With the hard economic times that have befallen the country, the Virginia Governor’s Schools are facing possible budget cuts. In order to ensure that the importance of the Governor’s Schools is fresh in the minds of the Virginia State legislators when they are forming the budget, the Friends of Virginia Governor’s Schools (FOVGS) held its annual lobbying day at the Capitol on Thursday, January 29.
FOVGS is a group of parents and other members of the Governor’s school family who work to gain support for all 18 of Virginia’s Governor’s Schools.
As part of their year-round work for the Governor’s Schools, FOVGS organized a day in which students from the 18 Governor’s schools across Virginia go to the Capitol to lobby for funding. While circumstances such as conflicting schedules and heavy snowfall in western parts of the state prevented all of the schools from attending, more than a dozen of the Governor’s schools had representatives at the Capitol.
“I think that more of the schools were represented than in any other year,” said Ms. Pat Taylor, Coordinator of Curriculum.
“Several schools could not come because they had snow and had to push back their exams,” said Mr. Doug Hunt, MLWGS Director. “But it was still good.”
The representatives of the academic-year Governor’s schools arrived at MLWGS by 9:15 am and gathered in the auditorium for a brief meeting before shuttling off in buses to the Capitol.
Ms. Sarah Hillgrove, president of FOVGS, spoke to give an overview of what the day was about and explained what the students should be lobbying for. She explained that while the school will most likely receive budget cuts from the state and from localities, the students needed to lobby for the legislators to not cut the incentive funds. Incentive funds are money that is allocated by the state for gifted education.
“We are expecting to get cuts,” said Ms. Hillgrove. “[The incentive funds] that’s where we hope they don’t cut us because then that way we would get hit three times.”
After the different schools introduced their representatives, Mr. Hunt got up and gave them some advice.
“Be positive with the people you talk to,” said Mr. Hunt. He also pointed out that the Governor’s Schools have a supporter at the Capitol.
“We are fortunate to have a Governor who understands the Governor’s Schools,” said Mr. Hunt.
When the meeting was over, the representatives headed off to the Capitol. While members of each school set up a table with information about their specific Governor’s School, other students, teachers, and members of FOVGS went to the nearby legislative offices in the Patrick Henry Building. They went around in groups to the different offices to inform the legislators about the needs of the Governor’s schools.
While many of the legislators were in session and could not talk directly to the Governor’s School representatives, the representatives met with their legislative assistants.
“Mr. Houck’s secretary in particular was very… helpful,” said Blake Powers (’10). “But they [the secretaries and legislative assistants] all listened closely to what we had to say.”
When the students met with the legislators and their aides, they thanked the legislator for their support and summarized how MLWGS will be affected by the budget cuts.
“We receive funding from three sources as opposed to the two sources that normal public schools have,” said Kyle Herman (’10). “We understand that we are going to get cut, but we wish to keep our incentive funds to help maintain essential functions.”
While FOVGS took a break for lunch, 25 members of the group sat in on a session of the House of Burgesses. Del. Lacey Putney of Beford County introduced FOVGS, but MLWGS was also recognized exclusively on the floor by Del. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond City. Other members of the House were also supportive of keeping education from being hit too hard by budget cuts.
“It is incumbent on us to put as many tools in their [the schools’ and the students’] toolboxes,” said Del. Kirkland Cox of Colonial Heights.
While the representatives of FOVGS did all they could to lobby for the Governor’s Schools and the legislators were sympathetic to their cause, the outlook for Governor’s Schools in the budget is still unclear.
“Everybody needs to just cross their fingers,” said Ms. Gail Henderson, Sen. L. Louise Lucas’ legislative assistant.
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