Terry McAuliffe on Education Democratic nominee for Governor; previously DNC Chair

Wants more diversity among teachers, provide scholarships

$2 billion to boost teacher pay, expand internet access

Address school segregation; expand pre-school availability

Borrower's Bill of Rights to manage student debt

• Giving Virginians the tools to manage student debt and hold predatory lenders accountable by passing a Borrower's Bill of Rights and creating a state ombudsman for student debt.
• Building on the executive actions my administration is pursuing to cut carbon and create clean energy jobs by becoming the first Southern State to formally join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
• Closing a loophole in our ethics laws by prohibiting the personal use of campaign funds.
• Reducing obstacles to voting by doing away with barriers to absentee voting.

Don't wait until kindergarten to prepare for success

Public education is the backbone of a healthy economy. So let us pledge tonight to avoid acrimony on this topic and agree that we will not cut a single dollar from our schools during this legislative session. We cannot wait until our students reach kindergarten to begin preparing them for success.

Keep students free from coercive religious messaging

• voluntarily pray or engage in religious expression before, during, and after the school day;
• organize prayer groups before, during, and after school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other activities & groups; and
• wear clothing or accessories that displays religious symbols to the same extent that other types of clothing or accessories are permitted.

Legislative Outcome:: Passed Senate 20-18-0, on Jan. 21; passed House 64-34-2, on Feb. 26; vetoed by Gov. McAuliffe on April 7.

We're not doing enough to support our schools

Total funding per student is down even as we've got more and more students entering our system. Only 87% of our kids are graduating high school on time.

As Governor, I will support our kids and our schools. We're going to take the best ideas from around the country and give teachers and administrators the resources and freedom they need to make Virginia a global leader in education

Offer every parent Charter Schools and public school choice.

Create World-Class Public Schools
Now more than ever, quality public education is the key to equal opportunity and upward mobility in America. Yet our neediest children often attend the worst schools. While lifting the performance of all schools, we must place special emphasis on strengthening those institutions serving, and too often failing, low-income students.

To close this achievement and opportunity gap, underperforming public schools need more resources, and above all, real accountability for results. Accountability means ending social promotion, measuring student performance with standards-based assessments, and testing teachers for subject-matter competency.

As we demand accountability, we should ensure that every school has the resources needed to achieve higher standards, including safe and modern physical facilities, well-paid teachers and staff, and opportunities for remedial help after school and during summers. Parents, too, must accept greater responsibility for supporting their children’s education.

We need greater choice, competition, and accountability within the public school system, not a diversion of public funds to private schools that are unaccountable to taxpayers. With research increasingly showing the critical nature of learning in the early years, we should move toward universal access to pre-kindergarten education.

Goals for 2010
• Turn around every failing public school.
• Make charter schools an option in every state and community.
• Offer every parent a choice of public schools to which to send his or her child.
• Make sure every classroom has well-qualified teachers who know the subjects they teach, and pay teachers more for performance.
• Create a safe, clean, healthy, disciplined learning environment for every student.
• Make pre-kindergarten education universally available.