Kaine Seeks $79.5 Million for Education

Higher Salaries for Teachers Would Come From Budget Surplus

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine proposed increases in state funding yesterday to raise teacher pay, expand publicly funded preschool and help students struggling with reading and mathematics.

Kaine (D) wants to add $64 million to help fund a 3 percent raise for teachers, $8 million for programs to help elementary students with reading and middle-schoolers with math and about $7.5 million for the first phase of his preschool initiative.

"These are relatively modest but targeted investments designed to support teachers and help academically at-risk students and strengthen our focus on early education," said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the governor's office. "The governor believes that it's the highest priority and responsibility of government to educate our young people."

Kaine said he will release his complete budget proposal Friday as lawmakers prepare to consider spending changes midway through the state's two-year budget cycle. According to recent revenue projections, the General Assembly will review how to spend an estimated $550 million surplus in the fiscal 2007-08 budget, which exists because the state's economy, particularly in Northern Virginia, remains strong.

House GOP leaders said they support the 3 percent teacher pay raise. But House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said the other elements of Kaine's package need review because lawmakers are under pressure to find solutions to other problems, including Virginia's congested roads.

"These all sound on the face like great projects, but I have to see the whole package the governor is going to put out," Griffith said. "There are a lot of folks who feel like . . . new money should go to solving the state's transportation issues."

Funding for transportation improvements has been the focus of a stalemate between Kaine and Republican leaders in the House of Delegates. GOP House leaders blocked Kaine's plans this year to raise taxes to fund more transportation projects.

House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) announced Monday that the House Republican Caucus has pledged to commit at least half of the surplus to transportation funding.

Kaine, who plans to unveil his transportation initiatives Friday, dismissed Howell's proposal yesterday.

"My response is, actually, I don't respond," Kaine said in a meeting with reporters. "I propose and they respond."

Underscoring the partisan tensions, Griffith laughed when told of Kaine's comment. "Then why did we have a special session on transportation?" Griffith asked, referring to a three-day session in September that failed to break the stalemate. "He didn't propose anything. The bottom line is, we have to work together."

Kaine is pushing lawmakers to earmark $7.5 million for his Start Strong plan, which would expand access to publicly funded preschool.

Virginia offers preschool to about 27,000 disadvantaged children. The governor eventually wants to make publicly funded preschool available to all of the roughly 100,000 4-year-olds in the state, regardless of family income.

Proposed funding for Start Strong would include $4.6 million to launch a handful of pilot projects aimed at increasing the number of children enrolled in preschool and building partnerships between the state and private providers. An additional $2.9 million would be used to create a system to rate preschool effectiveness.

In addition to transportation and education, Kaine said he plans to focus heavily on health-care reform initiatives during the rest of his term.

Kaine pointed to recent state and federal studies that show that the state continues to excel in such areas as fiscal management and education but is slipping on measures of childhood obesity, access to health care and the number of uninsured residents.

"We are not doing so well compared to other states," said Kaine, who noted that one in seven Virginia residents lacks health insurance. "I meet people every day who don't have health insurance, who pay state taxes to buy me health insurance," he said.