Youngkin creates task force to calm furor over veterans benefits (2024)

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is trying to quell a furor among Virginia military families by creating a task force to address budget changes that he originally advocated to a state program.

The program pays for tuition and fees at public colleges and universities for family of military service members killed or severely disabled while on active duty.

Youngkin issued an executive directive on Wednesday night to create the task force, three days after he signed a new two-year budget that would limit eligibility for the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program. The budget also commits state tax dollars to ease the financial burden on colleges and universities that have been paying for it.

Youngkin said in Executive Directive Seven: “Although the General Assembly’s program eligibility changes are a good-faith effort to ensure the sustainability of (the program) for our military families, I have heard from General Assembly members from both sides of the aisle that some of these changes may result in unintended consequences.”

He wrote that he has also heard that “the efforts to ensure the long-term health of the program ... would greatly benefit from thorough public engagements with our veteran community, especially our Gold Star families (of service members killed in active duty).”

Families raise concerns

Youngkin has also been hearing from those families. This week, some accused him of betraying his promise to make Virginia the country’s most veteran friendly state by backing off a commitment to paying the cost of higher education for the survivors and dependents of service members killed, taken prisoner or suffering a disability of 90% to 100% while on active duty.

“Whatever credibility the governor had in terms of fulfilling his commitment to making Virginia the most veteran friendly state in the country was effectively crushed,” said the Friends of VMSDEP — the Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program — in a statement. It came in response to the governor immediately signing the new budget after lawmakers passed it Monday during a special session.

The directive does not allay the families’ concerns.

“We are not satisfied — that could be the bottom line,” said Caitlin Goodale-Porter, a disabled former U.S. Army and Coast Guard officer who lives in Stafford County.

The military families that depend on the program want the governor and legislature to strike the budget language that limits eligibility for benefits they say they have earned.

“It is an earned benefit and we take great pride in that as veterans,” Goodale-Porter said.

In issuing the directive on Wednesday, Youngkin noted that the legislature had rejected an amendment he had offered to the budget it adopted in March that would have created a work group to study the benefits, costs and future of the program, first established in 1996.

Limit to undergraduate degrees

But the new eligibility standards - among them, limiting participation to four-year undergraduate degrees and making the state the "last dollar" source of help after federal financial aid programs - were part of Senate Bill 347, which Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Orange, said he introduced at Youngkin's request before he realized the scope of the proposed changes.

Reeves, chairman of the assembly’s Military Advisory Council, said he then persuaded the Senate to change the bill to a study of how to ensure the program’s long-term viability. The Senate voted unanimously to adopt the revised legislation, which then died in the House Appropriations Committee.

The proposed changes remained in the budget compromise that the assembly adopted and the governor signed on Monday. Reeves and three other members of the Senate noted their objections in a limited debate before passing the spending plan on a 39-1 vote.

“When we make a promise to the people of Virginia ... we have to stand by that promise,” said Reeves, who contended that the changes to eligibility “would almost make (the program) useless.”

The budget includes $40 million for the program over two years to partly offset the cost of waiving tuition and fees at state colleges and universities. The appropriation marks the first time that the state has provided direct aid for the program’s costs. The budget also includes more than $19 million to pay for annual stipends of up to $2,200 per year to offset the cost of room and board, books and other supplies.

Program’s costs rise

Youngkin, in his directive, said participation in the program has grown from 1,385 students five years ago to 6,107 students in the last school year. Program costs have risen from $11.9 million to $64.8 million, with projections to reach $180 million in the 2025-26 school year.

“The cost of the VMSDEP waivers” has “historically been borne by our state-supported institutions of higher education,” the directive states. “This expense is mitigated by increasing tuition and fees for tuition-paying students.”

But supporters of the program challenge the projections for future participation and costs. They say the new guidelines are unworkable because of conflicts between the program and federal programs for student aid and educational assistance for veteran dependents.

“This program is not a handout,” Reeves told the Senate. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. It’s something that’s been sacrificed for, in blood and bodily capabilities.”

But the program has grown in ways that Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, said he had not intended. In 2019, McPike sponsored legislation with Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William, now chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, to expand eligibility to “the spouse or child of a veteran with at least a 90 percent permanent, service-related disability.” Previously, those benefits were available only if a veteran was disabled in combat, an act of terrorism or a peacekeeping mission.

McPike said he never intended the program to pay for medical school or other post-graduate studies.

“Our idea was to make sure the undergraduate opportunities are made for all Virginians and veteran families who have served,” he said.

“So I do think there are probably some curbing and reforms to make sure these resources are available to every Virginia veteran family as our budget constraints tighten,” he said.

Sen. Tara Durant, R-Stafford, said that does not excuse how the changes were made, without going through formal committee review and public comment. Families “really feel blindsided,” Durant said.

Goodale-Porter, speaking for the families, agreed.

“Legislating through the budget is not legislating,” she said. “It’s being asleep at the wheel.”