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Based on dialogue on the House floor this afternoon, it’s a 50-50 shot the budget will be agreed upon in time by conferees and printed for a vote tomorrow. It may go to Sunday. Even into next week. Which gives us time to renew our call for no new or additional fees or taxes.

However, according to news reports this morning, there may be some backtracking on cutting the much over bloated education spending. Of course, the VEA is making wild claims about thousands of teachers losing their jobs. It must be noted, however, that spending on K-12 education in Virginia has increased 60 percent over the last 10 years while enrollment in public schools has increased only 7.2 percent. In 2004, the General Assembly infused public education with more than a billion dollars in additional funding — remember that tax increase? — with no reforms, and every two years the antiquated funding formula guarantees one billion dollars in extra taxpayer money into public education.

Interestingly, The Family Foundation participated in a poll last year with last year with renown Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, and found that a majority of Virginians vastly underestimate the amount of money Virginia spends per pupil on public education. While most thought it was less than $6,000, in fact it is in excess of $11,000 per student!

During the last budget process, as everyone recognized that we were in a deep economic recession, the General Assembly passed a budget based on then-Governor Tim Kaine’s projection of significant increases in revenue. Such a notion was rightly dismissed as foolish by some legislators, but a budget laden with spending based on the fictitious numbers passed anyway. Now, we’re paying the price in the form of a $4 billion deficit because even though the revenue was projected, the spending was real — Virginia’s budget is based on estimated revenue, not actual receipts. So when the real money never showed up . . .

Yet, we’re being told by some, we have to pay for their mistakes. The only one who should pay a price in this situation are those who spent the money — not those who supplied it. Tell your delegates and senators not to increase taxes and “fees” in the budget, and to cut its excessive spending to the levels of real revenue.

If you know who they are, you can get their contact info here for delegates and here for senators. If you don’t know who your delegate and senator are, click here.

Earlier in the week we vividly showed how the obstinate the  education reform is to education reform, freedom and choice (see here). Also last week, in a much less publicized action, the Senate killed a modest bill, HB 76 — watered down from its original incarnation thanks to the educrat establishment, which amends, amends then kills then stomps the remains to death — patroned by Delegate Dickie Bell (R-20, Staunton), a public school teacher. The vote in the Senate Education and Health Committee was 14-1, but its fate was sealed last week when an Ed and Health sub-committee voted 4-1 not to recommend it.

The bill, had it become law, would begin the process of moving Virginia’s government-run schools toward spending 65 percent of their budgets in the classroom and to pare down central office administrative waste. However, sub-committee members Mamie Locke (D-2, Hampton) and Janet Howell (D-32, Fairfax) and every educrat organization in Virginia, such as the VEA and the Virginia School Boards Association, lambasted the bill as “undermining public education,” despite the fact it would improve education by putting more money into instruction, as several states have with great success — and waste less on administrative overhead and bureaucracy. Only Senator Frank Ruff (R-15, Clarksville) spoke in favor of the bill and made a motion to save it, but could not get the necessary second, even from fellow Republican, and sub-committee chairman, Senator Harry Blevins (R-14, Chesapeake), who is the chair by a quirk in Senate rules. Senator Ruff was the only dissenting vote in the full committee, as well.

Liberals like to call conservatives and negative, lacking in creativity and vision, always saying “no.” We ask, when are liberals going to stop reflexively saying no to reform and what are their suggestions (except more money for the status quo)? Do they really think the current education system is working as is?

As Virginia’s statewide campaign winds down, it’s a time for reflection . . . what’s been your favorite gaffe moment? There are many, to be sure. But we took the painstaking task of narrowing it down to seven. Creigh Deeds and Jody Wagner star in three each. All but one are below in video or audio form, and there’s a link to our original report for the other. If you need a refresher, feel free to review them again — or watch/listen/read them again for old times sake and a good laugh. Or, if they are burned indelibly into your mind, vote straightaway. If you have another nominee, feel free to cast a write-in vote in our comments section. However, as tempting as it is, votes for the Deeds, Wagner or Shannon campaigns as a whole are not allowed. It’s just not fair. Feel free to forward or share this link (especially to undecided voters).

The Deeds Dodge on taxes.

Marriage should be between a man and a woman except you shouldn’t discriminate against same-sex couples.

I feel strongly both ways on the public option.

Steve Shannon’s “Jeopardy!” moment. Where’s Alex to make him answer?

Jody Wagner will have a lot of time to spend looking for the Lt. Governor’s Mansion.

AUDIO CLIP (8:34): Jody Wagner’s Rambling “Let’s Be Clear” Interview With WRVA’s Jimmy Barrett (click here).

BLOG POST: Jody Wagner Sticking With A VEA Accusation Against Bill Bolling That Even The VEA Retracted And Apologized For (read here).

Annotations & Elucidations 

The Non-Endorsement Edition

The news is just as Doug Wilder likes it — about him. It’s practically sucked out the news cycle any mention of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce endorsement of Bob McDonnell and the Virginia Fraternal of Police endorsement of the entire GOP ticket. The latter merited a picture and a sentence in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, buried in an article all about Our Doug’s announcement. Even the New York Times wrote about it! Elsewhere, Jody Wagner continues to miscalculate and delegate races are heating up. Oh, and surprise! The VEA is attacking Bob McDonnell.

News:

Wilder on Deeds: That’s not ‘leadership’ (Washington Times)

Wilder declines to endorse Deeds (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Former governor refrains from endorsing Deeds (Roanoke Times)

Wilder Declines to Endorse Anyone for Governor (Washington Post)

Governor candidates spar over economic plans (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot)

Virginia Teachers Union Blasts McDonnell in TV Ads (Washington Post)

Bolling, Wagner clash over rules of debate, Va. Budget (Northern Virginia Daily)

Landes, Marrow Get Personal (Harrisonburg Daily News-Record)

Lesinski criticizes Gilbert for failing to create more jobs (Northern Virginia Daily) 

GOP Takes Page From Democrats in N.Va. House Races (Washington Post)

National News:

Wilder Balks at Endorsing Deeds in Va. Race (New York Times The Caucus Blogs)

Analysis:

Two Groups of Women Help Put the Race Into Focus (Jennifer Agiesta and Sandhya Somashekhar/Washington Post)

For perhaps the first time in this entire campaign, Creigh Deeds today stated very succinctly the primary difference in economic philosophy between statists (sometimes referred to as “liberals”) and conservatives. At a meeting with business leaders in Richmond, Deeds said, “When you create a job, you create a taxpayer.”

Note that the first thing Deeds sees when someone gets a new job is an opportunity to TAX them! One can almost see him salivating at the potential for more money in the state coffers to spend to keep the unions and to the VEA neutralized. 

Conservatives, on the other hand, see a new job as an opportunity for someone to feed and take care of their families, a chance to make a better life for themselves and their loved ones, a step toward the American dream, a place to learn and develop a skill to be able to advance to even better employment opportunity, and a means to give philanthropically to their church and favorite charities to better society.

Finally, a clear statement from Mr. Deeds. Too bad for him that it reveals his true philosophy.

Annotations & Elucidations 

AP Truth Squad, Distilling Pelosi

After yesterday’s super-sized edition, much of today’s news is of the national variety, including some spot-on commentary. Among the most eye-catching articles are one in which the Census Bureau reports on the change in lifestyle brought on by the recession, including the delay of marriage; a Muslim girl who ran away from her parents because she converted to Christianity will have her day in court; and Florida school officials are cleared in a case brought by the ACLU over a meal blessing.

Elsewhere, the AP comes out with its second fact check in two weeks disputing claims coming directly from President Obama’s golden tongue (see first one here). Yes, Mr. President, your “reform” is a giant tax increase, even if you can get David Letterman to believe otherwise. The AP better watch itself if it keeps reporting the truth. Thomas Sowell writes about facing advantages and disadvantages in life by recounting his own upbringing. Truly inspirational and a must read.

Bryan Fischer examines the dirty connection between the National Education Association and ACORN. If you are a NEA/VEA member and still need a reason to leave this union, please take a look (or forward to someone who does)! Bobby Eberle, Jeremy Wiggins and Dick Morris take more looks at Obamacare, but from different angles (economic, medical and political); while David Limbaugh looks at the administration’s ambition to ram through legislation so vastly opposite the desires of the country. Finally, Eberle and Wiggins distill Nancy Pelosi’s crocodile tears.

News:

Bolling touts jobs during visit here (The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

New ads by Deeds use foe’s ‘89 thesis (Roanoke Times)

New Deeds ad wagers big on McDonnell’s 1989 thesis (The Daily Press)

Dems critique Hamilton’s spot on money committee (The Daily Press)

National News:

Census: Recession had sweeping impact on US life (AP/GOPUSA.com)

Political asylum suggested as remedy for Rifqa (OneNewsNow.com)

Obama, Clinton fundraiser indicted (AP/GOPUSA.com)

Senators to start work on revised health care bill (AP/GOPUSA.com)

Senators urge Treasury to end bailout program (AP/GOPUSA.com)

School Officials Cleared in Mealtime Prayer Case (Tasha Easterling/Rightly Concerned Blog)

Analysis:

FACT CHECK: Coverage requirement enforced with tax (AP/GOPUSA.com)

Commentary:

The Underdogs (Thomas Sowell/GOPUSA.com) 

Obama At Odds With Majority But Undeterred (David Limbaugh/GOPUSA.com)

NEA: Big time supporter of ACORN (Bryan Fischer/Rightly Concerned Blog)

Yes, Mr. President . . . It’s a TAX! (Bobby Eberle/GOPUSA.com)

The Cost of Government Health Care — For Doctors (Jeremy Wiggins/Rightly Concerned Blog)

Obamacare: Losing Everyone  (Dick Morris/GOPUSA.com)

Pelosi ‘Frightened’ by Free Speech (Bobby Eberle/GOPUSA.com)

Pelosi’s Crocodile Tears (Jeremy Wiggins/Rightly Concerned Blog)

Our friends at the VEA must know in their hearts that the end is near. For ages they’ve been sticking to their deceptive yet effective message that school choice will “drain money from public schools,” but as choice proponents have been proving the opposite is true (see Thomas Jefferson Institute), anti-choicers are starting to become unhinged.

Enter VEA President Kitty Boitnott. Always good for an off the wall remark, Ms. Boitnott was recently quoted as saying concerning the school choice movement, “I really believe there is an underlying bigotry at the bottom of it all” (see Richmond Times-Dispatch).

Here we go again. If you support anything, anything that isn’t government owned and operated, you must be a bigot, a racist, a “fill in the blank.” So, if you favor allowing children to attend the school of their parent’s choice, the one that fits their needs best, the one that provides the best opportunity for their success, well of course your a bigot. I mean come on, its sooooo obvious.

Note to Ms. Boitnott: The children that are benefiting from every school choice program in existence in the nation are from minority neighborhoods!!! The scholarship programs, the tax credits, the, dare I say, vouchers, that are available in other states and the District of Columbia are helping minority kids!!! 

I guess in Ms Boitnott’s convoluted world, providing an opportunity for a child in an urban area that is not government owned and operated is bigotry. Of course, in a post-modern world where words have no absolute meaning, such a proclamation is widely accepted. Bigotry is now defined as providing opportunity.

No wonder the VEA can’t seem to read. They simply don’t know the real meaning of words.

Oh, boy, this is too funny and the headline possibilities are endless. Feel free to suggest some on your own. This is what’s gone down since Monday involving the Virginia Education Association Fund and the lieutenant governor’s campaign:

On Monday, the VEA Fund president, Kitty Boitnott, issued a statement announcing that organization’s endorsement of Democrat Jody Wagner over Republican incumbent Bill Bolling. Big surprise there, huh? In the endorsement, Dr. Boitnott wrote this about the lieutenant governor’s record when he was in the Virginia Senate:

Lieutenant Governor Bolling had a 49.66% VEA voting record in his ten regular sessions and two special sessions in the Senate of Virginia. Notable votes include:

• Voted against paying Virginia’s teachers the national average salary (2004 – SB 1285)

Uhhh, small problem with that . . . as in, there was no SB 1285 in 2004. There was a SB 1285 in 2005, however, to raise teacher salaries, but . . .

Ooooops! . . .

Bolling voted . . .

For it!

You know, it’s not real hard to read the vote totals of a General Assembly vote — especially when it was adopted unanimously! You see, they have one line for all the “Yeas” and another for all the “Neas” (see here.) When all names are listed in the “Yeas” and none are listed in the “Neas,” it’s pretty difficult to misread that.

Yesterday, the VEA Fund issued a correction by e-mail, but it’s not posted on its Web site (unless it’s in an out of the way place), while the original news release with the incorrect information remains. But, like all good comedies, there’s more. The desperate Wagner campaign immediately jumped on the news release and began touting the incorrect information. As of a few minutes ago the VEA Fund’s release, with the incorrect claim about Lieutenant Governor Bolling’s record, remained prominently in place on Wagner’s home page — without a correction.

We already knew Wagner couldn’t do math — as Governor Tim Kaine’s finance secretary she consistently missed revenue projections that have led to a cumulative budget deficit of around $6 billion, and required several in-year cuts. (As of yesterday, per the governor himself, another $1.5 billion in cuts will be announced in September, and the fiscal year only began on July 1.) But now, apparently, her campaign is proving equally inept at fact checking because it’s being led by an organization for teachers that can’t read.

Yesterday,we reported on the VEA’s proud go-along at the NEA national convention endorsing same-sex marriage (see here). Instead of concetrating on issues that matter to teachers and improving education, the VEA has endorsed advocating a radical left-wing policy in contradiction of the Virginia Constitution and statutory law.

The president of the VEA, Dr. Kitty J. Boitnott, responded to our post with a long comment on the thread stating that our take on the VEA/NEA position wasn’t exactly what the convention meant with its lock-step adoption of the radical homosexual agenda. She goes on about “social justice.” What any of this has to do with teaching clearly is beyond most parents’ concerns for their children’s education. 

Not only is the  homosexual marriage resolution contrary to the views of a majority of Virginians, she did not answer our concern about whether the VEA, with this policy position, now will encourage its member teachers to ignore the new traditional marriage guidelines to the Family Life Education curriculum. A true conflict of interest now is on the record.

Adopting a radical agenda contrary to Virginia law. Wasting time on matters completely non-germane to education. A significant conflict of interest.

We report. You decide. Below is the resolution:

NEA Representative Assembly New Business Items (NBIs)
NEW BUSINESS ITEM E
ADOPTED

“Resolutions B-13 (Racism, Sexism, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identification Discrimination) and I-13 (Civil Rights) set forth NEA’s opposition to the discriminatory treatment of same-sex couples and its belief that such couples should have the same legal rights and benefits as similarly-situated heterosexual couples. The Legislative Program is in accord: NEA supports “obtaining, preserving, and strengthening basic civil and human rights under law,” and specifically calls for “passage of a federal statute prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.” Section IV(b). In implementation of the foregoing policies, the Representative Assembly adopts the following action plan with regard to same-sex couples:

1. NEA will support its affiliates seeking to enact state legislation that guarantees to same-sex couples the right to enter into a legally recognized relationship pursuant to which they have the same rights and benefits as similarly-situated heterosexual couples, including, without limitation, rights and benefits with regard to medical decisions, taxes, inheritance, adoption, and immigration.

2. NEA does not believe that a single term must be used to designate this legally recognized “equal treatment” relationship, and recommends that each state decide for itself whether “marriage,” “civil union,” “domestic partnership,” or some other term is most appropriate based upon the cultural, social, and religious values of its citizenry.

3. NEA will support its affiliates in opposing state constitutional and/or statutory provisions that could have the effect of prohibiting the state and its political subdivisions from providing the same rights and benefits to same-sex couples as are provided to similarly-situated heterosexual couples.

4. NEA will take such actions as may be appropriate to support efforts to (a) repeal any federal legislation and/or regulations that discriminate against same-sex couples, and (b) enact federal legislation and/or regulations that treat same-sex couples and similarly-situated heterosexual couples equally with regard to social security, health care, taxation, and other federal rights and benefits.

5. NEA recognizes that the term “marriage” has religious connotations and that same-sex marriages may not be compatible with the beliefs, values, and/or practices of certain religions. Because of its support for the separation of church and state and the right to religious freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, NEA supports the right of religious institutions to refuse to perform or recognize same-sex marriages.

The Executive Committee will monitor the implementation of this New Business Item, and keep NEA affiliates informed of actions taken to achieve its objectives.”

Last week, we posted a commentary that related a breaking national news story to a previous post about two Family Life Education reforms we helped get passed and signed into law, and which took effect July 1. The national news story concerned the National Education Association convention, at which it and its member chapters — including the Virginia Education Association — considered adopting a resolution supporting homosexual marriage.

Now, it’s official. The NEA and its VEA subsidiary voted to endorse the resolution supporting national and state efforts to enact same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits. But the VEA Web site omits this resolution, while listing issues such as “reducing the dropout rates, properly managing charter schools, controlling infectious diseases in schools, providing resources for boosting teacher quality, protecting substitute teachers, and expanding opportunities for preschool education.”

Apparently, when VEA delegation leaders were asked to support a resolution that took no position on same-sex marriage issues, they refused, saying that teachers in Virginia know the issues the VEA is involved with and support them.

Aside from this obnoxious presumption, this means every public school teacher member of the VEA is sending his or her dues money to efforts to bring homosexual-sex marriage to our nation and commonwealth, despite the clear decisions by the General Assembly and Virginia voters to protect marriage. (Remember, homosexual marriage is banned in Virginia by statute and the constitution.)

This latest NEA/VEA absurdity follows a long history of extremist liberal advocacy. Last fall the VEA made news when it urged teachers to participate in “Obama Blue Day” and encouraged voting age students to vote for Barack Obama for president.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Pro-family teachers in Virginia have an alternative professional organization that provides similar resources as the VEA — some even better  — without the embarrassing political baggage:

Virginia Professional Educators offers better insurance policies and other benefits without supporting liberal causes and candidates. In fact, it doesn’t support causes or candidates.

So, if you are a teacher who feels forced, coerced or peer-pressured to join or remain a member of the VEA, we urge you to look into VPE.

The only way to ensure the VEA is unsuccessful is to defund it. In several states, alternative teacher organizations affiliated with VPE have more members than those states’ NEA branches.

As long as teachers continue to send dues to the VEA, they will hire the 40-plus lobbyists they send to Richmond every General Assembly session (not to mention allied organizations and educrat establishment), where they undermine school choice efforts, push for higher taxes, and seek to promote abortion and destroy marriage, rather than advocate for better education.

If you are a teacher, we implore you to either demand the VEA cease to advocate for these extreme causes or join an alternative organization. Last week we wrote this about the impending vote to support homosexual marriage at the NEA convention:

Not exactly what most parents expect from teachers. Most expect them to educate their children. Not indoctrinate them. If, in fact, the NEA goes on record supporting this nonsense, we will watch with a very interested eye as to how its Virginia members treat the new FLE marriage curriculum and whether the administration enforces its implementation as the law now says.

As you can see, we’ve already started. We hope all fair minded teachers will do the same.