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Elected leaders and parents from Fairfax County are fighting back hard against a state budget proposal that would reduce the amount of state funding the county is eligible for.

The plan to freeze the local composite index has the support of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), as well as former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who initially proposed the freeze.

The LCI determines localities' ability to pay for primary and secondary education costs. The index is typically updated every two years to reflect fluctuations in counties' wealth.

In his final budget before leaving office, Kaine proposed freezing the index at current levels for fiscal 2011. McDonnell's office confirmed he also supports a freeze, which would save the state about $29 million and prevent 97 school districts from experiencing a decrease in state aid.

"The rules are being changed on us," said state Sen. J. Chapman Petersen (D-Dist. 34) of Fairfax City.

Primarily because of the decrease in real estate values, Fairfax County's score on the index would otherwise drop this year, meaning the county should be eligible for upward of $61 million in additional state funding.

A total of 40 jurisdictions, mainly in Northern Virginia, would be adversely affected by the freeze. Fairfax County would take the biggest hit, followed by Loudoun County at $34 million and Prince William at $23 million.

"The LCI may be complicated. But its outcome is simple, i.e. to transfer enormous sums of money from Northern Virginia to the rest of the state," Petersen said in a speech on the Senate floor Jan. 19.

At the same time, the 40 jurisdictions are growing, county officials note. The districts are projected to gain more than 11,000 students, according to estimates from Fairfax County's legislative staff.

"This should never be about sparing localities. This should be about how many kids you can help," Supervisor Jeffrey C. McKay (D-Lee) said during a recent board discussion on the index. "Ninety-seven localities may be spared, but we're hurting 42 percent of the kids in the state."

Fairfax County's legislative delegation is unanimously opposing the freeze, Legislative Director Susan Mittereder told the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last week, but it's an uphill battle. "A lot of the rest of the state is advantaged by this," she said.

Hundreds of parents from Churchill Road Elementary School in McLean rallied against the state action Sunday. The school's PTA gathered parents to educate them about the LCI and let them know how to contact their legislators and McDonnell to make their concerns heard.

The additional $61 million "would go a long way in closing our budget deficit," said Cat Lippman, Churchill Road PTA president, noting that her son's fourth-grade class has 34 students already, in part a result of cuts to the current year's budget.

The PTA has always criticized the shortcomings of the LCI, which does not take the needs of the school district into account, Lippman said. "Then, when the numbers finally were going in our direction, they freeze it," Lippman said. "It's just unfair."

Along with other proposed changes and reductions to state education funding included in Kaine's budget, Fairfax County could lose $116 million in state education dollars that it would otherwise receive, according to estimates from county staff.

Capital News Service Writer Veronica Garabelli contributed to this report.