From The Gazette-Virginian

Halifax County school officials are keeping their fingers crossed as the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly fashion and prune their individual versions of the state budget.

The initial promising news out of Richmond is both the Senate and the House versions of the budget restore all or part of the funding lost through the adjustment of the Local Composite Index (LCI), according to Bill Covington, Halifax County Public Schools chief financial officer. Governor Bob McDonnell recently announced the LCI would not be frozen at its current level for the next fiscal year as recommended by his predecessor, Governor Timothy Kaine. That meant an additional budget shortfall of nearly $1.5 million ($1,487,093) for Halifax County Public Schools.

Covington said Tuesday the House version of the budget would restore 80 percent of the amount lost for one year of the biennial state budget. That would amount to $1,189,674 for Halifax County.

Delegate James Edmunds confirmed those figures Tuesday. “It’s complicated, but yes, it restored about $1.189 million,” Edmunds said.  Read the full article.

“Our overall goal is to do everything we can to protect teaching positions,” the delegate added.