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Policy Brief
Financial Incentives Are The "Core" Of New Education Standards
The implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative is forcing states to determine when a “good offer” becomes an offer that cannot be refused. This report will explain the issues, in terms of both finances and fedearlism, surrounding the adoption of the Commone Core.
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Research
Public Sector Pension Reform: Addressing Pressing Fiscal Realities from a Long-Term Perspective
There are persistent fiscal and demographic challenges in most states. The public sector workforce is aging as the baby boom cohort moves towards and into traditional retirement ages. Budgetary pressures at the state and local level make it difficult to increase plan funding and maintain the size of the public sector workforce.
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Headlines
Report Says State Budget Surpluses Don't Mean That Much
A new study shows that many states could end the current fiscal year with surpluses in their general funds. While that may seem like good news, it's probably too early to get excited. That's because those positive numbers are largely the result of one-time influxes of tax revenue that came when investors sold off assets late last calendar year to avoid higher federal tax rates that came in 2013.
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Headlines
State pensions in America: Ruinous Promises
States cannot pretend to be in good financial health unless they tackle pensions.
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Headlines
State pension reforms to result in more hybrid pension plans -- report
More states will create hybrid plans in the future because of the less-volatile contribution levels and the fact that the defined contribution components are portable for a workforce that is now increasingly more mobile, according to a new report.
- View All News Stories
Budget timeframe: Biennial
Fiscal Year begins: July 1
The current state budget can be found here.
Find the legislative session calendar here.
Find the current legislative leaders here.
Gov. Robert McDonnell
Office of Governor Bob McDonnell
Patrick Henry Building
1111 East Broad Street, 3rd Floor
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: (804) 786-2211
Fax: (804) 371-6351
http://www.governor.virginia.gov/
Daniel Timberlake, Director
Department of Planning & Budget
1111 East Broad Street, 5th Floor
Richmond, VA 23219-1922
Phone (804) 786-7455
Fax (804) 225-3291
http://dpb.virginia.gov/
Want a more robust, long-term look at your state's fiscal health, beyond the budget? There are two parts: Click here for the FY2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) compiled by the state government, and click here for information on the state's pension liabilities.
Virginia is required to pass a "balanced budget." Article 10, Section 7 of the 1971 Constitution requires the governor to ensure that no expenses exceed the total revenues during the fiscal period. Despite this constraint the State reported three years of budget deficits (negative net transactions) on its Budgetary Comparison Schedules. Virginia law forbids the carrying over of a deficit from one year to the next.
The Commonwealth reports 14 (12 for FY2006 and FY2005) individual governmental funds, four of which are considered major: the General, Commonwealth Transportation, Federal Trust, and Literary funds. Each year, three of the major funds (all except for the Literary Fund) and several non-major funds are budgeted. For FY2007, one more non-major governmental fund is budgeted than in previous years. Overall, budgetary information on the Budgetary Comparison Schedules is displayed in an efficient manner with all information present and ideally ordered. [from the Institute for Truth in Accounting]
Find the state's bond ratings here.
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Budget Gimmicks :
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HEADLINES
Report Says State Budget Surpluses Don't Mean That Much
A new study shows that many states could end the current fiscal year with surpluses in their general funds. While that may seem like good news, it's probably too early to get excited. That's because those positive numbers are largely the result of one-time influxes of tax revenue that came when investors sold off assets late last calendar year to avoid higher federal tax rates that came in 2013.
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HEADLINES
Budget Gimmicks Update, June 2013
State officials have a deep bag of tricks to "solve" budget gaps. In reality, these gimmicks result in state budget that appear at first glance to be balanced, but looking past the smoke and mirrors reveals that they are very unbalanced. This month's updates come from California, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New York.
- View All Virginia articles
Pensions :
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RESEARCH
Public Sector Pension Reform: Addressing Pressing Fiscal Realities from a Long-Term Perspective
There are persistent fiscal and demographic challenges in most states. The public sector workforce is aging as the baby boom cohort moves towards and into traditional retirement ages. Budgetary pressures at the state and local level make it difficult to increase plan funding and maintain the size of the public sector workforce.
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HEADLINES
State pension reforms to result in more hybrid pension plans -- report
More states will create hybrid plans in the future because of the less-volatile contribution levels and the fact that the defined contribution components are portable for a workforce that is now increasingly more mobile, according to a new report.
- View All Virginia articles
K-12 Education :
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POLICY BRIEF
Financial Incentives Are The "Core" Of New Education Standards
The implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative is forcing states to determine when a “good offer” becomes an offer that cannot be refused. This report will explain the issues, in terms of both finances and fedearlism, surrounding the adoption of the Commone Core.
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RESEARCH
The School Staffing Surge: Decades of Employment Growth in America's Public Schools, Part II
Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers' numbers increased 252 percent, while administrators and other non-teaching staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students.
- View All Virginia articles
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Solutions:
How Reality-Based Budgeting Can Permanently Resolve State Budget Gaps
State Budget Solutions recommends that state legislators take action in 2013 to resolve the serious state financial crises by changing their focus from inputs to outcomes by redesigning budgets from the ground up based on priorities and performance.
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Solutions:
How to Prevent Future Pension Crises
The time for state and local governments to offer defined contribution retirement plans that protect both taxpayer dollars and public employee retirement security is now.
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Solutions:
State Lawmaker’s Guide to Evaluating Medicaid Expansion Projections
Supporters of Obamacare claim that expanding Medicaid will entail little to no cost to state governments, since the federal government will fund the vast majority of the additional costs. Indeed, some analyses project states achieving savings from adopting the expansion. However, state lawmakers should be wary of accepting such analyses at face value.
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Solutions:
Medicaid Is Broken—Let the States Fix It
Block-granting Medicaid is the best way to deliver better, cost-effective care to the most vulnerable Americans.
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Solutions:
The Case for Reform: Prisons
Prisons are supremely important, but they are also a supremely expensive government program, and thus prison systems must be held to the highest standards of accountability.
- View All Solutions
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Public Sector Pension Reform: Addressing Pressing Fiscal Realities from a Long-Term Perspective
There are persistent fiscal and demographic challenges in most states. The public sector workforce is aging as the baby boom cohort moves towards and into traditional retirement ages. Budgetary pressures at the state and local level make it difficult to increase plan funding and maintain the size of the public sector workforce.
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State pensions in America: Ruinous Promises
States cannot pretend to be in good financial health unless they tackle pensions.
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State pension reforms to result in more hybrid pension plans -- report
More states will create hybrid plans in the future because of the less-volatile contribution levels and the fact that the defined contribution components are portable for a workforce that is now increasingly more mobile, according to a new report.
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In face of massive unfunded liability, states still slow to pre-fund retiree healthcare benefits
The size of unfunded retiree healthcare liabilities varies widely by state. While some states have been making slow progress towards pre-funding these obligations, other have been contributing to them on a pay-as-you-go basis. As a result of the latter approach, combined unfunded liabilities are $425 billion under the most optimistic assumptions.
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BLOG
Discount rates and the fair-market valuation pension critique
At its core, the debate over how to properly fund public pension plans starts with how to accurately value liabilities so that governments can meet their obligations in the future.
- View All Pensions
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BLOG: K-12 Education, Federal Government Impact, Federal Government Impact
Common Core raises questions about government involvement, financial and otherwise, in local issues
Putting aside the merits or shortcomings of the Common Core, accepting national standards over which states have no control weakens the role that local officials have traditionally had in K-12 education.
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BLOG: Pensions
Discount rates and the fair-market valuation pension critique
At its core, the debate over how to properly fund public pension plans starts with how to accurately value liabilities so that governments can meet their obligations in the future.
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BLOG: Higher Education, Spending
Who is the highest paid state employee in your state?
Time to add a new diagram to the state budget and policy playbook--your state's highest paid employee is probably a football or basketball coach.
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BLOG: Medicaid
Medicaid expansion won't yield quality health care
The bombshell Oregon Medicaid study released this week should give all states pause as they consider plans to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. States must now ask what the point of Medicaid is in the first place.
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BLOG: Budget Gimmicks, Budget Processes and Systems, Measures to Balance Budgets, Spending, State Debt
Let's Put Privatizing Municipal Services Back on the Table
- View All Commentary
