Statement of Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling in Support of 65 Percent Solution

It is a pleasure for me to be here today with my good friend and running mate, Bob McDonnell, as we announce the latest in a series of policy initiatives that are designed to find realistic and workable solutions to the serious challenges currently facing Virginia.

Over the past several months we have announced a number of important policy initiatives that we call New Ideas For A Better Virginia.   We believe that campaigns should be about issues and ideas, and we are determined to keep our focus on the things that matter most to Virginia's families.

For example, we have introduced detailed plans to help get our economy moving again and create jobs, restore fiscal integrity to state government, make Virginia the leading energy producing state on the East Coast, improve access and affordability in higher education, promote open and honest government, solve our state's  transportation challenges, and more.

Today, we turn our attention once again to education, because we know that education is our most strategic investment in the future.

In order to provide our children with the educational opportunities they need to succeed in the global marketplace of the 21st century, we know that we have to make an increasing financial investment in public education.  We have records of doing that and we will continue to do that.

For example, during my ten years in the State Senate I supported total increases of $1.6B in additional funding for our public schools, and as Lieutenant Governor I made the ruling that prevented almost $65M in lottery profits form being redirected from public education and to other government programs.

And in this campaign, Bob McDonnell and I have made clear that we will continue to support full funding for Virginia's Standards of Quality.  In a McDonnell/Bolling administration, we will continue to make an increasing financial investment in our public schools.

But we also know that how we spend the money is just as important as how much money we spend, and we are concerned by the fact that almost 40% of our current educational budgets go to support the central office bureaucracy, as opposed to the quality of education in the classroom, and that has to change.

We are living in a time when government, just like families and businesses, has to learn to do more with less.  That means that we have be very careful about how we spend our money and we have to make certain that we spend our money on the things that matter most.

When we spend money in the central office we get a bigger bureaucracy.  When we spend money in the classroom we get a better education for our children.

By increasing the average percentage of classroom spending from 61% to 65% we can redirect $484M a year in existing educational funding from the central office to the classroom, and that will help improve the quality of the educational opportunities for our children.

Spending more money in the classroom will enable us to increase teacher pay, so we can attract and retain the best possible teachers in the classroom.  We all know that there is a direct correlation between the quality of the teacher in the classroom and quality of the education our children receive.

By spending more money in the classroom we can also hire more teachers and teachers assistants and reduce class sizes, providing our children with a more personalized approach to education.

And be spending more money in the classroom we can modernize textbooks and technology, tools that help our children learn in 21st century way.

Who knows, by spending more money in the classroom we may also be able to provide teachers with basic classroom supplies so their not expected to pay for these supplies on their own.

Improving the educational opportunities we provide to our children will be a top priority in the McDonnell/Bolling administration.  We will do that by increasing our financial support for our public schools and making certain that we spend our educational dollars more effectively.

Our goal should be simple, to provide our children with a first class, world class education - an education that will give them the skills they need to compete in the global marketplace of the 21st century. 

We are determined to do whatever it takes to accomplish this important goal, and our commitment to increase classroom spending by almost a half a billion dollars a year is just one way in which we will accomplish this goal.

We look forward to working with administrators, teachers, parents and legislators to make this goal a reality, and improve the educational opportunities that we provide to the sons and daughters of Virginia.