Saxman: McDonnell steadfast on education

Increasing the number of charter schools and enacting a plan to funnel two-thirds of state secondary education money into classrooms will be priorities for Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell in the upcoming session of the General Assembly, transition officials said Tuesday.

Snaring federal money for charter schools and making Virginia more attractive to charter operators – a move that likely will require a change in state law – will be key steps, said Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton, co-chairman of McDonnell’s K-12 transition team. Former Chesterfield County Superintendent Bill Bosher is the other co-chairman.

During the past month, those two have met with education stakeholders from across the commonwealth. The state budgets are thin, but federal money for charter schools under an initiative by Democratic President Barack Obama, could help the state lure charters here, Saxman said.

“Obama is putting out hundreds of millions for charter schools and we can bring down a lot of those federal dollars,’’ Saxman said.

There are hurdles. A recent study labeled Virginia’s charter school law the nation’s second weakest. Just four charter schools operate in Virginia, among the lowest totals nationwide.

“We have to set up a framework to have them come,” Saxman said.

School boards currently determine whether to allow charter schools. Critics say that’s a problem because public school boards have a vested interest in blocking charters.

Changes to the law to allow charter developers greater independence from public schools might not happen without a fight.

Kitty Boitnott, president of the Virginia Education Association, has said the state charter school law is constitutional and appropriate.

And she has questioned in interviews and opinion pieces whether charter schools really work.

“We owe it to our students to provide the highest quality climate as opposed to opening up the front door and calling it a charter school,’’ Boitnott told The News Virginian earlier this month.

Still, McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said, the incoming administration is committed to changing both public school funding formulas and the lowly status of charter schools in Virginia.

The governor-elect “will act on both issues during this upcoming session of the General Assembly,” Martin said. “Resources are limited in Richmond. That means priority must be given to the policies and programs that are of the greatest benefit to Virginia’s children, parents and teachers. Getting more money into the classroom, and out of administration, and providing more educational options for public school students, are both smart uses of limited state dollars.”

Saxman said it will be a challenge to realize McDonnell’s vision of funneling 65 percent of K-12 funding to the classrooms. It will take operational creativity to put more money into classrooms, he said.

In addition to meeting with superintendents and groups such as the Virginia School Boards Association and Virginia Education Association, McDonnell’s transition team has looked at various K-12 programs and departments.

A longtime proponent of charter schools and a former schoolteacher, Saxman is sanguine about McDonnell’s chances to alter public school spending and charter school law. He cites as helpful the state’s education hierarchy, made up of a state-appointed superintendent of public instruction and an appointed board of education.

“We have a system to collaborate,’’ he said. “It is less political than it could be.”

While other states elect public instruction leaders, Virginia’s is nominated by the governor and must be approved by both the state House and Senate.

“That person becomes independent and nonpartisan,’’ Saxman said of the state superintendent. “That person has to exercise independent judgement.”