On Monday the Virginia Municipal League — which represents the interests of town, city and county governments — urged the General Assembly to reduce costs and enact measures that would give local governments more options for raising revenue.

Doing both, the VML says, would help local governments deal with what they predict will be a $4.2 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget cycle.

Among the league’s suggestions for saving money is a proposal to suspend or defer expensive requirements on local school divisions, one of which is a mandate that all students should have academic or career plans after graduation. Students are also required to take a course in economics and personal finance.

While we applaud the efforts of the VML to try to stave off financial disaster for local governments, we believe in this global economy that our graduating seniors should at the very least continue to take the economics/personal finance course. Fundamentals such as how to balance a checkbook and how credit cards work are important subjects to master early, especially for young adults, who tend to get into trouble with both.