In January 1998, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore proposed a budget amendment that would provide funding for 56 percent of the cost of placing about 2000 additional teachers in public elementary classrooms over a two-year period, beginning with the 1998-99 school year. The Governor’s plan would distribute the additional teachers proportionally among all school divisions in the state on the basis of student enrollments. One effect of the Governor’s proposal would be to lower pupil/teacher ratios in elementary classrooms below 17 to 1 statewide, compared to the current ratio of about 18 to 1.
