BRISTOL — The proposed Virginia House of Delegates budget would pull nearly $5 million from impoverished rural school districts and redistribute the funds to mostly wealthier areas, according to the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia.

Lawmakers in Richmond presently have three spending plans: a governor’s budget that puts more money into the At-Risk Add On program aiding divisions with higher poverty rates, a House plan that would strip many of those funds away and apportion more lottery funds for education and a Senate version that also reduces total funding.

“In the House budget, they increase the lottery funding at the expense of the At-Risk Add On,” said Bristol Virginia Superintendent Keith Perrigan, who also serves as president of the Coalition of Small and Rural Schools of Virginia.

Lottery funds are allocated on a per-pupil basis, so divisions with more students receive more money.

Directly comparing the governor’s budget to the House version, the combined changes for fiscal 2019-20 equal a combined $4.89 million cut for some divisions. By contrast, Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Northern Virginia would receive $1.48 million and $1.37 million more, respectively.