On Election Day, voters in Alexandria will be choosing between candidates with vastly different opinions about public education. Republicans support merit for teachers and efforts to provide more competition between public and private schools. Democrats are opposed to merit pay, and they are opposed to any effort to use public money for private schools. Ultimately voters will have the last say on the issue when they cast their ballots, although the elected leaders will still have to scramble for funding schools in an increasingly budget-strapped General Assembly.

"Republicans often portray teachers unions as standing in the way of reform because they are dominated by under-performing teachers," said Isaac Wood, assistant director of communications for the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. "But many voters have a soft spot for teachers, so their union endorsements tends to carry more weight than endorsements from other unions in Virginia."

The political action committee of the Virginia Education Association has endorsed both of the Democratic incumbents with Republican opponents that will be on the ballot in Alexandria: Del. David Englin (D-45) and Charniele Herring (D-46). According to Rob Jones, director of government relations for the teachers’ union, decisions about which candidates to support are based on responses to questionnaires and interviews conducted by local affiliates of the union. The endorsements are awarded based on positions on a number of issues, including opposition for the use of public money for private schools.

"We’re not supporting our public schools the way we should be," said Jones, who added that his union is not necessarily opposed to merit pay depending on how the system works. "If people want to support private schools, they should do so on their own dime."

REPUBLICAN CHALLENGERS offer a number of proposals that would change how public-school students are educated in Virginia — many of which are opposed by the teachers’ union. In the 45th House District, Vicki Vasques supports creating a system of merit pay for teachers and a program that would provide tax credits for corporations that provide scholarships for tuition to private schools. On the campaign trail, Vasques has frequently raised the issue of expanding the authority to create charter schools beyond local school boards. The Republican says she would like to see nonprofit organizations, universities, corporations and Indian tribes given authority to issue charters.

"School boards have little incentive to be supportive of charter schools," said Vasques, adding that Virginia has only four charter schools. "It shouldn’t be about money, but unfortunately it is."

In the 46th House District, Republican challenger Sasha Gong said she would like to find ways to reduce the cost of bureaucracy by shifting more resources to the classroom although she doesn’t have any specific proposals for making that happen. Like Vasques, Gong also supports merit pay as a way to use free-market principles to reward teachers who improve test scores. Unlike Vasques, though, Gong supports changing the Virginia Constitution in a way that would allow a system of vouchers to allow parents to use public funds to send their children to private schools.

"The real problem with education is that there’s a lack of competition," said Gong, who said creating a marketplace for tax dollars would ultimately improve public schools. "Parents deserve a choice to take their kids out of bad public schools."

DEMOCRATIC INCUMBENTS oppose efforts to create a system of merit pay as well as any proposal that would use public money for private schools. Del. David Englin (D-45) argues that merit pay decreases salaries of some teachers to fund bonuses for others, a phenomenon he said would undermine recuitment and retention. He also opposes tax credits for corporate scholarship programs, criticizing the effort as a plan that would divert money from public schools to encourage scholarships to private schools. Although he said he’s open to giving self-governing Indian tribes the same charter-school authority as other local governments, he does not support Vasques’ proposal to expand chartering authority to nonprofit organizations, universities or corporations.

"The change she proposes to Virginia's charter school law would divert money from already underfunded public schools to unelected, unaccountable corporations and non-profits," said Englin in a written statement. "The bottom line is that we need to protect state money for public education, and her proposals in one way or another would take money from public schools."

Del. Charniele Herring (D-46) said she would support a study to investigate the correlation between per-pupil funding and student achievement. She said she would also support a program that would allow localities to offer grants to students who have achieved a 3.5 grade-point-average or higher in college and commit to returning home to teach. Like Englin, Herring opposes creating a system of merit pay and is strongly against any effort to change the Virginia Constitution in a way that allow a voucher system to use public funds toward tuition at private schools.

"Proponents of the school voucher system and tuition tax credits argue that this system would improve schools because it would foster competition among public schools to improve," Herring wrote in one of the responses to the Virginia Education Association. "This argument is flawed because it is based on a principle that a public school has the means to compete with private schools without the support of tax dollars."