CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Dr. Ian Mullins sees education from multiple vantage points, as a professor from the University of Virginia, and the father of a student in the public school system.

It’s why Mullins views public education as one of the most significant issues ahead of this November’s statewide elections.

“It needs to be defended,” Mullins said Thursday. “We need someone who says they value public education and actually understands what that means.”
Mullins was part of an education roundtable campaign event for Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, at the McGuffey Art Center in downtown Charlottesville.

“This has been the most important part of the campaign work, actually talking to so many different communities and hearing their issues and concerns,” Hashmi said after Thursday’s event. “It’s really helpful to talk, especially to parents, when we’re thinking about education and the perspectives that parents are bringing. I think one thing, importantly, that we heard this morning is the critical idea that our schools are community hubs, that they are opportunities for neighbors and families to get together to address the issues in a collaborative fashion.”

Sen. Hashmi and Mullins were joined by Del. Katrina Callsen, Charlottesville School Board vice chairperson Amanda Burns and former city councilor Heather Hill, also a public school parent.

Mullins, Burns and Hill expressed concerns that the Republican ticket for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general would work to cut public school funding and shift public money toward private schools through voucher programs.

“These kinds of plans would weaken our communities,” Burns said. “And abandon the very students who need us the most.”

And Hill noted the city has made substantial investments in its schools, but needs more financial backing from the state.

“We can’t just have buildings that look great if we don’t have the resources to support them,” she said.

Callsen, a former teacher and county school board member, pointed out the struggles schools are having with staff, especially in rural areas, and the importance of community colleges as a gateway into higher education for some segments of the population.

Hashmi spent much of her 30 years in teaching at Reynolds Community College near Richmond.

Callsen called it “meaningful to me and refreshing to hear” Hashmi’s commitment to funding public education in Virginia.

Sen. Hashmi’s campaign held a similar education-focused event Wednesday in Richmond and has scheduled a third one in Norfolk on Tuesday.

“It’s given me a perspective on what parents and families are thinking about,” she said of her interactions during the campaign. “That’s that they want to ensure that their students are getting those critical skills around literacy, reading and writing and mathematics. They want us to be serious about education.”

John Reid, the former conservative talk radio host and Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, told Cville Right Now on Thursday that his education plan, which he has released online, is more in line with what voters want. A proponent of offering vouchers or tax breaks for families to send their children to private schools, Reid said Hashmi’s position on transgender rights and her role in Virginia school’s response to the COVID pandemic give him traction with voters.

“Democrats were put on notice four years ago that parents, even Democrat parents, want to be in charge of their own children,” Reid said. “Everything people hate about public education, Ghazala Hashmi has been the proponent of.”