold an emergency injunction requested by David L. Peebles, retired chairman of Ferguson Enterprises that would stop the payment of legal bills.
“There’s no way to know if an accurate billing statement was reviewed,” Peebles said. “They just wanted a blank check.”
York District Supervisor Teresa Altemus was one of four supervisors indicted last year on several misdemeanor charges including conducting county business in secret, unlawful warrantless search and computer trespassing.
The four indicted supervisors, including Altemus, voted during a closed session of the board in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, two days after the off-year general election, to spend $343,000 in taxpayer funds to pay legal bills the legislators incurred fighting the indictments.
Peebles said his attorney Brett Ingles argued there was no way to know if the amount the supervisors voted to cover was reasonable as state law dictates in regards to criminal proceedings.
“This is not sound government,” Peebles said.
According to Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Student Affairs Reuban Rodriguez, the state legislature decides what amount of money goes to public education and unless universities have politicians advocating for them, some schools might not see their fair share of funding.
“You find very few legislators with VCU degrees,” Rodriguez said.
Students, faculty and staff said they are feeling the pressure of a lack in financial resources for the university during a discussion on Nov. 11 with Rodriguez, hosted by the VCU chapter of the NAACP.
Student Senate Vice Chair for the Student Government Association La Juana Cummings said she feels the university’s funding for research is an issue.
“We spend much more money on research than any other (institution) in the state,” Cummings said. “There is plenty of grant money to fund research. We’re depriving students of quality education in order to provide market incentives and acclamation for this corporation.”
Interdisciplinary studies major, Breanne Armbrust said she feels the university has administration issues and not political ones.
“It seems like the university is more in the business of keeping students in school instead of providing an education,” Armbrust said. “I think (administration officials) could reassess the way they allocate funds.”
VCU
State support: Since the 2001 fiscal year, VCU has lost $4,149 per in-state student, more than any other Virginia institution except the Virginia Military Institute.
Tuition: VCU’s tuition and fees of $7,117 are lower than the state’s other doctoral institutions as well as James Madison, Longwood and Christopher Newport universities and Virginia Military Institute.
Virginia community colleges
Budget and enrollment: From fall 2006 to fall 2008, the community college system accounted for 71 percent of Virginia’s in-state undergraduate enrollment growth. The system has absorbed four state funding cuts since 2008 totaling $105 million.
Tuition: Tuition and mandatory fees at community colleges are 38 percent of the average comparable costs of a Virginia public university.
Information provided by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia Commonwealth University and the State Board for Community Colleges.