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2012 SESSION

12101299D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 110
Offered January 11, 2012
Prefiled January 11, 2012
Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the cost efficiency of regionalizing school divisions and consolidating administrative personnel between school divisions and local governing bodies. Report.
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Patron-- Morris
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, pursuant to Article VIII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia, the General Assembly must "provide for a system of free public elementary and secondary schools . . . and . . . ensure that an educational program of high quality is established and continually maintained"; and

WHEREAS, integral to the provision of a quality public education system is efficiency in the administration of programs, services, and budgetary matters; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth is home to 132 school divisions of varying sizes, with some public school divisions serving localities whose population is in excess of one million persons and others whose population is less than 5,000 persons; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth and its local school boards should consider whether gains might be achieved through the regionalization of school divisions and through the consolidation of administrative personnel between school divisions and local governing bodies; and

WHEREAS, the identification of cost-saving consolidation practices that would result in revenue savings to school divisions and to the Commonwealth would assist school divisions in providing the highest quality system of public education and in making future budgetary determinations; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission study the cost efficiency of regionalizing school divisions and consolidating administrative personnel between school divisions and local governing bodies.

In conducting its study, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shall analyze the efficiency of the use of public education funds and the possible gains from regionalizing school divisions; the scale of administrative cost to pupils served across school divisions; the feasibility of consolidating certain programs, services, and school division functions; whether and to what extent the instructional, supervisory and administrative staff levels exceed need, particularly given the number of students enrolled in the public schools of the division; the organizational, planning, and budgetary structures of the school divisions to determine the need and ways in which such structures may be improved to maximize the utilization of personnel and funds between the school division and the governing body of the locality; and such statutory, regulatory, and policy changes as may be necessary to facilitate the efficient use of public education funds in accordance with the findings of the report.

Technical assistance shall be provided to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission by the Department of Education. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Commission for this study, upon request.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2012, and the Chairman shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the 2013 Regular Session of the General Assembly. The executive summary shall state whether the Commission intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.