This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
Virginia could be on the hook for $8 million to cover two initiatives to address student attendance and teacher retention if the federal government denies the commonwealth’s appeals, House lawmakers learned on Monday.
The Virginia Department of Education, along with 14 school divisions and the Department of Juvenile Justice, filed appeals after being informed that the deadline for spending all allocated funds was abruptly moved to March 28 of this year. The original deadline had been set for March 2026.
VDOE’s two appeals focused on the state’s Attendance Data Dashboard, designed to combat chronic absenteeism, and Grow Your Own, a program to support teacher apprenticeship pipelines. If the agency’s appeal is unsuccessful, education leaders will likely return to lawmakers with a request to make up the difference for the two programs in state dollars.
“We believe that the attendance dashboard is really critical,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Emily Anne Gullickson at Monday’s House Appropriations Committee meeting.
She said the data is “incredibly informative” for school divisions and for the state to determine where to send resources and support when mitigation is needed. However, the development has been suspended because the federal agency cut off the relief funds.
Gullickson said the agency is considering other ways to support the development of the system and the teacher apprenticeship program.
The state agency is also appealing for $25 million for 14 school divisions, including Halifax County, the cities of Richmond and Portsmouth, and the Department of Juvenile Justice. The funds could be utilized to address the learning loss from the pandemic and improve school facilities.
Gullickson said some projects are already completed or are near completion.
Lawmakers expressed serious concern about the potential loss of funding for school divisions.
“I don’t want to see (the school divisions) held accountable for the money that they were promised for grants to do,” said Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, who added he hopes the relief funds will be returned to the school divisions.
Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax, added that school divisions could potentially “be on the hook for paying more costs than originally they thought” due to the changes and “left holding the bag” to absorb the costs.
Gullickson said she hopes Virginia’s requests will be favored, considering the administration’s connections to the federal agency and the shared interest in mitigating learning loss.
Already, VDOE has received an extension of $18 million for statewide tutoring services. Gullickson said federal approval of the request would allow schools to use “high-intensity” tutoring platforms specifically for reading and math through tutoring services such as Zearn, Ignite and Lexia for the upcoming school year.
The Mercury contacted the U.S. Department of Education for comment last week; the department has yet to respond.
SNAP costs on the horizon?
The committee received the update on the education initiatives as it weighs multiple areas of cost concerns due to the federal changes by President Donald Trump’s administration that stand to impact the state’s economic standing and benefit programs, which the commonwealth could soon be responsible for covering.
Virginia could also have to pick up a $540 million expense to cover SNAP, also referred to as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, lawmakers learned at the meeting. The government initiative that provides monthly food benefits to low-income people and families could come with a price tag for states for the first time, if a GOP-led plan to slash federal spending succeeds.
“We’re going to be faced with some challenges, but what we’ve done over the past few years is tried to put as much money as possible in reserves so that we will be in a position and a posture to address some of the requirements that will be handed over to the state,” said House Appropriations Committee Chair Luke Torian, D-Prince William, told to the Mercury.
