By Andrew Ujifusa
Education Week
November 11, 2013
The two gubernatorial contests this year produced the re-election of a staunch foe of teachers’ unions in New Jersey and the election of a solid friend of public school funding in Virginia. Both winners, though, must deal with legislatures controlled by the opposite party as they consider new K-12 policy pushes.
Aside from the A-F accountability policy and the state-run district, there isn’t much for Mr. McAuliffe to roll back in Virginia, said Kara Kerwin, the president of the Washington-based Center for Education Reform, which supports school choice and charters as well as test-based accountability for schools and teachers. She said Mr. McAuliffe’s campaign rhetoric means he will likely not be interested in other major changes, such as overhauling the state’s charter school law.