Every summer the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) holds its Annual Meeting in a different state. This year the Annual Meeting will be held in San Antonio, Texas, in August 7-11.

Attendees are chosen by the leadership of each House of the Virginia General Assembly. I am pleased that the Speaker of the House chose me as one of the Virginia representatives. Needless to say, because the Annual Meeting is so well attended by legislators, as well as by support staff, there are many opportunities for interaction with people from other states.

Most legislative attendees are members of committees that hold meetings and hear from other legislators, as well as Federal agency staff members who provide updates on Congressional and agency actions of relevance to the issues before the Committees.

I was assigned membership in the Education Committee. Because of my background in public education-as a student, teacher and member of Public Education and Higher Education subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Delegates, I look forward to the Committee's meetings.

Like other NCSL committees, the Education Committee frequently meets with staff members and policy specialists from the relevant Federal agencies. As is the case with other substantive committees, committee recommendations are presented and debated by the committees before presentation, debate and action by the full voting membership of NCSL. Since Virginia has officially promoted charter schools, lab schools and virtual schools, I am looking forward to hearing how other states view their roles and the role of the Federal government in these matters as well as the future of No Child Left Behind.

Since the Governor Perry of Texas has recently given hints that he may throw his hat in the ring for President, I suspect he will be anxious to do more than welcome the hundreds of elected officials and staff from many other states. Having only read about him, I am anxious to hear what he has to say-and how the convention delegates and staff members react to him.

I am also anxious to find out whether our Governor participates in the Conference. Because he is frequently mentioned as a Vice Presidential candidate, a lot of attention will be paid to his activities if he does attend.