Today’s If You Read the Paper is courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Capital News Service.

Thank those smart, ambitious kids for making your news lean and tasty today.

Teachers Rally for Public School Funding

By Meredith Rigsby
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – A crowd of more than 200 people chanted, “Senate stand firm!” as the last speaker stepped off the podium and into the swarm of Virginia Education Association members and supporters at a Capitol Square rally this week.

The rally, which took place Monday at the Bell Tower on the Capitol grounds, focused on funding for public education in kindergarten through high school. Educators bemoaned budget cuts that public schools have experienced in recent years and said the trend must be reversed.

Ten speakers at the rally urged support for the Senate’s version of the 2012 state budget – instead of the House’s version. The Senate plan would increase funding for public schools.

Teachers rallying in Richmond. (Pic | veanea.org)

The advocates included the presidents of the Virginia NAACP, the Virginia School Boards Association and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.

“We expect education to be the top priority of our legislature and make sure that education gets a fair share,” said Marie Harris-Jones, a Petersburg resident representing two nonprofit groups – JustChildren and the Alliance for Virginia’s Students. “Our children and the long-term health of our community are depending on it.”

At the rally, speakers said budget cuts already have damaged public education in Virginia:
• More than 4,400 positions have been eliminated in the state’s public schools during the past two years.
• Class sizes have increased, reducing the attention each student can receive from the teacher.
• School divisions have been forced to cut programs, eliminate electives and increase student fees.
• Instructional supplies and equipment funding have been cut.
• Per pupil funding has decreased from $5,300 in 2008-09 to $4,500 in 2011-12, a reduction of 15 percent.

Speakers said it’s time to undo the damage, not make it worse.

“You can’t have a good community if you can’t have good schools,” said Edwin Daley, vice president of the Virginia Municipal League.

The General Assembly is amending the state’s budget for the 2012 fiscal year. Gov. Bob McDonnell has requested $5.5 billion for K-12 education. The Senate’s amendments would provide additional funding of more than $100 million for public schools.

In contrast, the budget amendments approved by the House of Delegates would provide about $93 million less than the governor’s proposal. A committee of senators and delegates is negotiating on a final budget.
Besides school funding, speakers turned the crowd’s attention to House Bill 2314 sponsored by Delegate James P. “Jimmie” Massie III, R-Henrico.

The bill would establish a tax credit for corporations that donate to nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships to low-income students to attend non-public elementary and secondary schools.

The VEA and its supporters oppose the bill because they say it would benefit private schools and undermine public schools.

VEA President Kitty Boitnott said the state-assisted scholarships in effect would be vouchers for students to attend private schools.

“When did we last have school vouchers in Virginia?” Boitnott asked. She said the Rev. J. Rayfield Vines Jr., president of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP, “can tell you: in the era of Massive Resistance, when many public schools were closed rather than letting children of color into the classrooms of Virginia.

“Now the House wants a voucher rebirth in Virginia.”

Boitnott called HB 2314 “a school voucher bill in the guise of tuition tax credits, and our governor supports it.”

McDonnell has said that scholarships supported by tax credits would help provide more opportunities for low-income students.

“This tax credit will open the door to new educational opportunities for more of our young people. By incentivizing business leaders to donate to organizations that provide scholarships, we will help our children gain access to new educational opportunities, with no cost to the state,” the governor said last month in laying out his education agenda.

“Education is opportunity, and every student deserves the opportunity of the very best education we can give them.”

Massie agreed, saying, “Too often students aren’t able to reach their full potential because the school they attend is not the best fit and their families can’t afford to send them to a nonpublic school. By providing this tax incentive for employers, we will be able to provide school options for students and their parents, in order for them to get the education they deserve, at no cost to the state.”
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On the Web
The Virginia Education Association’s website is at www.veanea.org
To track or comment on House Bill 2314, visit www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2011/hb2314
To monitor legislative negotiations on the state budget, see http://leg2.state.va.us/MoneyWeb.NSF/sb2011
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VCU Students Lead Event; Speakers Cite Egypt Protests

By Erica Terrini
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – An anti-discrimination rally Monday attracted about 100 protesters to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Monroe Park, where several speakers, including Delegate David Englin, D-Alexandia, cited the protests in Egypt as successful activism.

Supporters later marched to the John Marshall Courts Building. There, they attended a ceremony in which LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) couples requested marriage certifications, were denied and then had their unions blessed by varying religious figures.

The group then marched to the Capitol and spoke with legislators.

The rally was organized by two student organizations – VCU Young Democrats and Queer Action.

Both groups planned a similar event last year after Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asked all Virginia public colleges and universities to exclude sexual orientation from their discrimination policies. Cuccinelli had said that institutions of higher education have no legislative authority to prohibit discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community. Last year’s rally involved hundreds of protestors.

“Last year, Ken Cuccinelli wrote the letter saying that the nondiscrimination policies of these universities of the state of Virginia should not have the right not discriminate against people. How quickly we forget that there is still no law to protect our people,” said Queer Action senior adviser Cameron Hunt, who spoke at last year’s rally and led a march to the Capitol.

Monday’s rally was in support of Senate Bill 747, introduced by Sen. A Donald McEachin, D-Henrico.

The bill would ban “discrimination in state employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or status as a special disabled veteran or other veteran.”

SB 747, which recently was passed by the Senate, has been referred to a House subcommittee.

“Last year we stood up here and made the same speeches, and many more people listened,” Hunt said. “We promised at the end of last year with the executive directive that Gov. Bob McDonnell put out and only gave weak suggestive protection to state employees, to our professors, to our friends and loved ones that we wouldn’t stop until it became a law.”

Delegates Englin and Adam P. Ebbin, D-Arlington, also spoke at the rally in support of McEachin’s bill. Englin is a House patron of SB 747.

“Adam and I represent many of you who believe that Virginia ought to be a place where all human beings are treated with equal dignity and respect,” Englin said. “I know that with your activism, working together … Virginia and the United States will be that place again, that shining city on a hill, where people around the world look to as a place where all human beings are treated with equal dignity and respect.”

After the rally, a group of about 50 protesters marched through the streets of Richmond to the Capitol and the courts building, carrying signs that read “Discrimination is everyone’s problem,” and “We the people (That means ALL OF US!).” The marchers also chanted variations of the phrase “Equal rights, right now.”

Protestors also shouted, “Here’s your line,” in response to a comment by Delegate C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah. Gilbert, the Republican deputy whip, said that if discrimination were an issue in Virginia, there would be “a line out the door” of people ready to tell their stories.

Once at the Capitol, protesters organized to speak with their legislators and promote SB 747.

“One thing you’ll have to learn from doing this kind of work is that we are a slave to the news cycle,” Hunt said, standing just outside the Capitol. “With Ken Cuccinelli’s letter last year, it really became apparent in the media for people to get involved. Our mission for this year is to really get the message out there and educate people that these are still very pressing issues.”
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Bills Seek Health-Care Jobs for Veterans

By Destiny Shelton
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – Legislation headed toward approval in the General Assembly would allow veterans to count their military health-care training and experience toward certification as nurses and other medical professionals in Virginia.

House Bill 2279, proposed by Delegate Mark Keam, D-Vienna, would let clinical education and practical experience in the armed services fulfill some of the qualification requirements for emergency medical services personnel in Virginia.

HB 1535, proposed by Delegate Donald Merricks, R-Chatham, would do the same for veterans seeking licensure or certification as occupational therapists, radiologist assistants, nurses and certain other health-care professionals.

Under the bills, state licensing authorities would determine whether “relevant practical experience and didactic and clinical components of education and training completed by an applicant during his service as a member of any branch of the armed forces of the United States” can substitute for other certification requirements.

Both measures have won unanimous approval in the House of Delegates and been assigned to the health licensing subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Education and Health.

Keam said the legislation will help veterans land health-care jobs.

“I’ve met many veterans over the past year or so who’ve come back from Iraq, and even older folks, who are having a really hard time getting jobs in Virginia and elsewhere,” he said.

“I want people in the civilian world, those that don’t have military background and those that don’t think about our veterans in the military, to start thinking about them. … What can we do to make a veteran’s life better? What can we do in society to make them welcomed when they come back?”

The legislation’s supporters include the American Legion and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.

“We believe that the veteran’s military training is a plus to any employer that is looking for help,” said Dale D. Chapman of the American Legion, the nation’s largest service organization for veterans.

He said military men and women are highly trained in their respective fields.

“These veterans come back to their homes and are experienced in nursing and other related health-care fields,” Chapman said. “There should be provisions for them to be able to receive credit for their work experiences while serving.”

Some health-care employers actively recruit veterans. For example, Inova Health System in Northern Virginia offers a program called “Military to Medicine” for training and hiring veterans, military spouses and recovering wounded service members.

But Keam said such programs have run into problems when the military training and experience veterans receive aren’t applied toward state certification in health-care professions.

HB 2799, Keam’s bill specifically targeting EMS personnel, is co-sponsored by Merricks and four other delegates: Republican Richard Bell of Staunton and Democrats David Englin of Alexandria, Kaye Kory of Falls Church and Vivian Watts of Annandale.

Keam is co-sponsoring Merricks’ broader measure, HB 1535. The other co-sponsors include a bipartisan mix of 15 delegates and seven senators.

Keam says that he hopes such bills will inspire creative ways to help veterans.

“You might have a great idea as well. And if you have good ideas, come talk to me because I want to put it in law,” he said.
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On the Web
To track or comment House Bills 1535 and 2799, visit RichmondSunlight.com.
To learn more about the Inova Health System program “Military for Medicine,” visit www.militarytomedicine.org
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License Plates Would Memorialize Tech Shootings

By Danny Rathbun and Fletcher Babb
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – The Senate has approved a special license plate to memorialize the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings and help the victims’ families. But supporters fear that not enough people will buy the plates – forcing them to postpone the idea.

The Senate last week unanimously approved Senate Bill 804, which would authorize a special license plate saying, “IN REMEMBRANCE, APRIL 16, 2007.” On that date, a mentally unstable student, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others before killing himself at the university in Blacksburg. It was the worst school shooting in U.S. history.

The proposed license plates would cost $25 a year more than regular plates. Of that amount, $15 would go to the VTV Family Outreach Foundation, which helps school-shooting victims and their families and works to prevent campus violence. (The program would start getting the money after the first 1,000 plates are sold.)

Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Burke, is the bill’s chief sponsor; 31 senators and 87 House members signed on as co-sponsors.

“We had more co-patrons than just about any other bill,” Marsden said.

Even so, the plan to offer the memorial license plates remains uncertain.

Under current law, at least 350 people must submit pre-paid applications for a proposed special license plate before the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles will create the plate. (A bill pending in the General Assembly would increase the minimum number of orders to 450.)

Fewer than 100 orders have been placed for the plates to memorialize the Virginia Tech massacre.

Marsden said the effort needs at least 225 orders to proceed.

“The problem is that we got started late,” he said. “The campaign didn’t get going until early this year.”

SB 804 is now in the House of Delegates. It has been assigned to a subcommittee of the House Transportation Committee. That subcommittee has already killed similar legislation – House Bill 2245, proposed by Delegate Luke Torian, D-Dumfries.

Marsden said he fears some delegates may oppose SB 804 until at least 350 people order the plates.

If the bill passes the House and becomes law, it would take effect July 1. Supporters of the suggested license plates then would have a month to get the 350 pre-paid applications submitted to the DMV. Otherwise, the proposal would be scrapped.

“I’m not sure how the House is going to handle the bill without the full 350 (orders),” Marsden said. “What the procedure says is, you’ve got till August. But they (delegates) may not hear the bill until we’ve got the full 350. So it may have to wait till next time around.”

Marsden said reaction to his bill has generally been positive, but a few people raised objections.

“We got one e-mail from somebody who was against it, because ‘it was disrespectful to put something like that on a license plate. It’s going to get muddy, dirty …’

“But for the most part, it’s been very well received.’”

The VTV Family Outreach Foundation is trying to generate support for the proposed memorial license plates. On its website, http://vtvfoundation.wsiefusion.net, the nonprofit group says it is “requesting these plates in order to honor those who died and who were wounded on April 16, 2007.”

“We want the world to remember that the 32 individuals who died had an irreplaceable impact on those around them and that those who were injured continue to give of themselves through their work and their service,” the website says.

LuAnn McNabb, the foundation’s executive director, said the group has two purposes: to make sure campuses are safe, and to take care of victims of school shootings and other campus violence.

“They want to be there for the family,” McNabb said.

If SB 804 fails or the campaign falls short of the 350 orders, all of the applications and money collected will be returned.
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On the Web
For information about the VTV Family Outreach Foundation, visit the group’s website:
• http://vtvfoundation.wsiefusion.net
To track or comment on Senate Bill 804, visit:
• www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2011/sb804
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Her Dream: To Help Other Immigrants

By Jeannette Porter
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – She earned a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2007, graduating magna cum laude from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg. She accomplished that feat in just three and a half years while working 30 hours a week.

Today, she is a waitress, babysitter and sometime interpreter.

She also is an undocumented immigrant – the kind of person some say should be kicked out of the United States.

Meet Isabel Castillo, who hopes to persuade Virginia lawmakers to shelve legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants.

“I’ve lived in Harrisonburg since I was 6 years old,” said Castillo, now 26, who is fluent in Spanish and English. “Virginia is home. I am an American.”

Her father first came to the U.S. as a guest worker in the agricultural industry, and her mother came later. They worked in a poultry processing plant for 10 years.

“That’s a really hard and messy job that a lot of people don’t want to do,” Castillo said. “My parents brought us for better economic opportunity, and for better education. Where my mother is from, you could only go to school up to the second grade. My parents wanted a better future for their kids.”

Castillo wants to earn a master’s in social work and work in the Hispanic community, but she cannot because of her undocumented status.

“Our parents always instilled in us to get an education,” Castillo said. “‘You don’t want to do this work,’ they would say. ‘Do good in school and become a professional.’ My grandmother came up from Mexico to see me graduate from college. I am the first person in my family to do that.”

Castillo has spent the past year working to get Congress to pass the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors) Act. It came up five votes short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster in the U.S. Senate in December.

The federal act would have opened a path to citizenship for people like Castillo, whose parents brought her to the U.S. illegally when she was too young to understand the implications of her status.

“Most people – when they’re 6, or 5, or 4 – they don’t think of those things,” Castillo said. “People say, ‘What part of illegal do you not understand?’ What part of illegal should a 4-year-old understand?”

Now, Castillo is organizing in Virginia’s Hispanic community against a spate of immigration bills passed by the House of Delegates and awaiting a hearing in the Virginia Senate.

The legislation includes House Bill 1465, introduced by Republican Delegate Christopher K. Peace of Mechanicsville. It would require Virginia’s public colleges and universities to have written policies against enrolling “an individual determined to be not lawfully present in the United States.”

“We’re talking about people who are qualified,” said Castillo, who graduated from high school with a 4.0 grade point average – putting her near the top of her class. “We’ve already proved ourselves. We don’t get benefits. We don’t get federal financial aid or in-state tuition.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Castillo said of the bill. “We want an educated Virginia. An individual with a college degree earns more and pays more in taxes. I like to help people. I want to give back. Why not give me that opportunity? I am not to blame for my parents’ actions.”

At a legislative hearing last month, lawmakers on the immigration subcommittee of the House Courts of Justice Committee were sympathetic but did not yield.

“Many of us believe we need to address immigration reform in a comprehensive manner,” Peace said in an interview. “But the federal government is asleep at the switch. We need a bright line.”
But even staunch opponents of illegal immigration acknowledge that Castillo’s inspiring life story can make it hard to draw that line.

“Isabel’s story breaks my heart,” said Delegate David B. Albo, R-Springfield.

But he added, “We have limited resources, and one of the hardest things to do in this job is to have to look people in the face and say no. …

“I get letters every year, with language I can’t use here, from people whose children don’t get into George Mason (University). And when they find out that people not lawfully in the U.S. do get in, they are going to freak.”

Castillo is not deterred.

“Many organizations around the state are working hard to have our voices heard,” Castillo said.

“I started doing activism because the issue affected me, but now I do it for the thousands of people like me who are scared to stand up. I have a sense of relief. I’m not ashamed or scared. I’m not a criminal. I’m no longer going to hide in the shadows.

“I’m Isabel, and I’m a human being, just like anyone else. I’m not ‘an illegal.’ No human being is illegal, just because they lack a piece of paper.”

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Immigration Bills Before Senate

The House has a dozen bills dealing with immigration. On Friday, they were assigned to an immigration subcommittee of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. The subcommittee has not set a hearing date for the legislation. The bills are:
• HB 1421: Requires all localities to abide by federal immigration laws.
• HB 1430: Citizenship of arrestee; if accused is not committed to jail, arresting officer to ascertain.
• HB 1465: Requires public colleges and universities to have written policies prohibiting enrollment of illegal aliens.
• HB 1468: Citizenship or legal presence required for public assistance; verification required.
• HB 1651: Driver’s licenses, permits, and special identification cards; issuance only to U.S. citizens.
• HB 1727: Virginia Fair Employment Act; certain public contractors, etc., to enroll in E-Verify Program.
• HB 1775: Requiring school boards report to Board of Education number enrolled in English as second language.
• HB 1859: Public Procurement Act; state agencies to include in contract that contractor use E-Verify program.
• HB 1934: State Police to enter into 287g agreement with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to enforce civil immigration law.
• HB 1997: Accused released on recognizance; report to Central Criminal Records Exchange.
• HB 2332: Citizenship of arrestee; arresting officer to ascertain.
• HB 2333: E-Verify program; preference given to services, etc., by persons for employees who work in State.
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Kilgore Aids Passage of Transportation Bill

By Nan Turner
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – Delegate Terry Kilgore says he supported Gov. Bob McDonnell’s $4 billion transportation plan because it would benefit Southwest Virginia and other parts of the state without necessitating a tax increase or saddling the commonwealth with excessive debt.

In Southwest Virginia, the plan would fund improvements on Interstate 81 around Abingdon, including exits 14 and 17, as well as sections of the Coalfields Expressway, said Kilgore, a Republican from Gate City.

This is an opportune time for the state to undertake large construction projects, Kilgore, McDonnell and other state officials say. They note that interest rates are low and that construction companies – and many unemployed Virginians – are hungry for work.

“This year we were faced with making important decisions to fund Virginia’s transportation needs,” Kilgore said. “By passing this transportation legislation, we can get roads, bridges and mass transit projects started immediately.”

Kilgore voted for House Bill 2527, known as McDonnell’s Omnibus Transportation Funding Bill, on Feb. 4. Delegates passed the bill, 65-33.

HB 2527 is now before the Senate. The Senate has approved its own transportation funding measure, Senate Bill 1446, on a 34-6 vote on Feb. 7.

The plan would provide about $4 billion to fund 900 projects in the commonwealth over the next three years. The state would issue $3 billion in bonds to pay for the bulk of the projects. The rest of the funding would come from sales taxes from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads – money that now goes into the state’s general fund.

McDonnell calls the plan “the single largest investment in our transportation system in a generation.”

“These types of investments not only impact our quality of life, reduce congestion and make Virginia more attractive to businesses looking to grow in the commonwealth, but they have a direct impact on our economy and support job growth in these times when Virginia needs it most,” the governor said.

According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, the plan would improve:
• HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes for Route 495 and Interstates 66, 95 and 395 in Northern Virginia
• The Downtown/Midtown Tunnel between Norfolk and Portsmouth
• The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
• Interstate 64 from Richmond to Hampton Roads
• Several sections of Route 58 in the southern and western areas of Virginia
Critics of the transportation plan, particularly Democrats, say it relies too much on borrowing money. They also say it will divert funding from core services such as education and law enforcement.
“We are at a crossroads in this state in making a very major policy shift in taking general funding money away from education to pay for transportation,” said House Democratic Leader Ward Armstrong, a delegate from Martinsville.
Kilgore said the bill appealed to him in part because it would not raise taxes. He said he is looking forward to road construction starting.
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House Passes Coal Mine Safety Act

By Alyx Duckett
Capital News Service

RICHMOND – A Senate bill that would bring the state’s Coal Mine Safety Act up to current federal law and industry standards has been passed by the House.

On a 96-0 vote Friday, the House approved Senate Bill 1310, sponsored by Sen. Phillip P. Puckett, D-Tazewell. SB 1310 calls for expanded safety and emergency response plans as well as updated electrical requirements.

The bill also would add a penalty for anyone who gives false information during investigations by state authorities.

“This addresses plans for air flow, and that’s the single most important thing I believe,” Puckett said. “It would make sure that a plan that’s put in place is consistent with clearing methane gas out of the mine.”

Those plans would include erecting curtains in different areas of the mine to block off air and keep it from flowing the wrong way. This keeps methane gas moving out of the mine – a critical component of mine safety.
Puckett said the bill resulted from the West Virginia coal mining tragedy in April 2010, when 29 miners were killed. Investigators found that the mine, operated by Massey Energy Co. of Richmond, had failed to follow methane gas precautions.

After the West Virginia mining disaster, Virginia’s mining codes were examined to see if they contained safety issues that needed updating, Puckett said.

“When the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy began to look into that, they found some safety issues that had not been updated in regards to the Federal Mines Safety Act,” Puckett said.

He said the federal law has had significant changes during the past five years. SB 1310, which previously passed the Senate unanimously, would bring Virginia codes up to the federal standards.

House Bill 2471 is companion legislation sponsored by Delegate Charles D. Poindexter, R-Glade Hill. HB 2471 was approved unanimously by the House. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources.

The largest area of deep mining in Virginia is in Buchanan County. Most mining in Dickenson, Russell, Tazewell and Wise counties is surface mining.
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On the Web
To track legislation on the Coal Mine Safety Act Bill visit:
• www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2011/hb2471
• www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2011/sb1310
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