A House Finance subcommittee on Monday approved a sweeping proposal that would allow all Virginia localities to impose a local sales tax hike of up to 1%, with the revenue used only for the construction or renovation of schools once such a levy is approved in a voter referendum.
By a 5-3 party-line vote, the panel backed House Bill 805, sponsored by Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, after rolling no less than seven similar, but not quite as far-reaching proposals into Rasoul’s measure, including HB 60 by Del. Tommy Wright, R-Lunenburg County, which would have given Prince Edward County authority to levy the tax increase.
“This bill is not actually the answer to school construction needs,” Rasoul told the committee. “What we are doing with this bill is we’re leveling the playing field so that all the localities have the same latitude to be able to impose this with certain restrictions if they see fit.”
However, to many localities this “will not be the end-all, and there is a broader conversation that needs to be had,” Rasoul said. “Here before us is the policy question of do we want to ensure that all the localities are treated the same and given this latitude today.”
The state Senate recently passed a similar bill (SB 14, by state Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William County) to allow localities to hold referendums for school-related sales tax increases by 27-13. The Senate, unlike the House, kept separate a measure specifically aimed at Prince Edward County. That bill (SB 146, originally introduced by Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenburg County, before he resigned and now taken over by Sen. Tammy Mulchi, R-Mecklenburg County), passed 27-11.
In Virginia, public school divisions get the bulk of their funding for school construction and modernization needs from their local tax base — an increasingly difficult undertaking especially for localities in Southwest Virginia that suffer from population declines and economic downturns. Recent data provided by the Virginia Department of Education shows that the total cost to replace about 1,000 schools that are at least 50 years old would carry a price tag of more than $25 billion.
Under current law, only Charlotte, Gloucester, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Patrick and Pittsylvania counties and the city of Danville are authorized to impose a local sales tax increase, should voters approve it in a referendum.
Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Spotsylvania County, a former high school teacher and one of the three Republican committee members who voted against Rasoul’s legislation, said that while he is “very sympathetic” toward the cause behind the bill, he would rather this issue be addressed by a statewide non-referendum-driven sales tax increase.
“Because we as the policymakers know that the needs are there, we need to find the revenue stream to do so, and I for one would not be opposed to that type of legislation. But I think at this juncture, while this is the closest we have gotten to something that I could support because it is statewide, I have also seen that in jurisdictions where this has been extended to where it has failed or it has created a lot of local controversy over the matter,” Orrock said. “While this is probably the best that we are going to achieve towards your objective this time, I still think we need to do this statewide and not tie it to a local referendum, and just go ahead and address the problem.”
But Rasoul’s bill found widespread support in many Virginia localities, who sent representatives to address the panel Monday.
Jeremy Bennett, a lobbyist with the Virginia Association of Counties, said the measure has been “a long-held priority” for the association, and Josette Bulova of the Virginia Municipal League also called it a “top priority bill for this session, because it does create another funding mechanism for school construction.”
Wright had invited several speakers from Prince Edward County to speak on behalf of his bill, among them County Administrator Doug Stanley, who said that local officials had been “grappling for years” with how to address the deficiencies at the county’s schools.
“Our most serious concerns are leaky roofs and mold at our elementary school,” Stanley said. “We’re currently planning to bid a renovation project this year, and preliminary estimates put the project at $43 million. We believe that a 1% local sales tax represents the best opportunity for our community to fund these needed school improvements. The voters of Prince Edward will make that decision on whether this is the correct path, and I urge you to give them that opportunity,” he told the committee.
Cainan Townsend, whose great-grandfather, John Townsend was a plaintiff in the Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County case that was included in Brown v. Board of Education, urged the panel to pass Rasoul’s legislation in time for the 70th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that in 1954 established racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
“I find it kind of sad but also ironic that I am fighting for what my great-grandfather did in 1954, and in 2024 we are fighting for the same thing, which is better facilities in the Prince Edward County Public Schools system,” Townsend said.
Prince Edward resident Justin Pope said that the legislation was all about basic fairness for all localities in the commonwealth. “Other Virginia citizens have been allowed to decide for themselves how to best support their school needs,” he said. “Their children are already learning in buildings built or repaired using the tools of the sales tax referendum that they were allowed to vote for, and we have not had that opportunity. It is very hard for us to explain to our children why they don’t have the same opportunities as children living in other Virginia localities.”
But it was Pope’s daughter Emelia, a fourth-grader at Prince Edward County Elementary School, who may have made the most convincing case for the proposal.
“When I drive past other schools in Virginia I admire their buildings and playgrounds, things like these show they appreciate and value education,” Amelia said. “Then I think about our buildings and wonder why we have to be different. Teachers don’t want to be working at a place that isn’t clean and isn’t nice. When our buildings have leaky roofs it sends them a message that we don’t appreciate them. Students will think that learning is not important.”
She traveled to Richmond so she can ask lawmakers for their help “so we can make repairs to our buildings,” Amelia said. “Next year I’ll be in middle school, and before we know it high school. I would really like to see progress before I go to college. We students in Prince Edward deserve the same opportunities as everyone else in Virginia.”
Del. Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, a member of the committee and of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization, said that as a member of the latter that it is important for everyone across Virginia “to have skin in the game when it comes to rebuilding these crumbling schools.”
The ability to levy a local sales tax really allows localities to prove that they will invest in school construction, and it will demonstrate their efforts, Simonds said. “We know that about half of our schools are over 50 years old, and these crumbling schools are not Democrat schools or Republican schools, they are our kids’ schools.”
In his closing remarks, Rasoul urged his colleagues to roll up their sleeves and get to work. “As Amelia says, let’s get something done before she goes to college. We have a lot of work to do and hopefully this can be one more tool for us to try to ensure that we are building schools in the future.”
