Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto of a $626 million capital outlay package for higher education has postponed funding for Virginia Military Institute’s most significant pending construction effort — the Center for Leadership and Ethics (CLE) Phase II project.
VMI officials confirmed this week that the CLE project was not funded in the 2025 General Assembly, but stressed that it remains the institute’s highest capital priority. Brig. Gen. Dallas Clark, VMI’s deputy superintendent for finance and support and incoming acting superintendent, said VMI “will work with the governor’s office this fall and legislative chambers in the spring of 2026” to pur- sue funding.
The state budget had originally included $80 million in funding - out of a total estimated cost of $89 million - for the VMI project.
The CLE project turned into somewhat of a political football during this year’s budget negotiations. Initially included in Youngkin’s budget proposal, the funding was removed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly during tensions over the future of VMI Superintendent Cedric Wins. Some Republicans, including Youngkin, perceived the removal as an attempt to pressure the VMI board of visitors to renew Wins’s contract. Democrats, however, contended that the exclusion was due to budgetary constraints and not political maneuvering.
Youngkin reintroduced the VMI project funding in his budget amendments after the session before ultimately vetoing the entire capital outlay package for college projects, which included the CLE funding.
Construction on the CLE project had been slated to begin in 2026, with completion projected for 2028. That timeline will likely now be pushed back due to the funding delay.
The project was one of 10 higher education projects postponed by the governor’s veto of the college projects. In his budget letter, Youngkin said the delay was a fiscally prudent pause, not a cancellation.
“Deferring this appropriation does not terminate the projects themselves but continues them in the planning stage,” Youngkin wrote, adding that only one of the 10 projects was ready to bid and most were still in pre-planning or planning phases.
He said that funding for the affected projects “should be included in the FY26 ‘Caboose’ budget that I will introduce in December, should the revenues required to support their construction continue to be available.”
Youngkin cited economic uncertainty — including shifting federal policies and trade dynamics under the Trump administration — as reasons to hold back surplus funds. His final budget retains $900.5 million in surplus as a cushion, with $691.3 million of that coming from delayed capital outlay funding, the majority of which would have gone to public colleges and universities.
While the CLE project remains unfunded for now, other capital efforts at VMI are continuing to move forward. According to Clark, several projects are currently progressing through the detailed planning phase, including renovations at 307 and 309 Letcher Ave., improvements at the New Market Battlefield site, and upgrades to Hinty Hall. Constructionphase funding for these projects is expected in future budget cycles.
Meanwhile, four major initiatives are already under construction: post-wide safety and security improvements, replacement of windows in both Old and New Barracks, additional barracks safety and security upgrades, and the construction of the new Moody Hall.
