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Education and Education Tax Policy Virginia First Cities has consistently supported full funding for K -12 education, as it has not been adequately funded since the Great Recession. As VFC policy director, Jim Regimbal, wrote recently, "A quality education is the primary means of breaking the cycle of poverty. Therefore, the question is -- what is needed to create a culture of leaming in high- poverty communities and provide a quality education to concentrations of economically disadvantaged students? Successful schools must have strong leadership, quality teachers, enrichment activities, and a stable, respectful learning environment to achieve these objectives. Attracting and retaining quality individuals who put extra time and effort in a challenged school environment requires additional amounts of funding." Policy Statement: The state Standards of Quality (SOQ) funding formula for education operating costs breaks down on a statewide level as 55% state/45% local funding. However, the SOQ formula does not recognize the true costs of education, including pupil transportation, school support staff, providing and updating broadband and other technology, and adequate instructional staff salaries. Neither does it recognize most construction and renovation costs, especially safety upgrades. Local governments match double what is required for basic state education dollars, pay the majority of public school capital costs and struggle to find scarce local tax dollars to keep up with the demands for meeting additional and expanding state requirements to create 2151 century learning environments for our children to master the challenges of tomorrow's workforce, let alone today's. Long -term nolicv positions: VFC urges the General Assembly to recognize and fund the true costs of public education using the State Board of Education's 2016 SOQ funding recommendations. Because schools in high - poverty communities receive around 8.3% less funding per student (state, local, and federal combined) than schools in the wealthiest areas of the commonwealth, the General Assembly should significantly expand the At -Risk Add - On to make up for this difference. • Increase the At -Risk Add -on to aid high poverty school divisions from 14% to 20 %. • Increase funding for the Master Teacher Residency Program to S3 million in FY 2020 as well as support for teacher mentoring programs. • Support increasing the appropriation to $1.5 million for Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loans in FY 2020. • Support new funding avenues for public school construction and renovation costs. • Support the Extended -Year and Year -Round School Grants Program • Increase the Teacher Improvement Funding Initiative from the current $15,000 to a meaningful amount to assist at -risk schools. 3