The Virginia Education Association has launched a new website, Support Virginia Schools, in which they compare the records of the gubernatorial candidates on education. The site also includes two petitions: one to “tell McDonnell to pick a new direction” for his past opposition to school funding and the other to “say ‘thank you’ to Creigh Deeds” for his past support.
A new TV commercial, which mentions these items and points to the website, has also begun to air in the Richmond and Hampton Roads markets.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
The NEA has an interesting choice of words:
“drain millions away from public schools”
“hurt our schools”
“take much needed funds away from public schools and gives them to private interests.”
What “private interests”? Students.
Most private school teachers are paid LESS than public school teachers, and most private schools are non-profit. Furthermore, the vouchers offered would be less than the average cost of a public school education, leaving more money per pupil in the public schools.
Kids get a better education in private schools. The cost to the government is less, leaving more money for those who remain. It reduces class sizes in public schools.
What’s not to like?
Oh, right, private schools aren’t unionized.
And another thing…
If our teachers are more educated than the average, our schools are better than average and improving, and “Virginia schools have highly qualified teachers and small class sizes in the early grades,” why the push to spend more money on teacher salaries and smaller class sizes?