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Recent State and Local Education News
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Editorial: Legislators: Hands off higher ed. Part II
Virginian-Pilot
May 30, 2016
Earlier this month, this space expressed the view that the appointed governing boards of the commonwealth’s colleges and universities — called “boards of visitors” in Virginia — should, in fact, govern.
Or, more to the point, the boards should be allowed to govern.
The underlying theory of the present structure for state-supported higher education points to that notion. So does the Code of Virginia. The General Assembly, the ultimate political power in Virginia, should not be in the business of dictating policy to colleges.
'Visionary' former Virginia Tech President T. Marshall Hahn dies
The Roanoke Times
May 30, 2016
Former Virginia Tech President T. Marshall Hahn died Sunday at the age of 89.
Hahn served as the leader of the school from 1962 until 1974 and oversaw the transition of Tech from being perceived as a male-dominated military college to a university that accepted non-military students as well as more women.
Accomack students to attend space camp
DelMarVa Now
May 31, 2016
Ten area students from Accomack County Public Schools will be attending a week of Summer Space Camp because of a partnership between the county and Virginia Space Flight Academy, according to Accomack County School Superintendent Chris Holland.
“This wonderful opportunity will allow area students to participate in a camp that might otherwise be impossible, because of our partnership with VSFA”, said Holland. “The county provides 50 percent of the tuition fees for these students, and VSFA covers the other 50 percent.”
Program helps students with autism pursue higher education
Richmond Times-Dispatch
May 30, 2016
Paul Switzer went to Carytown one day to talk with people about a program that is giving him the courage to succeed.
“I mostly froze up,” he said.
But Switzer is at no loss for words now explaining how the program of the United Methodist Family Services’ Charterhouse School has helped him.
'Peacemaker' beats the drums for youth empowerment
Richmond Times Dispatch
May 30, 2016
On New Year’s Day 2004, 16-year-old Peytron Johnson was gunned down a block from the Richmond Police Department’s 3rd Precinct. Five days later, 15-year-old Justin Creech was stabbed fatally by another teenager near Staples Mill Road.
The killings of the teens, one black and one white, distressed a group of local high school students who approached Richmond educator Ram Bhagat.
The teacher and the youth activists, determined to stop the violence, became the catalysts behind the Richmond Youth Peace Project, an integral program of the Richmond Peace Education Center.
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Recent National Education News
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UNC will not enforce transgender bathroom law
Education Dive
May 31, 2016
University of North Carolina System President Margaret Spellings said in a federal court filing that she will not create any new regulations or guidelines to control bathroom use on campuses, leaving transgender students to use bathrooms relating to their gender identity, rather than biological sex.
The Associated Press reports Spellings’ comments were included in a request to halt legal proceedings against the university system in North Carolina while a higher court decides a case in Virginia about the rights of transgender people and the Department of Justice investigates North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law.
Plan to Define and Test What Students Should Know
Inside Higher ED
May 31, 2016
Faculty members tend to be skeptical about attempts to go beyond grading with standardized definitions and measures of what students should learn -- the so-called student learning outcomes accreditors require colleges to collect.
The wariness of professors is often well founded, the authors of the influential book Academically Adrift argue in a new book, because faculty members often haven’t been at the table when these measures and related assessments are being developed.
The Measuring College Learning project, which Arum has helped lead, seeks to change that dynamic by putting faculty members in charge of determining how to measure learning in six academic disciplines. After more than two years of work, the project has defined the “fundamental concepts and competencies society demands from today's college graduates” in biology, business, communication, economics, history and sociology.
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How much money is getting spent on instruction?
We hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! Before we get into this week's topic (school budget season) we thought we would share this graphic that the
Huffington Post compiled in 2013 with a number of Memorial Day facts.
In Virginia, Memorial Day also means that school boards and their corresponding appropriating authority have finalized a budget for the coming year. Each of these processes represent many hours, challenging choices and sometimes significant controversy. Recent news coverage from around the Commonwealth tells these stories in more detail, whether the discussion is taking place in
Bedford County ($33.4 million approved for schools) or
Fairfax County ($2.7 billion),
Norfolk,
Williamsburg/James City,
Richmond City,
Lynchburg or
Portsmouth.
The cycle also drew at least one report looking at
what people thought about school boards having direct taxing authority - something they currently depend on their local council or board to do.
In light of this key time of year, we thought we would look back at a data mapping project we did in back in September 2015 - using data contained in a
Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) report, we visualized per pupil operational spending by locality across the commonwealth. This smooths out the striking contrast in total budget size between small counties like Bedford and large ones like Fairfax. We look forward to updating this in the future, but for now thought we would share it again.
Per Pupil Spending in Virginia - 2014 (
Click here for interactive map)
Our visualization also has a map showing the percent change in per pupil spending (adjusted for inflation) for each county. Please note that several localities are excluded because figures from 2005 are not directly comparable to 2014 (West Point, Colonial Beach, Greensville and Williamsburg-James City County).
Also, we again excerpt
below portions of CEPI Senior Fellow Dr. Richard Vacca's May Education Law newsletter - his
annual preview of what education law issues are likely to emerge in 2016-17.
Sincerely,
CEPI
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Education Law Newsletter - Potential Issues 2016-2017
Excerpted from the May edition of CEPI's Education Law Newsletter. This wrap-up issue for the year is written by Dr. Richard Vacca and looks ahead at issues likely to face school systems in the coming school year. Read the full newsletter on our
website.
"In keeping with past practice this final commentary of the 2015-2016 series is devoted to predicting potential legal and policy issues to watch next school year—a risky business to say the least. The paragraphs below are the results of this year’s “issue spotting” exercise.
Administrator and Teacher Contracts, Salaries, and Benefits
In 2016-2017, the tenure and continuing contract debate will continue. Fueled by a continued emphasis on accountability for student academic progress, school improvement, and fiscal responsibility, school boards will continue to feel community pressure to summarily dismiss ineffective school staff and to radically reorganize an age-old instructional delivery model. Thus, the procedural requirements of tenure and continuing contract status (in states where they exist) will continue as a focus of heated discussions among and between local school officials and advocates for organizational change—especially in communities where loss of school accreditation has become a major problem.
In 2016-2017, as local school system maintenance and operation budgets continue to grow and access to fiscal resources shrink, salaries and benefits (especially for classroom teachers) will remain high priority subjects faced by local school officials. Three factors will add to the difficulty in meeting staff expectations. First, growing competition for funds between local school systems and other local governmental agencies (e.g., police, fire, sanitation, street and road maintenance, et al.). Second, a continued reliance on local property taxes as the major source of school system operating funds. Third, a critical need for additional funds to maintain and repair ageing school buildings and facilities, and to replace old school buses.
Others to Watch
As November 2016 moves closer, public education once again constitutes a major subject in the political campaigns of the candidates for President of the United States. As in past campaigns, state and local public school officials will be “caught in the middle” as proposals and promises are made absent a presentation of concrete policies and funding. Subsequently, issues will spring up as a new administration sets a different agenda for involvement of the federal government (USDOE, Justice Department) in the schools.
Another possible issue producer to watch focuses on a resurfacing of the “controversial and sensitive subjects in the curriculum” controversy. As in past years, parents, students, teachers, and principals are again in conflict over what students are being or should be taught and exposed to (e.g., films, books, guest speakers, research assignments, discussions) in classrooms and school assemblies. Where this conflict springs up in 2016-2017, local school boards once again will be in a quandary over the enforcement of existing policies and procedural requirements concerning the curriculum.
Finally, next school year potential issues involving student possession and use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs (including prescription drugs) might once again spring up. Of particular note are recent reports linking students and E-cigarettes.
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