Dave Marsden Reacts to Cuts in Proposed School Budget

The proposed budget that was just proposed for Fairfax County schools would result in massive cuts to our school system. As someone who spent a significant amount of time organizing around the school budget last year, I can tell you that there were massive cuts last year and there really isn't anything that can be left to cut but the meat and bones of our school system. Since education is one of the primary foundations for success life, it has me deeply worried that we are going to have to make even more cuts. That is why I think we need representatives in the state Senate who will truly stand up for our schools down in Richmond.

Dave Marsden has a history of standing up for children and fighting for education while his opponent, Steve Hunt, was actually censored by the School Board for promoting bigoted policies instead of fighting to improve our schools. Dave made that clear in a statement he released earlier today in reaction to the budget that was proposed yesterday.

“We need to send someone to Richmond with the right judgment and priorities. Last year as a House Delegate, I helped make the tough decisions on how to make two billion dollars of budget cuts as responsibly as possible while protecting education funding, while the Republicans were aggressively pushing half a billion dollars in education cuts. Make no mistake, Steve Hunt will be on the wrong side of this issue and will join with Republicans in Richmond who want to take a meat cleaver to our education budget – cuts that will make the current proposed cuts to Fairfax County schools look like child’s play. Let this be a wake-up call to anyone who thinks that Fairfax County schools are safe from harm – who we send to represent us in the Senate matters tremendously.”

Some of the people who are most familiar with the budget issues facing our schools are those who serve on the School Board. Fairfax County School Board Chair Kathy Smith (Sully District) is one of the people who has respect from activists on both sides of the aisle and has been involved with education related issues for quite some times tends to agree that Dave is the candidate who will fight for education and issued a strong endorsement of his candidacy today.

“When our schools are facing such devastating cuts, we need somebody with experience - experience in education and experience in cutting budgets responsibly to protect the things that are important, like Fairfax County's world-class schools. Today’s challenges demand someone like Dave Marsden because he is an effective fighter for Fairfax County, not someone who seems to be surrounded by controversy. I am endorsing Dave Marsden because I know he will be that fighter for us.”

With school systems across the state facing such devastating costs, the voters of the 37th District deserve to have a state senator who will concentrate on actually producing results when it comes to our schools. I think the choice is clear, Dave Marsden is the candidate who will fight for education and should be the next senator in the 37th.