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VA Governor to Unveil $109 Billion Budget

Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-Va)
official photo
Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-Va)

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe plans to detail how he wants the state's $109 billion budget spent over the next two years.

McAuliffe is set to outline his budget plan to state lawmakers Thursday at the Capitol.

The Democratic governor has already outlined some of his budget priorities, which include cutting the corporate tax rate and giving state employees a 2 percent raise.

Higher-than-predicted tax revenues have given McAuliffe more leeway in crafting his budget. 

The proposed budget will be a starting point for negotiations with the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

McAuliffe is widely expected to include the projected savings of an expanded Medicaid program into his budget proposal, a move Republicans said they oppose.

Education

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Gov. Terry McAuliffe will propose spending $139.1 million to help Virginia school districts hire 2,500 new teachers.

Multiple media outlets report that the governor detailed his K-12 spending plan Wednesday morning at Fairfax County's Mark Twain Middle School.

McAuliffe says his budget is intended to restore some of the 5,000 school positions lost since 2008 and bring per-pupil state spending to a new high.

He says the money would be distributed to fund one additional position at each elementary school, and two at each middle school and high school.

The governor said his two-year budget plan, which he'll present to General Assembly money committees Thursday morning, also provides $429.8 million to fully fund the cost of establishing new benchmarks for the state's Standards of Quality.

The governor is set to unveil his budget at 9:30 a.m.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.