House and Senate leaders may be a step closer to finally getting an agreement on budget amendments.
During his annual budget presentation to the money committees Wednesday, Governor Glenn Youngkin celebrated Virginia's booming economy. But he also asked House and Senate appropriators to send him budget amendments, which are already about two months late.
"If we want our current moment of growth to continue. If we want our businesses, our students and our communities to thrive, our course for the current budget is clear," Youngkin said. "Please send me one."
Delegate Mark Sickles is a Democrat from Fairfax County. And he’s one of the few lawmakers involved in negotiating a deal, and he says one of the sticking points for Democrats is eliminating the cap on support services for school divisions – things like maintenance workers, custodians, food service staff, nutritionists and attendance officers.
"The Senate wants to completely eliminate the support cap in this budget, and that's a heavy lift," Sickles said.
"And the House is not there yet for that," asked reporter Michael Pope.
"No," Sickles replied. "The House is concerned about attacking the learning loss problem that everybody agrees is out there. It's just really how to do what we all want to do."
Any deal between House and Senate leaders would need to be approved in a special session, which could happen as early as next month.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
