Letters to the Editor, Cont’d: Idea Is Good; Where Is Money?

Idea Is Good; Where Is Money?
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds has the right mindset on his Virginia Forward scholarship program: rewarding students who have received good grades throughout high school. This would be a great thing to implement if we were not in such a huge state deficit and federal recession.

Where will the money come from to pay these scholarships? I don't think there currently is enough money to cover every student of Chesterfield County who has a B average, let alone the entire state.

Also, it is often the students who have an average of B and above who have the support of their family to get to college. What about the students who are performing below average? Where will they be in a few years, as programs are cut in the elementary schools and class sizes get bigger and bigger?

Candidate Bob McDonnell at least asks for an increase in "affordability and accessibility" by the state colleges. He appears to know where the money needs to be spent -- in the area of creating jobs.

I don't think Deeds thought enough about where the money should be spent in education before he began making promises that he probably can't keep.

Brennan M. McCoy
Moseley.

Bob McDonnell's plans (as of now) are not providing any room for the advancement and stimulation of childrens' minds. College graduates should have more book knowledge than those who have graduated only high school, and should be able to transfer that to homeschooling. And let's face it, these days the only thing standardized tests are looking for is a student's ability to retain information and spit it back out.

Creigh Deeds' support of smaller class sizes tends to make for smarter children. A smaller teacher-to-student ratio gives increased attention to those struggling and those succeeding in public schools.

So on Election Day, the smart choice for governor is Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds, whose education plans won't leave kids in the dust.

Skyler Byrd
Chesterfield.

Creigh Deeds has stated that the gas tax, which sits at 17.5 cents per gallon now, is a possible tax to be increased. McDonnell on the other hand, plans to go ahead with the 2011 plan for Virginia to be the first state on the Eastern seaboard to explore off-shore drilling. This off-shore drilling has been predicted not only to decrease the cost of gas greatly, but an Old Dominion professor predicted the plan would produce 2,784 new jobs over a 10-year period.

This plan will provide jobs and decrease fuel costs. There is no reason why this plan isn't a positive plan for Virginia and its economy.

Ethan Wiggins.
Midlothian.