Superintendents Brace For Education Cuts

By Peter Granitz

The superintendent of Fairfax county public schools will join others in Richmond today to tell new Virginia governor Bob McDonnell how more cuts will affect students.

Former governor Tim Kaine proposed cutting more than a billion dollars from public education. Superintendents are bracing for what could be the tightest year in education in recent history.

Andy Stamp, the associate executive director of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, calls this a doomsday budget. His group surveyed superintendents and found that more than eighty percent say they'll increase student teacher ratios.

He says delaying some state mandates like new graduation requirements could soften the blow.

"It's to try and provide more programs and services that help students. We're not able to afford those at this point. And we're saying If we do have to implement those requirements, then something's got to give. We no longer have any room here at all," says Stamp.

Stamp says his group also hopes the general assembly will block school voucher bills this session that he says will drain the education budget even further.