Current Event #2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/03/AR2009100301421.html

In Virginia, further budget cuts threaten to make class sizes larger, shorten library hours, lengthen bus routes, and overwork teachers. These are all challenges that the next Virginia governor has to face. The recession only magnifies the challenges already present when you're in a state with 1,800 public schools and 1.2 million students. A new urgency to reduce the drop-out rate intesifies the struggle to do more with less. Fairfax county's superintendent is considering cutting summer school, closing some schools, and increasing class size to account for the $176 million budget cut for next year.

State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D) has supported school funding for a long time. This record helped him earn the backing of the Virginia Education Association. His campaign has criticized Robert McDonnell's plans for funding transportation fixes through the general fund, nearly half of which goes to public schools. Even though Deeds and McDonnell have opposing plans for Virginia, they both support Obama's charter school plan.