Dear Friends,

There has been a lot of talk—and activity—around education “reform” over the course of the last two decades, but little of it has had any meaningful impact on student achievement or graduation rates. College tuition soars, and poverty—especially poverty among our nation’s urban and rural children--continues ignored. Everyone seems to be in agreement that something should be done, but clearly, what we are doing now is not working.

One of the major problems with the reforms that have been put into place from the federal government down to local school boards including the myriad of private corporations that are cropping up daily in order to profit off the financial resources that are allocated annually for schools is that the reformers are constantly ignoring the very group of people who could actually help. Indeed, not only are K-12 practitioners ignored in the major debates that are taking place around the country, but they have been vilified and demeaned in such a way that the entire profession is in crisis. Veteran teachers with decades of experience are burnt out and ready to retire while the teaching profession has become a turnstile business proposition with a growing number of young people teaching for a only few years as a stop gap measure before beginning their “real” careers.

None of this bodes well for the children in our nation’s public schools. In fact, public education itself is under siege. Legislators in state after state are backing away from their constitutional duty and their moral obligation to provide a free and appropriate public education for every child. Charter schools, the vouchers for private schools, the dramatic increase in home schooling in recent years, and the current fascination with online education and virtual classes erodes the integrity of the neighborhood school in a way that is actually dangerous, I believe, for the future of our country. Democracy itself is threatened by the continual downgrading of public education as a true civil right for every child.

Wrong-headed remedies for the very real problems that face our schools today continue. Teacher evaluation with teachers’ performance tied to student test scores based on faulty and flawed mathematic algorithms are being used improperly and for the wrong purposes. The suggestions that all “bad teachers” should just be fired and the teacher unions should be eliminated are misguided at best and deliberately harmful at worst. Common Core Curriculum is being pushed by some and resisted by others while teachers are for the most part being left out of the conversation—again.

As Virginia prepares itself for yet another election season, Virginia voters need to consider what we need in our next Governor. Here are some of the things I believe we need:

We need a Governor who has a clear vision and a firm understanding of the state’s responsibility to the children of the Commonwealth. We need a Governor who is willing to include teachers in the conversation, is adamant about questioning the assumptions and assertions made by corporate leaders looking to profit by bringing in more charter schools when the research does not support the premise that charters do a significantly better job than neighborhood schools that receive adequate support and have adequate resources. We need a Governor whose only agenda is what is in the best interest of children and not what is included in the ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) playbook.

We need a Governor who respects the experience of veteran teachers who have spent their careers in the classroom tending to the needs of the children they teach. We do NOT need to leave teachers out of the conversation simply because what they have to say does not necessarily comport with the current political trend of privatization at all costs. We need a Governor who understands what the state Constitution means when it talks about the state’s responsibility for providing “a system of free public elementary and secondary schools for all children of school age throughout the Commonwealth, and shall seek to ensure that an educational program of high quality is established and continually maintained.” (Article VIII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution).

We need a Governor who can articulate clearly for all to hear that Virginia is not about to turn its schools over to corporate moguls who care nothing about children but only about making a quick dollar. The examples of corporate greed, fraud, and general wrongdoing are to be found everywhere that they have been allowed to set up shop. They turn their backs on the neediest children while they drain away not only the top students who need their services the least, but they also drain valuable resources away from the neighborhood schools that are quite literally falling apart from a lack of resources and long-term investment.

It is time for Virginia’s parents, teachers, and members of the community at large—those who care about the health, wellbeing and education of our state’s young people—to line up behind the next Governor who is going to set a new course for education innovation and achievement based on what teachers agree are best practices rather than on the latest fad. That’s what Virginia needs. It is what our students deserve. And I plan to do what I can to make sure we elect the best person for the job.

Until next time.

Kitty