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_ 185 Item Details($) Appropriations($) ITEM 125. First Year Second Year First Year Second Year FY2025 FY2026 FY2025 FY2026 8. "State Share of the Standards of Quality" - The state share of the Standards of Quality (SOQ) shall be equal to the total funded SOQ cost for a school division less the school division's estimated revenues from the state sales and use tax dedicated to public education based on the latest yearly estimate of school age population provided by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, adjusted for the state's share of the composite index of local ability to pay. 9. Entitlements under this Item that use school-level or division-level Free Lunch eligibility percentages to determine the entitlement amounts are based on the most recent data available as of the biennial rebenchmarking calculations made for the current biennium. For schools that participate in the Community Eligibility Provision program, such entitlements are based on the most recent Free Lunch eligibility data available prior to that school's enrollment in the Community Eligibility Provision program. 10. In the event that the general fund appropriations in this Item are not sufficient to meet the entitlements payable to school divisions pursuant to the provisions of this Item, the Department of Education is authorized to transfer any available general fund funds between these Items to address such insufficiencies. If the total general fund appropriations after such transfers remain insufficient to meet the entitlements of any program funded with general fund dollars, the Department of Education is authorized to prorate such shortfall proportionately across all of the school divisions participating in any program where such shortfall occurred. 11. The Department of Education is directed to apply a cap on inflation rates in the same manner prescribed in § 51.1-166.B, Code of Virginia, when updating funding to school divisions during the biennial rebenchmarking process. 12. Notwithstanding any other provision in statute or in this Item, the Department of Education is directed to combine the end-of-year Average Daily Membership (ADM) for those school divisions who have partnered together as a fiscal agent division and a contractual division for the purposes of calculating prevailing costs included in the Standards of Quality (SOQ). 13. Notwithstanding any other provision in statute or in this Item, the Department of Education is directed to include zeroes in the linear weighted average calculation of support non-personal costs for the purpose of calculating prevailing costs included in the Standards of Quality (SOQ). 14. Notwithstanding any other provision in statute or in this Item, the Department of Education is directed to eliminate the corresponding and appropriate object code(s) related to reported travel expenditures included the linear weighted average non-personal cost calculations for the purpose of calculating prevailing costs included in the Standards of Quality (SOQ). 15. Notwithstanding any other provision in statute or in this Item, the Department of Education is directed to eliminate the corresponding and appropriate object code(s) related to reported leases and rental and facility expenditures included the linear weighted average non-personal cost calculations for the purpose of calculating prevailing costs included in the Standards of Quality (SOQ). 16. Notwithstanding any other provision in statute or in this Item, the Department of Education is directed to fund transportation costs using a 15 year replacement schedule, which is the national standard guideline, for school bus replacement schedule for the purpose of calculating funded transportation costs included in the Standards of Quality (SOQ). 17. To provide additional flexibility, notwithstanding the provisions of § 22.1-79.1, Code of Virginia, any school division that was granted a waiver regarding the opening date of the school year for the 2011-2012 school year under the good cause requirements shall continue to be granted a waiver for the 2024-2025 school year and the 2025-2026 school year. B. General Conditions 1. The Standards of Quality cost in this Item related to fringe benefits shall be limited for