Virginia Code 23.1-303: Calculation of state general fund share of an institution’s basic operations and instruction funding need; cost of education
A. Following consultation with each public institution of higher education and the Higher Education Advisory Committee described in § 23.1-309, the Council shall calculate the basic operations and instruction funding need of each public institution of higher education as provided in subsection B for each year of the next biennium and make such calculation available to the Governor, the General Assembly, and all public institutions of higher education. The Governor shall take into account each institution’s basic operations and instruction funding need and the Commonwealth’s funding split policy established in the general appropriation act by which 67 percent of an institution’s cost of education for Virginia students is funded from the state general fund and 33 percent from funds other than the state general fund during the preparation of his proposed biennial budget bill for the next biennium, and the General Assembly shall take such items into account in enacting the general appropriation act for the next biennium. Between such biennial recalculations, the General Assembly may increase or decrease the appropriation of basic operations and instruction funding to a public institution of higher education to correspond with an increase or decrease in Virginia undergraduate student enrollment at the institution as provided in § 23.1-304, or the institution’s meeting or not meeting targeted financial incentives listed in § 23.1-305, or for any other purpose deemed appropriate by the General Assembly.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 23.1-303
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Cost of education: means the operating funds necessary during a fiscal year to provide educational and general services, other than research and public service, to students attending an institution in that fiscal year. See Virginia Code 23.1-300
- Council: means the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
- Educational and general services: means services associated with instruction, academic support, student services, institutional support, research, public service, or operation and maintenance of physical plant, with adjustments based on particular state policies relating to specific institutional conditions. See Virginia Code 23.1-300
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Fiscal year: means the period from July 1 of one calendar year to June 30 of the next calendar year. See Virginia Code 23.1-300
- Peer institutions: means those institutions determined by the Council, in consultation with a public institution of higher education, the Secretary of Education or his designee, the Director of the Department of Planning and Budget or his designee, and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations or their designees, to be most similar to such public institution of higher education and provide a fair comparison in determining appropriate and competitive faculty salaries for such public institution of higher education. See Virginia Code 23.1-300
- Public institution of higher education: includes the System as a whole and each associate-degree-granting and baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Student: means a full-time or part-time undergraduate, graduate, or professional student attending a public institution of higher education and enrolled in a degree program. See Virginia Code 23.1-300
- student enrollment: means the number of full-time equivalent students. See Virginia Code 23.1-300
B. The basic operations and instruction funding need of each public institution of higher education for each fiscal year of the biennium shall consist of the sum of (i) the institution’s cost of education for the total enrollment in actual attendance during the fiscal year that ended on June 30 of each odd-numbered year, which shall be determined using a cost-based funding policy that consists of (a) a set of formulas for calculating (1) educational cost based on faculty-student ratios by discipline and level and (2) the educational and general programs of instruction, academic support, student services, institutional support, and operation and maintenance of physical plant and (b) adjustments based on particular state policies or specific institutional missions or conditions; (ii) the amount required to reach the Commonwealth’s faculty salary goal of the 60th percentile of the most recently reported average faculty salaries paid by that institution’s peer institutions as established in the general appropriation act; and (iii) such other funding for educational and general services as the General Assembly may appropriate.
C. State general funds shall be allocated and appropriated to public institutions of higher education in a fair and equitable manner such that, to the extent practicable, the percentage of the cost of education for Virginia students enrolled at an institution to be funded from state general funds is the same for each institution. To the extent that the percentages differ among institutions, that fact shall be taken into account as the Governor deems appropriate in his proposed biennial budget bill and by the General Assembly as it deems appropriate in the general appropriation act.