Kaine Pushes for Pre-K Plan, Closing Gun Show Loophole, etc.

By: Lowell
Published On: 12/5/2007 7:38:09 AM

Following the Democratic takeover of the Virginia State Senate, Gov. Kaine has ambitious plans for 2008.  At a reporters forum yesterday in Richmond, "Kaine said...that the state's budget troubles won't stop him from pursuing his signature education proposal: expansion of pre-kindergarten programs." That's the good news; this is an important program and a great investment in Virginia's children.  

Now, the not-so-good news:  Kaine "proposes financing this initiative through spending cuts and dipping into the state's rainy-day fund to close a $641 million shortfall in the current budget."  In other words, other programs -- health care, higher education, the environment, public safety -- will almost certainly be cut (actually, Kaine already announced spending cuts in state agencies) in order to pay for pre-k.   That's not a big surprise, unless you believe the laws of mathematics have been repealed in the Commonwealth.  

The fact is, if you need more money to buy something, you either have to: a) raise more revenues/income; b) cut spending elsewhere; or c) borrow the money.  Maybe I'm just missing something here, but I fail to understand Gov. Kaine's statement that "we've kind of figured out ways to find dollars that should be directed here that do not deprive other key programs of funds."  Huh?

In other news, I'm very happy to see that Gov. Kaine "continues to support a nonpartisan redistricting process," "reforming the payday-loan industry," fixing the abusive driver fees, and also closing the "gun show loophole."  On the latter, Kaine said he would make a "very aggressive" push on that, particularly in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings.  I strongly support him in that effort, as well as in reforming Virginia's mental health system.

Comments



Good for Gov. Kaine! (summercat - 12/5/2007 8:40:11 AM)
I gad begub to wonder if he had dumped the pre-K idea.  Here in FL, there is some kind of voluntary pre-school program that is funded--sadly most of the schools don't get rated highly--but Kaine's people might want to explore. Of course the ideal program for needy populations is full-day and very intense with lots of supportive services.  Don't know if that is the Kaine approach.


Wow Governor (citizenindy - 12/5/2007 10:47:10 AM)
You are halfway to being a fiscal conservative

Now all you have to do is get rid of the stupid rainy fund idea and I could actually support you



Pre-K is a good thing (demdiva - 12/5/2007 12:07:24 PM)
but not at the expense of higher education, which already is among the lowest funded of all the states.

Also Governor Kaine needs to bring in the entire child care community on this -- there is not enough room in the schools for pre-k classes --- so he needs to include in-home child care providers, centers and churches to raise pre-k opportunities and overall child care quality across the board.