Gov. Timothy M. Kaine says the number of children in pre-kindergarten classes has grown by nearly 40 percent during his term but that he wanted to do “so much more than that.“ He told Virginia Board of Education members yesterday that if he could run for governor again, he would have and also would have continued efforts to improve education for the state’s more than 1 million students.

Virginia Board of Education members said yesterday that they back creating ratios for the number of state-funded school support staffers to instructional employees. But they do not like the idea of a single ratio for all support employees, a broad category that ranges from nurses to bus drivers to assistant superintendents. This year, state lawmakers agreed with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s plan for a funding cap in 2010 of one support position per 4.03 instructional positions funded through the Standards of Quality, which outline the basic requirements for public education in Virginia.

Virginia Board of Education members indicated today that they support implementing ratios for the number of state-funded school support staff to instructional staff. But what they can’t get behind, they said, is one ratio for all employees in the “support staff” category, which is so broad that it ranges from nurses to bus drivers to assistant superintendents.

Board of Education members are months from telling lawmakers whether they think the state should permanently cap funding for thousands of school support-staff positions. But one board member yesterday indicated that she would favor not limiting the funding, and board President Mark E. Emblidge said he would like to implement a ratio for support employee positions, no matter what the panel decides on the cap.

Books and bus rides to school are free, but parking and lockers could cost you. So say proposed rules hammered out by the Virginia Department of Education in an attempt to clarify what school systems can charge students as part of a public education. The goal is to bring uniformity to the patchwork of fees levied on a range of items in school systems across the state.

The state Board of Education this morning unanimously voted to keep the third grade history and social science SOL test. Several speakers urged the board to keep the test, which has generated lots of discussion about the state’s Standards of Learning system. State Superintendent of Instruction Patricia I. Wright had proposed eliminating the test, but last week withdrew her proposal. The test covers material taught in kindergarten through third grade.

Virginia schools will soon have to hit a graduation benchmark just as they do for academics in order to earn accreditation. The state’s Board of Education approved linking graduation rates to school accreditation yesterday—a major step in their effort to boost the number of students completing high school. It places Virginia in the front wave of about 10 states that include graduation or dropout rates in their accountability system, according to Daria Hall, director of K-12 policy with The Education Trust, a nonprofit think tank.

Virginia’s public schools could soon have to meet graduation benchmarks just as they do for academics to earn accreditation, depending on the outcome of a state Board of Education vote expected tomorrow. “This is a big change; this is a significant addition to our accountability program,“ said Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle.

State lawmakers don’t want special-education students in Virginia to lose their one year to appeal a due-process hearing decision, so they are trying to write it into law. The move circumvents the Virginia Board of Education, which voted on broad changes to the state’s special-education regulations in September, bringing many of them in line with federal practices. Federal regulations provide 90 days to appeal due-process hearing decisions, a policy the state board voted to adopt.

Some area high schools and colleges are teaching students how to handle their money. But should economic education be part of Virginia’s Standards of Learning?

Reading the writing on the wall, Virginia’s Board of Education said yesterday that it would not ask the cash-strapped General Assembly for more money for the Standards of Quality, a guide for what constitutes a basic education.