Virginia’s school districts now have an inkling of how they’ll fare in upcoming state-government funding.
The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia has released its annually updated estimate of school-age population, which serves to determine the allocation of sales-tax revenue to school districts statewide.
The new figures are based on mid-2023 population totals, and include all youth ages 5 to 19 plus those ages 2-4 and 20-21 eligible for special-education services.
Fairfax County’s estimated youth population is 226,954, while Arlington’s is 36,837.
School districts have until Sept. 30 to request a review, and potential revision, of data for their localities. After that, the estimates become final and will be used to determine sales-tax distribution when the revised state budget is released in December.
For full data, including methodology, see the Website at https://www.coopercenter.org/virginia-school-data/.