email from VEA teacher's union on election (BARF ALERT)

[Gopher Broke]

November 16, 2011

Dear xxxxx:

I have not written since the elections. Partly because we've been extremely busy, and partly because I just needed to ponder the results.

I thank each of you who worked in the campaigns for friends of education, and I thank all of you who voted. We won eight of our twelve targeted races. The VEA Fund recommended 36 House candidates. Twenty-three of those candidates won for a winning percentage of 64%. The VEA Fund recommended 25 Senate candidates. Nineteen of those candidates won for a winning percentage of 76%.

We lost the Senator that has most helped us in recent years, Edd Houck. We lost a true friend of public education Roscoe Reynolds. Those losses hurt.

As the session looms ahead, I think back to my years of teaching. You teach the ones they send you each year, knowing that the parents are sending their best. We'll be lobbying the legislators the voters have sent us - looking for the most effective means of advocating for the cause of public education.

Elections do matter. The one that just occurred will have consequences. As we look ahead, much is unanswered regarding the course Virginia takes. What remains to be seen is whether or not the Senate, under new leadership, will protect our schools from the will of a House prepared to exact deep cuts in funding for our schools.

It is time to move beyond the elections, and much is on our plate. Two items need your immediate attention. First, Senator Mark Warner wants to talk with you about the re-authorization of ESEA and other pre-K through 12 education-related topics. We are working with the Senator on a tele-town-hall meeting which will take place on Monday, November 28th at 6 p.m. He'll be calling your home to invite you to join the meeting. Please mark the date on your calendar and plan to participate.

Second, Governor McDonnell is preparing the first of two biennial budgets he will submit. Please write to the Governor urging him to make education his top priority. Click on the link below to write today:

http://www.capwiz.com/nea/va/issues/alert/?alertid=56775501&type=SW

The House Appropriations Committee retreat began yesterday at Staunton’s Stonewall Jackson Hotel. The revenue outlook is not rosy, and, according to Staff Director Robert Vaughan, "Budget reductions may be needed to maintain fiscal balance."

How do they plan to cut education funding? The report offers some hints.

They will not include "one time" increases in the last budget (per-pupil supplement, composite index hold harmless, and performance pay). This reduces the base-line by $231.1 million. Targeted Reductions and Reallocation Plans include the following:

• Suspend secondary planning period standard

• Fund teacher retirement at the state employer rate (8.80% rather than 11.71%)

• Adjust instructional salaries based only on state recognized salary incentives (FYI – that means 0%)

• Continue the current funding per-pupil amount for textbook payments

• Adjust the additional basic aid add-on percentage for At-Risk payments

• Eliminate funding tier level for K-3 Class Size Reduction program

• Reduce or eliminate technology VPSA grants (funds for computer hardware and software)

The cuts to state funding should be considered in the context of the fact that Virginia's per-pupil elementary and secondary school revenue from state sources now ranks 35th in the nation. The average state provides $5,725 per pupil – Virginia provides $5,115.

We certainly have a challenge ahead in the 2012 session.

Thank you,

Robley Jones VEA GR&R

[Gopher Broke]

Interesting how Mark Warner has a private "town hall" with just members of the teacher's union...will he tell us his constituents are demanding more spending, higher taxes, etc.????

[101voodoo]

This clown is spinning the loss of all control by the Left in VA as a victory?

Gimmee a break.

[matginzac]

Mark Warner is a lib dim tool who has delusions of grandeur...
he needs to go so he can be a permanent fixture on “Top Chef”...(he and Panetta - as CIA chief - did an episode...no Pubbies invited...)
VA voters need to oust this guy...

[USS Alaska]

The cuts to state funding should be considered in the context of the fact that Virginia's per-pupil elementary and secondary school revenue from state sources now ranks 35th in the nation. The average state provides $5,725 per pupil – Virginia provides $5,115.

The amounts vary by school district in PA but my district receives very little {by comparison} in the amount of $2,700/student which is $2,700 too much.

School districts should fund their own students with no federal nor state funds and then the locals would watch how they spent their dollars.

Any state funds should only be in the form of vouchers so that poor kids could get the hell away from the scummy union teachers and lawyers that keep the ghetto schools the hell holes that they have become.

[HIDEK6]

The cuts to state funding should be considered in the context of the fact that Virginia's per-pupil elementary and secondary school revenue from state sources now ranks 35th in the nation. The average state provides $5,725 per pupil – Virginia provides $5,115.

In a snae world, Virginia should be pleased that they can educate students at a lower cost than other states.

[HIDEK6]

sane