Additional funds for school budgets could help save some Virginia teaching jobs.

The State of Virginia recently announced that $4.1 million in refinancing savings would be distributed to 31 Virginia school divisions. The savings range between $4,760 and $662,686.

The funds are from the Virginia Public School Authority's issuance of $114.2 million in School Financing Refunding Bonds, which were completed on March 12. Schools will receive the funding on July 15 in the form of a one-time credit against their debt service.

"I am delighted that we have been able to provide some additional budget relief for these localities in 2010," Governor Timothy M. Kaine said in a press release. "These savings will be passed through to the localities as a credit, freeing up funds in local budgets."

The school districts in Virginia receiving the savings were participants in four earlier VPSA bond issues that were refunded by 2009 bonds. The amount of savings credit for a locality is determined by the locality's participation in the earlier bond issues. That means the larger the original bond amount, the larger the savings.

The Literary Fund also will receive about $2.86 million in funds, representing savings on local borrowings originally subsidized by the Literary Fund.

The additional funds should help some school districts avoid job cuts because of budget problems. Virginia's education and health services industry employed 442,300 workers during January, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 441,700 workers during December 2008 and a 2.6 percent increase from last year.

Labels: Virginia teaching jobs