Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell and Lieutenant Governor candidate Bill Bolling released their Education Plan earlier this week. They called the plan, “a bold education proposal that will dramatically increase money for Virginia’s teachers and students by $480 million a year, without a tax increase.” You can access the plan here.
The plan is actually the same as one proposed by Delegates Frederick, Albo and Loupassi in past legislative sessions. See, for example, HB60 from the 2008 session (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+sum+HB60 ). Please note that this initiative has been left in committee each year by the House Education Committee on which Republicans enjoy majority status.
The proposal appears to be a solution without a problem. According to the candidate, only 61% of K-12 dollars go to the classroom. According to the VDOE’s Superintendent Report, in 2007-08, 65% went towards instruction. In fact, if you don’t include categories of spending for programs such as the cafeteria and capital outlay, the percentage spent on instruction for regular day school operations is 80%.
The Department of Budget and Planning offered the following in the Fiscal Impact Statement for the bill, “This legislation would establish a requirement that any local school board must allocate no less than 65 percent of its operating budget to instructional spending. This requirement will not result in any additional cost to the state; however, it could constrict the ability of school divisions to allocate money based on the specific needs of the division.”
McDonnell asserts that, “By increasing classroom spending by 4% over the next four years we can redirect $480 million a year in existing education funding to the classroom, where it can help boost teacher pay, reduce class sizes and improve textbooks and technology. This will help improve the educational opportunities we provide to our children, and now is the time to make this important and common sense investment.”
Standard and Poor’s studied this proposal in 2007. The study can be accessed through the following link:
The report states that, “Standard & Poor’s analysis reveals that there is no minimum spending allocation that is a “silver bullet” solution for improving student achievement. Spending more on instruction is generally thought to help raise test scores; however, the data reveal no significant relationship between instructional spending at 65% or any other level and student performance.”
It should be noted that this plan provides a redirection of funds, No additional funds are provided.
The inference that Virginia spends excessive amounts of education funding outside of the classroom is belied by the fact that when support costs are compared to total per-pupil costs, Va.’s expenditures for support services rank 37th in the US, according to the US Census Public Education Finance Report 2007 (July 2009).
According to CQ Press’s State Fact Finder Series: State Rankings 2009, in per capita personal income VA ranks 8th, in per pupil state spending VA ranks 37th, in average teacher salary VA ranks 30th and in average teacher’s salary as a percent of average annual pay VA ranks 50th.
State aid for 2010-11 and 2011-12 as projected as of 7-09 is less than the amount provided in 2008-09.
Additional funds are needed to move Virginia’s schools forward. Merely shifting funds within current funding streams isn’t the answer.
Mr. McDonnell’s press release says that he believes that every child in the state must have an opportunity to be well-educated. His thesis for Regents University states a less lofty goal, saying “the state government has a legitimate role to ensure that family members are educated and socialized in order to operate at a minimum level of sufficiency.” His education plan is consistent with his thesis.
Robley Jones is Director of Government Relations for the Virginia Education Association
The name of the school is “Regent University.” So unless you’re prepared to start referring to The University of Virginia as “The University of Virginias,” you should refer to Regent by its proper name.
A simple Google search would reveal the school’s name.
What’s a reader to make of the rest of your research?
I think the writer’s article is very instructive.
God help me if everyone judged me upon a simple mistype or spelling error. I ain’t no college graduate, but I still have thoughts.
You don’t need a college degree to spell properly. William Safire has no college degree. Writing “Regents” instead of “Regent” is akin to me referring to “Robley Jones” as “Robbie James.” It’s disrespectful. And it’s ridiculous that 24 hours after I pointed out this blunder, the blog hasn’t corrected it.
Gee, this must give conservatives a taste of how it feels to be called the “Democrat Party.” Seriously, if the only thing you can point out is that Regent is supposed to be s-less, then it sounds like arguing for the sake of arguing.
Well, Shockeds and Stunneds, that’s not the only thing I can point out. And I’m not a conservative. But it’s an issue of respect. No one refers to UVA as the University of Virginias. So no one should refer to “Regent” as “Regents.”
In fact, it’s embarrassing that this blog hasn’t corrected it yet. Given the grammatical errors and otherwise pedestrian writing on here, though, I wouldn’t expect much more than this.
It was an honest mistake and I’m shockeds and stunneds that ol’ mcreedys making such a stink about a simple typo. Although the 20yr old thesis is a tired arguement, it’s a well-written article.
As soon as you start showing me typos like this, “Washingtons and Lees,” “Williams and Marys,” and “Richmonds,” I’ll forget about it.
Until then, do a simple Google search and spell something as important as a university’s name correctly.
I have been a follower, benificary, and student of your work for VEA.
We met twice in Richmond.
Fairfax County Federation of Teachers and FEA, … especially me, are looking forward to our joint event with you.
Barry
Sec. FCFT 2401