Virginia Beach School Board and Wisconsin

By Brian Kirwin | Saturday, February 26th, 2011 | Policy

Nothing’s sadder than seeing elected officials playing baseball by cricket rules.

There is still a battle over sitting school surpluses in Virginia Beach, with the teacher brigades pinning their hopes on a PR effort to “protect the children.”

Nice strategy, if it was 1970.

Dick Morris has a poll regarding the current Wisconsin budget battle, in which the most vocal opponents have been the teachers’ unions. This is a poll of Wisconsin voters.

• By 74-18, they back making state employees pay more for their health insurance.
• By 79-16, they support asking state workers contribute more toward their pensions.
• By 54-34, Wisconsin voters support ending the automatic deduction of union dues from state paychecks and support making unions collect dues from each member.
• By 66-30, they back limiting state workers’ pay increases to the rate of inflation unless voters approve a higher raise by a public referendum.

Wisconsin voters oppose the proposal to limit collective bargaining 41-54, but support merit pay and ending tenure to the tune of 58-38.

And this is in Wisconsin, no bastion of conservatism or tea parties. Wisconsin hasn’t voted for a Republican President in 27 years.

What do you think those opinions would be like in a poll of Virginia Beach, in a state that is already right-to-work?

There has been a noticeable shift in the public’s appetite for budget cuts. The old poll numbers for education, and people’s often limitless support for spending, has hit a ceiling.

Virginia Beach is still haggling with how to fund schools this year, with a current formula directing over 51% of 6 major revenues streams to schools. If the School Board doesn’t use it, they can lose it and, of course, they don’t want to.

City Council, facing likely proposals from the City Manager to raise real estate taxes to match recent drops in assessments and a possible trash fee, is having trouble deciding whether to keep the funding formula unchanged when student enrollment is down.

A proposal to keep the formula as is and send Council $14.5 million of the $90 million the School Board has sitting in reserves got so little support among Council members that it was pulled before it could be voted down.

What next?

By the book, whatever City Council wants. They have the power to take unspent school funds and make the formula whatever they want, or do away with it altogether. Since the School Board doesn’t raise the revenue, the only power they have is public opinion.

The Wisconsin debate has given us all the opportunity to note that they may not even have that.

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