State of Virginia Archives: on Education

Ralph Northam: Pay raise for teachers, to retain the best and brightest

Raising teacher pay is only part of the puzzle when it comes to making sure that every Virginia student is able to reach their full potential. Schools, educational leaders, and parents across the Commonwealth have been clear that students need a variety of services to succeed in the classroom.

That's why I've proposed to fund more positions for school counselors statewide, and additional flexible funding so that school divisions can make their own decisions about which services will most benefit their students.

Ralph Northam: More tuition assistance; protect consumers on student loans

We're working with the Virginia Community College System to reframe their programming, so that students can get the skills they need on the front end for 21st century jobs. Our training certificate programs and our higher education system need to work hand in hand. And they need to be affordable.

Expensive tuition and high student debt can close the door to opportunity for too many people. My budget would offer more tuition assistance, and requires our institutions to create tuition predictability plans.

It is high time we began regulating the companies that service our student loans. While people may not be able to avoid taking on debt to get an education, they should be able to count on basic consumer protections.

Ralph Northam: Borrower's Bill of Rights to manage student debt

• Giving Virginians the tools to manage student debt and hold predatory lenders accountable by passing a Borrower's Bill of Rights and creating a state ombudsman for student debt.
• Building on the executive actions my administration is pursuing to cut carbon and create clean energy jobs by becoming the first Southern State to formally join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
• Closing a loophole in our ethics laws by prohibiting the personal use of campaign funds.
• Reducing obstacles to voting by doing away with barriers to absentee voting.

Terry McAuliffe: Borrower's Bill of Rights to manage student debt

• Giving Virginians the tools to manage student debt and hold predatory lenders accountable by passing a Borrower's Bill of Rights and creating a state ombudsman for student debt.
• Building on the executive actions my administration is pursuing to cut carbon and create clean energy jobs by becoming the first Southern State to formally join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
• Closing a loophole in our ethics laws by prohibiting the personal use of campaign funds.
• Reducing obstacles to voting by doing away with barriers to absentee voting.

Terry McAuliffe: Don't wait until kindergarten to prepare for success

Public education is the backbone of a healthy economy. So let us pledge tonight to avoid acrimony on this topic and agree that we will not cut a single dollar from our schools during this legislative session. We cannot wait until our students reach kindergarten to begin preparing them for success.

Don Beyer: Department of Education makes colleges stronger

Ken Cuccinelli: Teach intelligent design in schools

Cuccinelli: Disagree.

Ken Cuccinelli: Free market competition for education dollars

Cuccinelli: Strongly Agree.

Question topic: Who has the primary responsibility to be sure children are properly educated?

Cuccinelli: Parents.

Robert Sarvis: Free market competition for education dollars

Sarvis: Strongly Agree.

Question topic: Who has the primary responsibility to be sure children are properly educated?

Sarvis: Their parents.

Ed Gillespie: We spend $12 on safe sex ed for every $1 on abstinence

Robert Sarvis: Bad schools persist because politicians are in charge

Why does the status quo continue? Because politicians and bureaucrats are in charge, not parents and teachers. To prepare our children for the real world, we need to adopt a modern approach that is proven to work and built to last. This means two things:

1. Parents, not politicians or bureaucrats, should be in charge of the education dollars spent on their children.
2. Teachers need to be liberated from the politicized, bureaucratic status quo and rewarded for the educational value--student learning--they create.

Robert Sarvis: Supports vouchers, tax credit, charters, & parental triggers

I propose fostering, in every aspect of education policy, an open and competitive market for education services.
• Maximizing school choice through:
• A universal system of school vouchers and/or tax credits
• Expansion of charter schools, including "parental triggers."
• Instituting real, apolitical public-school reforms:
• Focus on actual learning of real-world life skills and job skills
• Reward quality instruction, not credentials and seniority
• Pursue teacher-driven solutions, not politician-driven spending fads.
• Overhauling state oversight of public education, including reform of:
• Licensing/certification rules
• Accreditation requirements
• State mandates
• Local and state school-board powers.
• Ensuring the independence of private & home schools from government red tape:
• Avoid letting the government do to private and home schools what it has done to public schools.
• Keep special interests from cartelizing the private education-services industry.

Bob McDonnell: Top Jobs for the 21st Century: STEM-H degrees

We have increased the percentage of K-12 funding going into the classroom from 62% to 64%. Graduation rates are up.

Bob McDonnell: Zero tolerance policy for failing schools

We now equip low performing schools with turnaround specialists and additional resources from the Zero tolerance policy for failing schools Institution to provide a high quality education alternative for children attending any chronically underperforming public elementary or secondary school. The Opportunity Educational Institution will be a new statewide school division to turnaround

Jamie Radtke: Would vote against No Child Left Behind as too expensive

For the most part, the four candidates found common ground on a number of issues, including their shared desire to shift more of the responsibility for education to the states.

Kaine's campaign responded to the repeated criticism following the debate. "Virginia voters heard the Tea Party contenders push reckless economic policies that would damage Virginia's economy, create more uncertainty for our businesses, and make our nation less globally competitive," a Kaine spokeswoman said.

George Allen: Lower student loan rates; freeze tuition rates

Student loans have quickly become a hot button issue for candidates nationally and here in the Commonwealth. At Saturday's Republican Senate Debate in Roanoke candidates Bob Marshall, E.W. Jackson, and Jamie Radtke all came out forcefully saying the federal government should be out of the student loan business. "When you have the federal government giving loans it does artificially inflate prices and tuitions for schools," Radtke said.

George Allen was quiet on the issue saying only he wants to freeze tuition costs and make college more affordable.

Jamie Radtke: Feds should not be in the student loan business

Student loans have quickly become a hot button issue for candidates nationally and here in the Commonwealth. At Saturday's Republican Senate Debate in Roanoke candidates Bob Marshall, E.W. Jackson, and Jamie Radtke all came out forcefully saying the federal government should be out of the student loan business. "When you have the federal government giving loans it does artificially inflate prices and tuitions for schools," Radtke said.

George Allen was quiet on the issue saying only he wants to freeze tuition costs and make college more affordable.

Tim Kaine: More student loan interest cuts; more tuition assistance

Tim Kaine: FactCheck: Cut college funding & led to 30% tuition increase

Former Gov. Kaine inherited a $1.45 billion budget for higher education costs when he came into office. In his farewell budget, Kaine recommended $1.37 billion in higher education funding for fiscal 2012. So over the span, Kaine supported a 5.7% cut. It's important to remember that Kaine was battling a severe recession at the end of his term.

Average in-state tuition and instructional fees at Virginia's four-year colleges rose 31.2% during Kaine's 2006-2010 gubernatorial term. At community colleges, those costs increased 24.5%. Tuition also rose nationwide.

We rated a similar Republican claim against Kaine's higher education record Mostly True. We deducted points because the claim places all the blame on Kaine without acknowledging that his funding levels for college won broad bipartisan support.

Mark Warner: Involve whole communities in schools