News
It's About Budget Priorities, Not Shortfalls

In spite of a recession, Virginians push for proper school funding.

The recession has arrived, and many state governments are facing billion-dollar-plus budget shortfalls. While legislators are trying to protect direct school aid for the current budget year, educators and students could--if the economy continues to stagnate--face painful cutbacks in Fiscal Year 2003.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a typical budget basket case, facing a revenue shortfall that could reach $1.5 billion by the end of FY 2002.

Worse yet, Virginia, the state that ranks 15th in the nation in per capita wealth, ranks 45th in per capita state support of public schools.

Imagine the mood of Virginia NEA members.

Then imagine how educators feel in Bedford County, the Virginia district with the lowest rate of per-student expenditure. They push hard to meet tough state "Standards of Learning," yet must contend with inferior pay, growing class sizes, and a shortage of new educators and technology teachers.

Well, you'd never imagine this: Teachers and ESP in Bedford County and across the Old Dominion State are hard-pressed but proud, thanks to an innovative "Brighter Futures" campaign now being conducted by the Virginia Education Association/NEA.

The campaign objective: Make education a permanent priority in the Virginia state budget--no matter what the economic climate.

Every VEA leader at every level, from VEA President Jean Bankos to Bedford County Education Association President Jess Tucker, is taking a single message to politicians and the press: Virginia has raised standards for student achievement, but not the standards for funding that achievement.

At every opportunity, these leaders are outlining flaws in the state's current education funding formula and connecting quality funding to decently paid quality teachers and quality programs--which hinge on factors like class size, reading, technology, school construction/repair, and supplies.

"The Brighter Futures campaign is not about revenues and shortfalls, it's about priorities," stresses VEA Executive Director Jerry Caruthers, "and it focuses all of VEA's major programs around this one issue."

How does a major NEA state affiliate conduct an integrated campaign for quality school funding? Here's a step-by-step guide from VEA:

1. Do your research. "Because Virginia is a non-bargaining state, technical research and analysis is an important tool in the legislative process," notes VEA Director of Finance and Research Ralph Shotwell. "We use our research on finance to effectively keep the issue in front of policymakers."

VEA research is a quality product. School boards and other educational groups often adopt it for their own use.

And VEA's findings on education funding flaws virtually parallel those just released by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), a highly respected state watchdog agency.

The bottom line, concludes the commission, is that over the 2002-04 biennium, the state will have to pay $1.06 billion more to adequately fund its public school standards.

The commission "has done an excellent job in reporting funding system deficiencies," says Shotwell. "It's in line with what VEA has said for the last 30 years!"

2. Publicize your research. Through Brighter Futures media spots and regional press conferences, VEA has hammered home its message that the education funding mechanism is broken and that "quality programs and quality teachers require quality funding."

Say it often enough, and people listen. Editorials across the state have begun to sound like VEA releases.

"Maybe our state lawmakers ought to be subjected to a Standards of Learning test and asked if they see any relationship between low salaries and teacher shortages," muses the Newport News Daily Press. "Talk of educational reform by candidates in the absence of money to keep that pledge will be very, very cheap."

3. Put politicians on record. In media spots before the November elections, VEA urged voters to "ask your candidates what they'll do to bring brighter futures to Virginia's children--and listen carefully to their answers."

"Both the general public and members of my local Association, a number of whom are Republicans, appreciated that these ads didn't support one candidate over another," notes Jess Tucker.

VEA did, in fact, recommend candidates from both parties, but no one got a free ride on the school funding issue. "We made it a big part of the gubernatorial debate," says VEA Government Relations Director Rob Jones.

4. Get local leaders to speak out. Using research, talking points, and overheads prepared by VEA, local leaders are now making Brighter Futures presentations to local policymakers and an array of community groups.

In Bedford County, Tucker, a kindergarten teacher at Huddleston Elementary, has reminded the county school board and board of supervisors that "county funding of schools has dropped by 25 percent over ten years," thanks to cuts in state aid.

In neighboring Amherst County, local affiliate President Bev Jones has also addressed county officials. And she's been working with her 234 members to spread the Brighter Futures message in businesses, churches, malls, home football games, parent-teacher conferences, and back-to-school nights.

"We're talking about needs like new teachers and textbooks," reports Jones, a U.S. history and advanced reading teacher at Monelison Middle School in Madison Heights. "We have reading books that are eight or nine years old. We can't send them out for 'adoption' because we still need them.

"The school board is pleased with our campaign effort, because what we do helps them," Jones adds. "Moreover, they can use VEA's talking points and research in lobbying legislators."

5. Seek allies. The Virginia Education Association has received NEA help through research assistance and funding for media spots.

And VEA is active in the newly formed Virginia Education Coalition, which unites school employees, school boards, administrators, and the state PTA. That alliance has just crafted a blueprint of educational goals for Virginia.

"We're also going to citizens' groups--from the Rotary to the Chamber of Commerce--at every opportunity and conducting interviews with corporate CEOs around the state," says VEA Exec Caruthers. "We hope to have the CEOs by our side as we lobby our new legislature and pro-education governor, Mark Warner, using the JLARC report."

6. Don't forget the feds. Federal aid to states increased sharply in the early 1990s, providing a big boost to state budgets. But since then, revenue from Washington as a percentage of total state and local revenue has declined from 23.3 percent to 22.2 percent.

"If IDEA costs were fully funded by the federal government, it would take a tremendous burden off localities," argues Caruthers. "We've got to get Washington to pay its fair share, for everything from special education to school construction and repair."

For more on the recession's impact on the ability of states and districts to fund education, go to www.nea.org/topics/edfunding/recession.pdf.

Pro-Education Governors Elected

Sure, the recession's here--that's the bad news. But the good news is that two new pro-education governors were elected in November, thanks in no small part to the hard work of NEA state affiliates.

Here's a report from the field:

• "The Virginia Education Association recommended three statewide candidates and two won," reports VEA Government Relations Director Rob Jones, "and two-thirds of our recommended candidates won in House races."

  VEA's winning pick for governor, Democrat Mark Warner, will be joined in Richmond by Lieutenant Governor-elect Tim Kaine, another strong advocate of public education.

  "With Mark Warner elected as governor," says VEA President Jean Bankos, "we'll have a new era of cooperation and respect for public school educators and a new vision of where we need to go and how to get there."

  While Virginia's new legislature will be strongly conservative, "VEA backed 12 winning Republicans in the House," Jones notes. "They're good friends and we're hoping for the formation of a pro-public education coalition."

• The New Jersey Education Association's recommended candidate for governor, Democrat Jim McGreevey, defeated conservative Republican opponent Bret Schundler by a 56-42 margin.

  Schundler, a promoter of private school vouchers and tuition tax credits, was no match for McGreevey, who campaigned for improvements in public education--from a paperwork reduction to more teacher time with students.

  After his win, McGreevey sent NJEA a message of thanks for its support and its "unwaivering commitment to making public schools work and work well.

  "I look forward," he added, "to working together to ensure that all children have access to a quality education."

  NJEA members' campaign work also helped elect a pro-education majority in the state Assembly. Said one NJEA- recommended candidate, Republican Assemblywoman Rose Heck, "Without NJEA efforts in Cliffside Park, I would not have been re-elected."

Basics for Beginners
How to Fight for Funds

Want to get your state government to pay its fair share of education costs? Here's some free advice from staff and local leaders of the Virginia Education Association/NEA:

• Start hoarding information on everything from compensation to class sizes. "Get comfortable with collecting data at your school district offices," says VEA Director of Finance and Research Ralph Shotwell, "and don't neglect to ask for assistance from your local UniServ office."

• Be professional with local policymakers. "Take the high road," advises UniServ Director Lanny Lambdin. "Thank local purse-string holders when they attempt to support school programs and pay decent salaries in spite of state underfunding. Then ask them, 'How can we work together to get more from the state?'"

• Run a grassroots campaign. If an education funding campaign is run from the top down, it'll soon go belly-up. "NEA members and local leaders need ownership in an education funding campaign before they'll jump on board," stresses Lambdin. "Educate members first on flaws in school finance, and they'll take it from there."

• Dig in for the long haul. "Keep your focus on the vision of equitable school funding," says Shotwell. "Deal with things in increments and don't lose sight of your goal."

  "Never give up," adds Bev Jones, president of the Amherst County Education Association, Inc. "Never get so disgusted that you disappear. And keep speaking out!"