Where Do The Candidates Stand On Education?

This letter came from Rob Jones of VEA regarding the upcoming gubernatorial primary in June and election in the fall. Rob gave his blessing for this work to be shared here.


Dear Members,

I have carefully watched gubernatorial candidates in Virginia weigh in on education issues since Miles Godwin narrowly defeated Henry Howell by 15,000 votes.

Not since Governors Robb and Baliles have I seen any real effort on the part of Virginia Governors to keep their promises to Virginia's educators. Wilder, Warner and Kaine all promised to bring us to the national average teacher salary but not one of them made any significant progress in moving us in the right direction. Kaine told us fully funding the Standards of Quality was his top priority, and now he is working to permanently change the formula by reducing funding by $340 million dollars a year. (Incidentally, not one of the four gubernatorial candidates embraced this plan when asked about it by Dr. Boitnott.)

So, I take the candidate promises with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, we have little other than what they have done and what they say they will do to guide us as we decide how to cast our votes.

The VEA Fund (formerly known as VEA-PAC) has not recommended a candidate, so I find myself in the delightful position of being able to discuss the positions the candidates are taking from a policy rather than a political perspective. I won't judge the candidates, but I will tell you where they stand, with an emphasis on those areas that offer a contrast. I am fortunate to have our questionnaires from all four candidates and the tapes of our forum in which all four participated (http://www.veanea.org/vea-on-your-side/gov-forum.html).

First, if you examine the candidate's VEA voting records you will see that Deeds, McDonnell and Moran have a clear history based on many sessions. Only McAuliffe lacks legislative experience and, hence, a legislative history. In 15 regular and 2 special sessions Deeds VEA voting record is 93.5%. In 11 regular sessions and 2 special sessions, McDonnell's VEA voting record is 52.4%, and in 13 regular sessions and two special sessions, Moran's voting record is 91.8%.

Deeds = 93.5%
McAuliffe = NA
McDonnell = 52.4%
Moran = 91.8%

The most obvious contrast in positions is over the issue of public funds to private schools via vouchers or tuition-tax-credits. All three Democratic candidates oppose vouchers and tuition-tax-credits, while Bob McDonnell supports tuition-tax-credits. While he alludes to Constitutional concerns regarding vouchers, he will not say that he opposes them.

All three Democratic candidates promise to oppose efforts to eliminate or weaken Virginia's continuing contract laws. McDonnell refuses to answer "yes" or "no" to the question and alludes to Michelle Rhee in Washington, D.C., who is "making comprehensive reforms in the school system ...."

While the three Democrats all support expanding the retiree health care credit to educational support professionals, McDonnell says he "will need more information on the fiscal impact and our current budget situation."

All three Democrats support permissive meet-and-confer legislation, while McDonnell opposes.

Perhaps, McDonnell's strong support for "performance based incentives," too, is a matter of contrast? I just heard him espousing linkage of test scores and pay at an event this morning and he lists this item as one of his top priorities on his questionnaire, but I have not heard the Democrats react to a question on that topic.

When every candidate has a dear relative who is a teacher and all see public education as the "top priority" it is difficult to determine "Who's for kids, and who's just kidding?" I hope this overview is helpful as you begin to decide which candidate deserves your support. If you are a Democrat, I urge you to vote in the June 9 primary. I urge all to vote on November 3.

Thank you,

Robley Jones

VEA GR

FYI Rob has worked for VEA as the person in charge of our legislative agenda. Before that, he was one of the most popular VEA presidents of our generation. There is no greater expert on Virginia education legislation.

Budget Passes

Budget Passes

On the evening of Thursday, March 26 the Roanoke County School Board voted to approve the 2009-2010 school year budget. This budget was arrived at through the cooperative efforts of many members of the Roanoke County Schools community including the RCEA, Dr. Lange and central office staff, Roanoke County School Board and many others. Each of the key players in the budget effort deserves our heartfelt thanks and understanding of the monumental task that current economic conditions forced upon them. All should take to heart that navigation through the issues and fiscal difficulties at hand presented problems unique to this particular fiscal crisis, the magnitude of which none working in our school system today has experienced. Efforts were made to cause the least disruption to classroom practices and to minimize reduction in staff.

Following are the important points laid out in the 2009 – 2010 budget as they impact schools and staff of Roanoke County. Of course, should new economic information be presented to the school system involving a change in economic projections impacting the Governor’s budget, further action may be necessary on the part of Roanoke County School’s fiduciary actors.

· Salaries are frozen for the 2009 – 2010 school year.

· Health and dental insurance premiums will remain the same for 2009-10.

· Closing of Roanoke County Central Middle School - program moved to other middle school buildings ($780,000 savings).

· Reorganization of Bent Mountain Elementary staffing ($169,644 savings) – the school will remain open.

· Extension of existing early retirement program with limited fillings of subsequent vacancies ($571,739 savings).

· Elimination of 12 positions in Central Office and reorganization of duties ($700,000).

· Staffing changes to retain lower class sizes ($2,380,000).

· Reduction in non-classroom positions in excess of SOQ including guidance, library, secretaries, aides, maintenance, and custodial staff ($1,054,199 savings).

· Reduction in the laptop computer-funding stream of $1,260,500, which eliminates the annual replacement of approximately 1,300 computers; places refurbished 12th grade laptops on carts for 9th grade classroom use and maintains take-home laptops for grades 10-12.

· Elimination of proposed new teacher degree plan that had not yet been fully funded or implemented ($574,948).

· Utility savings from mandatory 4-day week in all school buildings during summer months ($45,000).

· Elimination of elementary SAP program (non-grant funded $70,000 savings)

· Reduction in summer school program ($56,000).

· Elimination of calendar/magnet ($37,000).

· Increases in fuel and utilities ($1,009,332).

· Restoration of $671,290 to the Emergency Contingency after returning $1,000,000 to the Board of Supervisors to offset local tax losses incurred in FY08-09 that had been previously shared with the School Board during the FY08-09 budget process. The Emergency Contingency will have a balance of $1,671,290 in FY09-10.

(Bulleted information gathered from RCPS website)

Election Central

Cast Your Vote for a Candidate for NEA Director, April 25-May 8

Voting this spring for the position of NEA Director will be conducted online for the first time in VEA's history. It's a secure, efficient process set up by our partner, Votenet.

You'll be voting for one of three candidates. Here are the full details on our new procedures. Print ballots will be available for members who prefer that option. Online voting will be open beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 25, and run through May 8. Election results and procedures for any runoff election will be posted in the "VEA Election Central" area on the right-hand side of www.veanea.org.

Cast your online vote in three easy steps:

• Make sure you know your individual NEA membership number. It is printed on your VEA membership card and on the first line of your address label for the VEA News or Virginia Journal of Education.
• Do your research on the three candidates. Candidate biographies and statements are linked below; videos of their speeches at the VEA Delegate Assembly will be posted shortly after the convention's conclusion.
• When you're ready to vote, click the "Vote Now" link below to cast your vote at the Votenet site.

Save the Golden Goose

Delegate Bob Tata, a Republican fromVirginia Beach, is the Chair of the Education Committee in the General Assembly. On Monday January 26, he rose to speak up for public school education. His message was measured and powerful. It deserves to be heard.

(The video has been slow to load for me, but if you open the link and hit [pause], it will eventually load the whole six minute clip. Then click [play]. )

FY2010 Budget Priorities Resolution

With the budget cycle becoming serious, the RCEA Representative Assembly decided at its regular monthly meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss options. We believe it is important to have a unified message as budget discussions advance. Out of that discussion came this official resolution.

Roanoke County Education Association

FY2010 Budget Priorities Resolution

Approved Unanimously January 26, 2009

By

The RCEA Representative Assembly

WHEREAS the United States is currently in a recession; and

WHEREAS Commonwealth of Virginia expects significantly reduced revenue; and

WHEREAS the County of Roanoke is experiencing a decline in revenue which negatively impacts revenue for Roanoke County Schools; and

WHEREAS a deep and prolonged recession may require future budget reductions;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Roanoke County Education Association that:

The RCEA affirms its strong opposition to the use of school division funds to support new programs in whatever manner or under whatever circumstances they may be presented, to the extent legally possible (unless the following items can be fully funded first); and be it

RESOLVED that We support the maintenance of effort for all benefits for all employees; and be it

RESOLVED that We support at least the maintenance of current salary for all employees; and be it

RESOLVED that We unconditionally confirm our strongest support for keeping current employees employed over funding any other budget category or item.

In a nutshell, the RCEA believes that our human capital is most vital component necessary to maintaining a quality school division. In that spirit, we oppose any movement to terminate employees or to relax salaries and benefits. We believe that if cuts need to be made, they should be carved from programs and other non-employee categories.

We understand that building a budget that does not directly impact personnel will be very difficult in these challenging times. We will continue to keep lines of communication open with the School Board and Superintendent's office to foster constructive discussions. In light of the Governor's proposed budget amendments, we will continue our efforts both locally and statewide to highlight the very real impact that catastrophic cuts to public school education would have on our school division.

January Newsletter

With the budget season in full gear, you may wish to read our latest newsletter. Just click on the link below and you will be taken to our Drop i.o. box where you can view or download the newsletter.

Stay tuned here for news from our next rep meeting on Monday.

January RCEA News

What About the Budget?

Folks, we are beginning to experience some of the darkest financial times I’ve ever encountered in my 27-year teaching career. Over the past week, Your Uniserv Director Pat Wood and I have visited with Delegate William Fralin, Delegate Onzlee Ware, and Senator John Edwards to discuss education funding.

Each of these local representatives hold key positions on either/both the education or appropriations committee. Thus, they will be positioned squarely to affect education funding in this year’s General Assembly. The message from each regarding that funding was bleak. Both Ware and Edwards volunteered that the funding shortfall in the state cannot be erased solely by making cuts to programs. New revenue (tax) must be raised. Both seemed to zero in on one area that may offer some hope, a gasoline tax. Ware talked about raising the gasoline tax by $0.10 a gallon at the pump while Edwards had a detailed plan to apply a 5% tax (similar to a sales tax) on gasoline at the wholesale level. He reasoned that by applying the tax in that manner, it would grow with inflation. Neither man, however, could assure us that such revenue enhancements would pass through the legislature.

We spent a great deal of time explaining to Mr. Fralin that Roanoke County is proactively planning how to cut the budget in order to make ends meet. We impressed upon him the fact that these cuts will affect instruction. There seems to be a popular and erroneous notion in the legislature right now that Governor Kaine’s proposed cuts in education funding will not affect the instruction programs, instead they’ll target school administration. Well, we’re looking at larger class sizes, a reduction in core services, a closed middle school (Central Middle), potentially a closed elementary school (Bent Mountain), a hiring freeze in association with an early retirement plan, potential RIF’s, and a potential pay cut.* You can’t tell me these things will not affect the instructional program!

* Very Recent Word is that a 1 to 1.5% pay cut is on the table for next year…we’ll know more as we learn more.

Some of you have asked what you can do to help secure funding for education during the upcoming General Assembly session. Well, our VEA president, Kitty Boitnott shared this letter with me, and I, in turn, am sharing it with you.

Dear Local President (That’s me!):

I am writing to request your help with mobilizing our members to take an active part in the lobbying effort that we are undertaking this week prior to the opening session of the General Assembly on January 14th.

We need our members to complete two simple tasks, and both of them can be accomplished by going to the Government Relations section of the VEA web site at http://www.veanea.org.

The first task is to click on and complete the writing of the electronic letters that have already been drafted. These messages need to be sent to their local legislators and senators (Delegate William Fralin, Delegate Morgan Griffith, Delegate Onzlee Ware, Senator John Edwards, Senator Ralph Smith). While the message has already been crafted, it may be altered to meet individual and specific needs.

The second task is to click on the link for the online petition which is being sponsored by a coalition of education stakeholders who have joined together for the purpose of advocating for public schools and the children of the Commonwealth. The link is at http://www.fundqualityschools.org.

So far we have had only 3,559 individuals to sign the online petition. Given that we have over 60,000 members, and their friends, family members and non-member colleagues may sign, I would like to see that number increase exponentially.

Likewise, so far, only 480 individuals have sent the electronic message to their local legislators. In order for us to capitalize on our strength as an organization of advocacy for public education, we must increase that figure into the thousands rather than the hundreds.

Please make every effort to engage your membership and mobilize members to take these two relatively simple actions. We cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity to let our collective voices be heard. Our students are depending on us to advocate for them, and I urge you not to let them down.

Thank you in advance for your quick response to this most sincere request for your help.

Kitty

E-mail: kboitnott@veanea.org

Web site: http://www.kittyboitnott.net

So my advice for now is to remain calm and respectful, but be vigilant and ready to defend what’s right. Please grab some friends and family and take a few minutes to introduce yourself to your local state delegate or senator by using the online site linked in Kitty’s letter. In addition, please, please sign the online petition. Let Richmond know that they must protect education funding, and if cuts need to be made, they must be temporary. We have almost 1,000 members, plus we all have friends and family. We really could make a huge difference!

Thanks for reading,

Thom Ryder

RCEA President

tryder@rcs.k12.va.us