Before Tim Kaine formally ran for governor, he made a point of visiting every school district in Virginia — and there’s a lot of them — to learn as much as he could about Virginia’s K-12 system and how to improve it. There was a time when he seemed determined to bring fresh thinking to the problem. But those days are over. The bottom line of the Kaine education plan: Spend mo’ money. Lots mo’ money…. Just open your wallets wide.
The Kaine campaign’s latest e-mail blast lists a number of initiatives (which I would link to, but it’s not even on the website yet):
- Make “high-quality pre-K available to all Virginian four-year-olds” on the grounds that 90 percent of brain development happens before age five and 35 percent of children are not ready to learn when they enter kindergarten. Kaine says there is a 17-to-one return on investment for pre-K. Pardon my skepticism. Show me the data.
- “Fully fund” public schools. The Kaine press release alludes to the “historic $1.5 billion investment” in public schools made possible by the Warner administration’s 2004 tax increases. That was designed to meet Virginia’s Standards of Quality, but presumably, that’s not enough. Kaine doesn’t explain why it’s not enough, and he doesn’t say how much more money he’s talking about. He just makes it sound like an open-ended commitment.
- Raise $1 million in private funds for scholarships for students who want to pursue careers that serve the public good. This is a feel-good initiative that no one can argue with, but it has little more than symbolic value.
- “Implement regular and meaningful teacher evaluations” to improve children’s classroom experience. Another meaningless gesture — unless it’s backed up with the ability to reward teachers fo rexcellence or punish incompetence.
- Increase access to Governor’s Schools and AP classes. Tell me how much it’s going to cost.
Once more, folks, we have a Business As Usual approach to education that does nothing but concoct new and creative ways to throw more money at the problem. No restructuring. No re-engineering. No rethinking pedagogy. No experimentation. No extra flexibility. No holding anyone accountable. No demands on teachers or school administrators. Just demands on taxpayers. Just mo’ money.
It looks like the Virginia Education Association wrote Kaine’s education plank for him. What a disappointment…. And what a tactical mistake. Jerry Kilgore has been painting Kaine as a traditional “tax-and-spend liberal.” Yesterday, that sounded like a retread soundbite, too unoriginal to bother posting on this blog. Today, it sounds frighteningly accurate.