In a piece on Virginia’s pension system, and whether the state’s lack of public employee unions makes a difference in how that system is funded, the Washington Post’s Roz Helderman unearths a gem:
Robley Jones, a lobbyist for the Virginia Education Association, whose members include about half of state teachers, said the lack of a union helps explain why Virginia spends less on education — both in teacher pay and in per pupil spending — than other states, though it is comparatively wealthy.
So there you have it: if Virginia’s teachers were unionized, the state would spend more money on kids and teachers. That’s interesting. But consider that, according to that gold-standard of nonpartisan truth-finding, Politifact, the state has been spending buckets of cash on education. In evaluating a statement from Gov. McDonnell on the rate of increase, Politifact’s solons said:
According to the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, education spending from state sources has climbed 36.2 percent in the past 10 years. During that period, the number of K-12 students in Virginia has climbed 6.3 percent.
When you consider inflation over the last decade — which the governor did not — new spending slightly more doubled growth in enrollment. Much of that increase came from new Standards of Learning requirements that McDonnell strongly supported as a legislator.
Strip away the dross and we discover that spending has out-paced enrollment. It’s enough to make one wonder what spending multiple the VEA — were its members unionized — would demand instead. Three times? Ten times?
Mercifully, for taxpayers, we may never know. But in the interim, we will be able to count on the VEA to do everything it can to stymie the one thing that would ensure a better educational experience for more Virginia kids: school choice. On that count, the VEA hasn’t needed union muscle to win the day because they have been able to count on the nearly unified backing of state Democrats, plus a bit of hedging from state Republicans.
Part of the way they are able to do that is through political donations. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, over the last two election cycles the VEA has handed out around $200,000 to various candidates, with 81 percent of their cash going to Democrats.
While this largesse pales in comparison to the really big hitters in Virginia politics (Dominion gave over $600,000 to Virginia pols in 2010 alone…yes, being at regulated utility can be quite pricey), one is left to wonder just how much the VEA’s numbers would change if it was a strong union that could command even greater resources from its members. In that scenario, it’s likely the VEA would contest with Dominion for top donation honors.
But it would all be for the kids, rather than the political ends of the union and its client politicians, right?
