wnat, men, wouia De me soiuuonr “More general ftind

wnat, men, wouia De me soiuuonr

“More general ftind money,” said Bagley, “and of course that’s the problem we have facing us in so very many areas of state government. But I know of no higher priority than public education, and then following behind that, higher education. If that is the case, we are certainly going to have to take a look at our priorities and see if we are spending enough money in higher education to give young Virginians the kind of opportunity that they need and, indeed, that the state would benefit from them having.”

Which, of course, brings us to the most painful question of all. That is, where will the general fund money come from? Its normal source is revenue from income and sales taxes.

At the moment the hope is that, with the recovery finally making itself felt in Virginia, normal revenue growth will allow the money to be found somewhere in the present general fund structure by rejiggering those omni-preBent priorities.

Others believe the amount which might be turned up in this way would be too little, too late. There are, after all, a multitude of mice nibbling at the budget pie.

Next to the contemplation of a nuclear holocaust, the most unthinkable thought for a Virginia politician in an election year is the numbing possibility of having to support a general tax increase of some sort. No one is bold enough to advocate one at this stage of the game, but privately some lawmakers worry that 1965 might be the year when that distasteful bullet will have to be bitten—and it’s also an election year for members of the House of Delegates as well as the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Whatever decisions are made, the choices are not going to be pleasant. But on them will depend the future course of Virginia’s splendid system of higher education.