By Alyssa Hutton, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Fatal overdose rates remain high in Virginia, even as the state begins to spread opioid settlement money to state and local agencies to help tackle the epidemic. 

Death from drug overdoses, opioids and fentanyl in particular, has remained the dominant method of unnatural death in Virginia since 2013, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Overdoses ticked slightly down last year, but the number is forecast to remain about the same or higher this year.

The state's opioid epidemic was officially declared a public health emergency in 2016, and opioid-related deaths increased 274% between 2012 and 2022, according to VDH data. The number of all fatal overdoses had a slightly lower spike in the same time period, at 228%.

Overdose deaths from fentanyl had the biggest jump, increasing 3,866% in that same time. 

Richmond, Roanoke, Petersburg, Portsmouth and Hopewell cities had the highest rate of fatal opioid overdoses in 2022. 

Virginia ranks 27th in the country for drug-related death rates and 15th for number of overall deaths, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

'It was a point of desperation' 

Last year, Travis Williams realized that he felt miserable both on and off drugs. He lived mostly in isolation, going to work and coming home to use cocaine and heroin.

"It was a point of desperation where nothing was working no more," Williams said. "Didn't wanna go forward, didn't wanna go back."

He threw away all the drugs he had, including methadone, but said he didn't experience withdrawal, which he credits to God. 

"I don't want to kill myself, but I don't want to live like this no more," Williams said about the pivotal moment. 

He has been sober for almost a year. He works with his best friend Jesse Wysocki, who he said he used to shoot heroin with, but now they're both in recovery and helping others. 

Wysocki is the chief operating officer at the McShin Foundation, a community recovery organization in Richmond with 16 recovery homes.

The recovery program is 28 days long and available for anyone with substance use disorder, Wysocki said. 

McShin does not offer detox or clinical services, although they help connect people with those programs. 

McShin pairs people with a recovery coach. Wysocki, like most of the staff, are peer recovery specialists who have faced addiction. Peer recovery specialists are considered mentors and motivators to those struggling with addiction and go through a certification program by the Virginia Certification Board.

Wysocki says a recovery coach with experience helps in one's personal recovery and also to support others.

"Whether I was in prison, jail, different treatment centers, so I know a lot of the behaviors that are associated with it," Wysocki said. "So I'm able to help identify that, it helps me better assist who's here trying to get services."

For Williams, things came full circle when he was asked to work with McShin's intensive program. That's because of his first experience there in 2019. His then-recovery attempt ended with a relapse, and multiple doses of the medicine naloxone to reverse what could have been a fatal overdose — as it was for the friend he used with that night. 

"I let my guard down and my disease started working with me," Williams said. "If I just do a little bit, I'll feel good."

That fatal overdose triggered changes at McShin, Williams said. And he served a two and a half year stint in jail for violating his charges. 

When Williams eventually returned to McShin, he agreed to work at the intensive housing program because he felt he had unfinished business. 

"Just a little bit that I've learned, through that I can give it back ... I find that like very fulfilling," Williams said.

Williams is now a part of the McShin team that helps with the reentry transition from prison or jail.

3 in 4 overdoses from fentanyl

Fentanyl overdoses were over 75% of fatal overdoses in 2022 in Virginia. 

This year's number of fentanyl-related deaths is already over 1,000 and is expected to surpass last year's number, according to VDH data. Cocaine and methamphetamine-related fatal overdoses have spiked in recent years in Virginia, due to being more commonly mixed with fentanyl. 

Sgt. Kevin Wilson has been with the Virginia Beach Police Department for 18 years. He started with the narcotics unit of the special investigations department in 2010. 

Wilson began to see the rise in opioid-use, specifically heroin, followed by the rise of fentanyl, not long after he started work with the narcotics unit.

"The majority of stuff we get contains part if not all fentanyl," Wilson said. 

Most illegal sellers and distributors aren't chemists, so they'll add a very potent substance such as fentanyl, Wilson said. That means a person's normal dose could be more potent, which drives an increase in overdoses. People might not know what they are getting.

"The overall strategy would be to go after the highest level source of supply so we can cut the head off the snake," Wilson said. 

The industry is constantly evolving, he said, which presents challenges.

"Once you take somebody off the street another person's gonna take their place," Wilson said.

Wilson has notified many families that they've lost a loved one to an overdose.

"They want closure for themselves, for their loved one," he said. "So being able to backtrack and go and find who sold them the drugs that caused them to to die and then bring closure for the families is probably the most satisfying."

Virginia's response to epidemic

Prescription opioid overdoses began to drop in 2015, with a significant recent decrease. Opioid manufacturers, wholesale distributors and pharmacies have been sued for their contributions to the opioid epidemic through overprescribing, deceptive marketing and dispensing. 

The Virginia General Assembly established the Opioid Abatement Authority in 2021. The OAA provides funds for efforts that educate, treat and support recovery for people addicted to opioids, according to Anthony McDowell, executive director of the OAA.

Virginia's estimated share of settlement money from the pharmaceutical industry is approximately $1.1 billion, as of September, according to a press release from state Attorney General Jason Miyares. 

Grant applications for cities and counties began in January and the OAA approved over $23 million in June. This money is in the process of being transferred to its recipients, according to McDowell.

Localities requested OAA funding for a range of different tactics, according to McDowell.

"The cities and counties take stock of what the needs are at the community level and envision what it would take to address those needs and submit that in the form of a grant application to the OAA," McDowell said. 

The OAA also approved in August just under $11 million in funding for state agencies, including executive branch agencies, judicial offices and universities. Programs include clinical research, prevention and education, treatment, recovery and more. Approximately $2 million is earmarked for media and education campaigns.

The VDH will receive the highest allotment at $2.9 million for its four programs. The bulk of funding will go toward increasing access to naloxone, the generic form of Narcan, which can be used to reverse opioid overdoses. One million dollars will support harm reduction programs. The department will also hire three new "opioid specialists" for each health district.

The Virginia Department of Corrections will receive $1.25 million for programs such as hiring six social workers and creating an educational video. VADOC will also launch a pilot program to test the effectiveness of medicine used to treat moderate opioid use. The selected participants will use an injectable buprenorphine extended-release medication instead of suboxone.

Parental substance use is one of the reasons children are removed from their home. There was an increase of these cases from 2010-2019, according to the Virginia Department of Social Services. It's common for family or friends to assume guardianship when a child is removed from the home. These guardians receive support through a kinship navigator program. 

The DSS was given $205,500 to expand five kinship navigator programs, for the second half of 2024.

"As far as efforts that are being funded by the authority, it's too soon to be able to take stock of the results yet," McDowell said. 

A locality's use of settlement money depends on where the lawsuit originated, if they were a part of the lawsuit and whether the funds are being distributed directly from the settlement or from the OAA.

The OAA was recently nationally awarded for its settlement allocation efforts. 

The state has made it easier since 2016 to procure naloxone over the counter without a prescription. The state also has a program to train people to recognize an opioid overdose and administer naloxone. 

Patients cannot be prescribed more than a seven-day supply of controlled substances containing opioids, unless under certain conditions, due to a state law passed in 2017. 

By Alyssa Hutton, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia schools will be able to hire more support staff positions, something educators say is desperately needed amid a continued teacher shortage.

State lawmakers last month approved an amended budget that will direct $152 million toward these school support positions. The appropriations help boost the ratio of allotted support staff per teacher. The funding ratio increased from 21 support positions per 1,000 pupils to 24 per 1,000 pupils -- though the older standard was 26 support positions, according to a July report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

This funding has been capped for over a decade, following a $3.7 billion shortfall in the Great Recession-era budget that was never adjusted. The cap reduction resulted in a $331 million reduction in state education funding last year, according to JLARC. 

Some positions limited by the cap include administrative, clerical and operations staff, as well as technology and instructional professionals, according to the Virginia Association of School Superintendents website. Many education groups say the cap has resulted in the loss of thousands of support staff, even as enrollment grew. 

The state's Standards of Quality provide the foundation for public education, including minimum staffing needs. The standards typically under-calculate how much staff is actually needed, according to JLARC. Elimination of the support cap was a near-term recommendation on the report. 

Virginia school divisions receive less K–12 funding per student than the national average, according to JLARC. Other states receive just under $2,000 more per student. 

Chad Stewart, the Virginia Education Association's policy analyst, said this cap was supposed to be temporary.

"An entire generation of kids have gone through their K-12 experience in the state of Virginia with far less support staff for helping their schools function and making sure that teachers weren't overwhelmed with all these additional duties, and could focus on teaching," Stewart said.

When there is an inadequate amount of support staff in schools, teachers or other support staff have to fill multiple positions, according to Stewart. 

"It takes them [teachers] away from the duties they're trained to do, which is supporting students in different ways," Stewart said. 

Guidance counselors in particular have fulfilled multiple support positions, such as monitoring cafeterias or clerical work in the office, according to Stewart. A law took effect July 1 to ensure counselors spend at least 80% of their time doing direct counseling of students. 

Teacher Karl Knoche has worked at Virginia Beach City Public Schools since 2007. He has taught government and economics at First Colonial High School since 2014. 

"All the support staff at my school does a great job of helping teachers and students, and I feel that I can go to them with any problems," Knoche stated in an email. 

Knoche has extra duties such as monitoring students between classes, during lunch and before school, which can be "time consuming," he stated. 

Teachers seem to have more responsibilities outside of the classroom than when he first started teaching, according to Knoche.

"We have been fortunate at my school to be fairly well staffed," Knoche stated. "We have had issues with having enough custodians, but that isn't due to the lack of jobs, but the lack of interest in the jobs."

Virginia leaders have grappled with teaching vacancies in recent years. The General Assembly committed to increasing compensation with 5% pay increases over three consecutive fiscal years starting in 2022, according to JLARC. 

However, the pay increases may not address low or no compensation in previous years, coupled with inflation the past two years, the report stated. Additionally, not every school division could fund the full 5% increases because their locality does not provide enough matching funds "for employees not recognized through the SOQ formula."

Virginia ranks No. 22 for teacher pay, which is an average salary of about $61,000, according to the National Education Association. 

The state had over 3,500 unfilled teaching positions in the 2022-23 school year. Elementary school teachers accounted for the most vacancies, followed by special education, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education. Special education positions at 5.8% had the highest percentage of unfilled positions, followed by world language and then elementary school teachers. 

The VDOE announced a strategic plan in 2022 to improve teacher recruitment and retention. The goals are to make it easier for qualified teachers to be hired, consider more candidates eligible to fulfill open positions and reinforce strategies that maintain a thriving workplace, such as programs focused on teacher retention.

The use of appropriated funds will vary by district, but the intent is that local school divisions will use funds for support staff positions, according to a VDOE email response.