Page 212

_ 212 Item Details($) Appropriations($) ITEM 125. First Year Second Year First Year Second Year FY2025 FY2026 FY2025 FY2026 amounts are subject to change for the purpose of payment to school divisions based on the actual March 31 ADM collected each year. These funds shall be matched by the local government, based on the composite index of local ability-to-pay. Further, in order to receive this funding, the locality in which the school division is located shall appropriate these funds solely for educational purposes and shall not use such funds to reduce total local operating expenditures for public education below the amount expended by the locality for such purposes in the year upon which the 2020-2022 biennial Standards of Quality expenditure data were based; provided however that no locality shall be required to maintain a per-pupil expenditure which is greater than the per pupil amount expended by the locality for such purposes in the year upon which the 2020-2022 biennial Standards of Quality expenditure data were based. The Department of Education is authorized each year to temporarily suspend Infrastructure and Operations Per Pupil Allocation payments made to school divisions from Lottery funds to ensure that any shortfall in Lottery revenue can be accounted for in the remaining Infrastructure and Operations Per Pupil Allocation payments to be made for the year. b. From the amounts listed above, funds are provided to ensure that small school divisions receive an Infrastructure and Operations payment of at least $200,000 each year. Divisions receiving additional funds for a payment of at least $200,000 shall only be required to provide the local match on the per pupil amount distributed in paragraph C.35.a. c. Of the amounts listed above, no more than 60 percent shall be used for recurring costs and at least 40 percent shall be spent on nonrecurring expenditures by the relevant school divisions. Nonrecurring costs shall include school construction, additions, infrastructure, site acquisition, renovations, school buses, technology, and other expenditures related to modernizing classroom equipment, and debt service payments on school projects completed or initiated during the last 10 years. The Department of Education shall consider such nonrecurring expenses by school divisions from local funds to be credited toward their required local match under this program. d. Any funds provided to school divisions that are unexpended as of June 30, 2025, and June 30, 2026, shall not revert to the Commonwealth but shall be carried on the books of the locality in local escrow accounts pursuant to § 22.1-175.5, to be appropriated to the school division for use for the same purpose. 37. Special Education Endorsement Program a. Notwithstanding § 22.1-290.02, Code of Virginia, out of this appropriation, $437,186 the first year and $437,186 the second year from the general fund is provided for traineeships and program operation grants that shall be awarded to public Virginia institutions of higher education to prepare persons who are employed in the public schools of Virginia, state operated programs, or regional special education centers as special educators with a provisional license and enrolled either part-time or full-time in programs for the education of children with disabilities. Applicants shall be graduates of a regionally accredited college or university. b. The award of such grants shall be made by the Department of Education, and the number of awards during any one year shall depend upon the amounts appropriated by the General Assembly for this purpose. The amount awarded for each traineeship shall be $600 for a minimum of three semester hours of course work in areas required for the special education endorsement to be taken by the applicant during a single semester or summer session. Only one traineeship shall be awarded to a single applicant in a single semester or summer session. 38. Compensation Supplement a. Out of this appropriation, $178,149,562$178,824,244 the first year and $361,023,394$376,360,450 the second year from the general fund is provided for the state share of the following salary increases and related fringe benefit costs: 1) For the first year, a 3.0 percent salary increase effective July 1, 2024, for funded SOQ instructional and support positions. Sufficient funds are appropriated in this act to finance, on a statewide basis, the state share of up to a 3.0 percent salary increase effective July 1, 2024, to school divisions that certify to the Department of Education that an equivalent increase will be provided to instructional and support personnel the first year. The state share of funding