Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposal to give schools an A through F letter grade based on performance is on its way to becoming a reality.

The legislation was approved by the House of Delegates on Monday and by the Senate on Tuesday where Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling cast the tie breaking vote.

According to the legislation, the Virginia Board of Education will be tasked with developing the grading system by August 1.

School boards, superintendents and the Virginia Education Association have not been fans of the proposal. Here in the Roanoke Valley superintendents reactions ranged from opposition to ambivalence.

We asked what you all think about the proposal and here’s what two Learning Lines commenters had to say.

From Al:

“I believe that a single letter grade for each school is a good idea. The Virginia Department of Education web site has some good information, and the local school board website has information. But it can be confusing when trying to consider Adequate Yearly Progress, Accreditation, SAT scores, and other test scores.

I disagree with Roanoke County Superintendent Lorraine Lange. I believe that 80% of the parents do not know their schools current rating. Plus, the comment about companies relocation to an area where schools are rated D or F also applies to parents wanting to send their kids to schools with a D or F rating. This grade gives us parents a rating that is easy to understand and track.

I think the educators are against letter grades because it puts more pressure on them to perform.
The connection between Bush and getting more charter schools is just a theory. But I would welcome more charter schools in the state.”

From A Beasley:

“I think it’s a great idea too. It is hard to understand all of the information about schools on the VDOE website and that’s if you can find the information you’re looking for at all. This is a move that will benefit the parents who aren’t skilled at education lingo and don’t have the time to shift through multiple excel spreadsheets to try and figure out what’s going on at their children’s schools.”

So, thoughts? Comments?