Governor Youngkin proposes cutting support staff to pay for private school vouchers and vetoes culturally responsive mental health support bill
Yesterday Governor Youngkin released a set of budget amendments and vetoes, many of which would be harmful for our students, public schools, and communities if accepted by the General Assembly.
The amendments included undoing a major victory for Virginia public school students by removing a significant portion of the funding for school support staff included in the General Assembly’s budget. A strong bipartisan majority of state lawmakers sent Governor Youngkin a budget fully lifting the arbitrary cap on state funding for support staff that was put in place in 2009 during the Great Recession. Instead, the governor proposed using some of these funds for an unaccountable private school voucher scheme and padding an already strong rainy day fund. The legislature already rejected the governor’s voucher proposal this year, as well as a proposal in 2023.
“Support staff are essential: they keep the buildings clean, keep the technology running, and work with families to keep students in school,” stated Alexander Blocker, senior organizer at the Legal Aid Justice Center. “For the governor to take funding away from support staff and divert it to his unpopular voucher schemes, which have been repeatedly rejected by lawmakers of both parties, is an insult to Virginia families. Legislators should maintain their commitment to our students and reject these harmful amendments.”
Fortunately, the Governor did accept the additional $53 million add-on proposed by the General Assembly to support students with disabilities. This amendment was inspired by a landmark 2023 JLARC report that found the state was underfunding many student groups, in particular, students with disabilities. Fund Our Schools played a key role in designing this budget amendment and accompanying legislation that ultimately was included in the budget sent to the Governor.
In addition to his budget amendments, the governor vetoed HB2341 (Delegate Shin), which would have improved the reach of school-based mental health services to support students of different cultural and language backgrounds. We supported this important legislation because we believe that every single one of our students deserves to belong and be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their identity or what language is their native tongue.
“Our students are a beautiful picture of the cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity that exists in the state of Virginia,” says Cat Atkinson, Policy Analyst at Voices for Virginia’s Children. “Ensuring mental health services in schools are responsive to that diversity is imperative as we know that access to critical mental and behavioral health services in schools is essential to our students’ success.”
HB2341 would direct the Department of Education to develop, adopt, and provide to local school boards guidance on the provision of culturally responsive and language-appropriate mental health supports and services for students. The Center for the Study of Social Policy describes culturally responsive services as those designed for a specific population and grounded in that group’s needs, values and perspectives and expanding it further to ensure that the services are provided in the language of origin of the individual seeking services.
We know that when we prioritize student’s mental health, it allows them to focus on their classes, form stronger and healthier relationships with their peers and teachers, and prepare them for life after graduation. School-based mental health supports meet students where they are – the place they spend most of their time – and provides a framework for support that extends beyond the classroom. Our students deserve mental health services that are accessible, culturally responsive, language appropriate and supportive of the diverse and unique experiences they have. This bill would have been the first step in achieving this goal.
We are grateful to the House and Senate for passing a budget that includes significant support for our public schools as well as continuing to build out strong structures of support for our students through the passing of a package of school-based mental health bills. While the Governor did sign legislation to improve access to telehealth and teletherapy services in schools, it is imperative that we continue to expand strategies that meet the needs of all students.
We will continue to advocate for a budget and legislation that brings us closer to having fully and fairly funded public schools where every student gets the support that they need to thrive, including support staff and culturally responsive mental health supports.
State lawmakers will have their say on April 2 when they reconvene and we encourage them to reject these budget amendments and the veto of HB2341.
