As the gubernatorial race heats up, one might think that the candidates will go a step further with some real issues facing Virginia.
Former Atty. Gen. Bob McDonnell, for instance, seems so fixated on sex crime that he has some kind of plan to fit sex offenders with global positioning devices. His Democratic opponent, Creigh Deeds hasn’t seized the initiative on too many issues or even over-the-top ones such as the GPS-around-the-ankle idea.
Yet there are real issues out there. Here’s one. Check out this recent study by the Lumina Foundation for Education. It ranks states according to an “Education Needs Index.” Some states with the greatest needs are North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and the San Fernando Valley of California and western New Mexico. No surprise there, really. These are areas with lots of poor minorities and tight-wad state legislatures although Texas and North Carolina do have outstanding public college systems.
How does Virginia score? Not all that well, thank you, despite some better-than-U.S.-average rates in high school diplomas, median income, and college degrees.
A county-by-county review shows that Virginia’s most critical needs for education are in some of its most remote and most impoverished areas. On the “most critical list” are coalfield counties such as Lee, Wise, Dickenson and Russell. Also on the list is the lint-head belt where textile manufacturing was taking body blows long before this recession. They include Pittsylvania and Mecklenburg. Rounding out the most critical are Southside and/or Tidewater peanut and tobacco lands including Greensville, Southampton and Sussex Counties.
There’s also a “critical” list and these counties tend to border the most critical, including all of the Eastern Shore. The only truly OK places are Northern Virginia, Charlottesville and (surprisingly) a good chunk of the Peninsula and Middle Neck. Big cities such as Hampton Roads and Richmond are somewhere in the middle.
Besides education needs, there are always health issues. A year or two ago, the Washington Post magazine ran an intriguing story about how folks in the coalfield counties of Appalachia came out in force for a weekend of free medical and dental insurance. Why? They can’t afford health insurance.
Some of the Lumina Foundation’s data is a bit old, going back to 2005. But it is still relevant.
And the candidates would both do well to take a look at this material. Tracking sex offenders may get votes, but is it really as pressing a need as making sure that Virginians are well educated and healthy?
Peter Galuszka