Del. Christopher Peace, R-Mechanicsville, is a bright, young up-and-comer in the House of Delegates. I’ve been impressed by the way he has worked with the Virginia Open Education Foundation in pursuit of open-source textbooks for Virginia schools that can be easily updated and printed on demand as circumstances warrant. (See “A ‘Textbook’ Study of Knowledge-Wave Education Policy.”)
But I was terribly disappointed by Peace’s defense of GOP budgeting for education in an op-ed piece published in today’s Times-Dispatch. The House of Delegates’ budget “does more for public schools” than any of the Democratic alternatives, he argues. By “doing more,” he means, “spends more money.”
Our budget increases funding for K-12 public education by more than $1 billion compared to the existing budget. In total, the House budget directs $13 billion to public education — exceeding the Senate’s proposal by $68 million and the governor’s by $193 million. By adopting our budget, we not only rejected the governor’s proposal to cut school construction grants by $220 million, but actually added $70 million. We also made a first-year pay raise for teachers a priority by providing the state’s share of a 2 percent raise in 2008.
This is why people pejoratively refer to Virginia’s two parties as the Repucrats and Demoplicans. The only answer either party offers for the challenge of reinventing education for the 21st century is “Mo’ Money!” Other than the so-called “65% solution,” which would require school districts to spend a larger share of their funds in the classroom and less on administrative overhead, Republicans have devised few alternatives to the if-schools-are-failing-they-must-need-even-more-money approach to education.
In Peace’s defense, his column does address the runaway-spending aspects of the Standards of Quality formula that determines the allocation of state aid for K-12 school programs. But that’s not a cause that will catalyze people into thinking creatively about education. The formula is so arcane — almost kabbalistic in its impenetrability — that peoples’ eyes glaze over when anyone tries to describe it. By contrast, open-source textbooks was a clever idea that anyone can grasp. Why can’t we see more fresh thinking like that?
If the Republicans want to differentiate themselves from the Democrats, bragging how they spend more money on education won’t do the trick. The public will always associate Democrats with greater spending on education. If the GOP wants to present an alternative to voters, they need to argue, it’s not how much you spend but how you spend it.