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Recent State and Local Education News
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Virginia rejects bill to make schools warn parents of 'explicit' books
The Guardian
January 20, 2017
An attempt to give parents a veto over the teaching of books deemed to contain sexually explicit content has been thrown out by Virginia state education authorities, marking the end of a controversial bill that would have enabled parents to ban children from studying classics such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved, The Diary of Anne Frank and Romeo and Juliet if they deemed their content sexual.
Members of the Virginia board of education rejected the proposal, saying defining sexually explicit content was not a matter for the board.
“We are addressing this by saying we are not going to address the sexually explicit issue in the classroom and we are going to rely on local policy to deal with those issues,” board member Daniel Gecker told the Richmond Times.
The board said that while it acknowledged parents had a right to know what children were taught, titles’ content would not be flagged to them.
Schapiro: Instead of a handout from Va., localities get the back of the hand
Richmond Times Dispatch
January 28, 2017
Local government lobbyists want to add several little words to the Virginia budget that could call attention to a big problem: that rather than a handout from the state, cities and counties increasingly get the back of its hand.
Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington County, and Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell, introduced amendments, respectively, to the House and Senate versions of the $104 billion budget calling for a $1 million study on whether state government is giving local schools enough money to meet education standards set by the Virginia Constitution.
It is a thorny issue — and not just in remote, economically struggling pockets of the countryside, including the coalfields that O’Quinn and Chafin represent.
It is too soon to say whether a compromise budget will include the proposed study and enough money to pay for it. But the issue spotlighted by the amendment is not going away, though it may be overshadowed — for now — by $1.5 billion in spending cuts forced by the slowing economy.
Virginia School Districts Urged to Check Licensing of Teachers Accused of Sexual Misconduct
NBC 4
January 27, 2017
The Virginia Board of Education ordered every school district in the commonwealth to double check their books and ensure they've properly revoked the licenses of every teacher who's admitted sexual misconduct with a student.
This action follows a News4 I-Team investigation that found Fairfax County Public Schools allowed teachers to fall through the cracks after misconduct with students.
Senate finance kills Va. bills to control tuition
The News & Advance
January 25, 2017
The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday blocked a series of proposals that would have curtailed tuition increases but also the autonomy of the governing boards of public universities.
The committee, following recommendations from its education subcommittee, also rejected a bill that would have changed the name of members of the boards from visitors to trustees.
Sen. Bill DeSteph , R-Virginia Beach, who proposed that bill as well as three related to tuition, said at Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing that the new designation would align more with the fiduciary responsibility of board members.
University of Virginia community protests Trump travel ban
USA Today
January 30, 2017
Hundreds of students and community members gathered outside of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia Sunday afternoon to march in protest of President Trump’s recent executive order to suspend refugee admissions and temporarily prohibit foreign nationals from seven Middle Eastern countries from entering the United States.
Cheers of “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here” boomed while U.Va. students and march organizers Attiya Latif and Hannah Borja addressed the crowd.
On behalf of DREAMers on Ground — a student organization dedicated to undocumented students — Borja read an open letter to the U.Va. administration.
“When we originally came to you, we were concerned that students’ education, safety, and financial situations were at risk,” Borja said. “As we predicted, they are. We demand you, as the University, take long-overdue action. Prove to your students you care, that you stand behind them, and that you will protect their access to higher education at all costs.
Virginia officials push back timeline for submitting school accountability plan to feds
The Virginian-Pilot
January 30, 2017
State officials have pushed back their timeline six months for submitting school accountability plans under the federal government’s new education law.
The Every Student Succeeds Act, which was signed into law in 2015, replaces No Child Left Behind and gives states more flexibility in setting accountability rules. Each state must submit plans to the federal government before moving forward with the new system.
In a video posted this month on the Virginia Department of Education website, state Superintendent Steven Staples said officials will submit their ESSA proposal in September, after planning to do so in March. The law would go into effect at the start of the 2018 school year.
Staples cited federal regulations that allow states to push back full implementation of the law by a year and uncertainty over how President Donald Trump might affect the law.
“We don’t want to submit a plan until some of these unknowns are better known,” Staples said in the video.
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Recent National Education News
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U-Va. education dean: Betsy DeVos’s Senate hearing performance was ‘disqualifying’ [Op-Ed]
Washington Post
January 26, 2017
Robert C. Pianta is dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.
I am disappointed to have to say that Betsy DeVos should not be the next Secretary of Education.
As an academic, dean of a school of education, and educator who has advocated for good charter schools, who can see the value of empowering parents through school choice and the promise of vouchers to enable that empowerment, and who believes our education system is still deeply in need of reform, I had initially approached the nomination of Mrs. DeVos with an open mind.
Kaine says he will oppose Betsy DeVos for Trump's education secretary
Richmond Times-Dispatch
January 25, 2017
Sen. Tim Kaine’s office says he will oppose billionaire school choice advocate Betsy DeVos for education secretary.
Kaine grilled DeVos last week during a confirmation hearing before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and she did not directly answer some of his questions.
“She failed to meet three requirements I consider essential to serving as (education secretary) — someone who is pro-public schools, pro-accountability and pro-civil rights,” Kaine said in a statement.
Universities grappling with impact of Trump’s immigration ban
The Washington Post
January 30, 2017
Colleges and universities are grappling with the implications of President Trump’s executive order barring people from seven mostly-Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
The order, which affects citizens from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia, has left international students and faculty fearing expulsion, stranded outside of the country, detained or uncertain of whether to travel. University leaders have pledged support to those whose lives are being upended by the new rules, but they, too, are unsure of the full ramifications of the order.
Courts in several cities have blocked enforcement of the ban, while the Trump administration says green-card holders will no longer be affected. Still, the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that it would continue to implement the order despite the judicial rulings, creating more confusion and frustration.
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Where do Virginians want to go on charter schools?
President Trump's nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education has become one of the most controversial of his cabinet nominations.
Senate Democrats announced that no Democrat would vote to approve her nomination, though
recent reports suggest Republicans may be able to maintain a unified front and get the votes needed for confirmation.
Prior to her nomination, DeVos was most known for championing charter schools and vouchers for use in attending private schools as an alternative to public schools. Charter schools have been a rarely used option within Virginia (see map below for comparison to other states), in part because the state constitution requires the local school board for the area where any new charter school would be located to approve its creation. This week, our
legislation spotlight focuses on the prospects of bills that would place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to change that provision. The spotlight includes data on public support or opposition for such a change.
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This past Thursday, we also released the
higher ed portion of our Commonwealth Education Poll. One of the key questions each year is whether the public thinks colleges and universities in Virginia are doing a good job in five key areas. See the results summarized below, as well as the year to year trends (keep in mind, any change from year to year that is less than 8% may simply be due to sampling error rather than a trend in the population as a whole.)
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“This poll shows the trust citizens have in our colleges and universities to prepare students for the careers of the future,” said Virginia Secretary of Education Dietra Trent as part of the public release of the poll. “Working over the last three years to bring education into the 21st century, Governor McAuliffe has helped to lay the groundwork for a strong talent pipeline from the classroom to the workforce.”
This was the first year that the Commonwealth Education Poll asked respondents about higher education's performance in "preparing students to be engaged citizens." As noted in the chart above, while a majority believe colleges and universities are doing a good job in this area (61%), preparation of engaged citizens was the outcome that had the lowest percent saying colleges do a good job. In developing the report's analysis, we noted that statistically significant differences of perspective existed between respondents of different educational, racial/ethnic and political identities/backgrounds.
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Those with lower amounts of formal education (High School or less) were more likely to see colleges and universities as doing a good job, as were minorities. The partisan breakdown shows that Democrats (at 70%) were more likely to think colleges are doing a good job in producing engaged citizens than were Independents (55%) and Republicans (51%). Perhaps this raises the question about whether respondents from different political affiliations are working from different definitions about what an engaged citizen should do. Further study would be necessary to arrive at any definitive answer.
This is only one of numerous insights contained in this year's poll. We hope you'll browse through the results of both the
K-12 and
Higher Education releases. And, of course, we'll feature other results in future issues of Compass Point.
CEPI
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Legislation Spotlight - Constitutional Amendment on Charter Schools (
HJ 629 and with
SJ 240)
Excerpted from the January 27th General Assemby K-12 Education Update, written by David Blount. Read the full update on our
website.
Background: Proposed amendments to the Virginia Constitution that would allow the Board of Education to establish charter schools are a recurring issue before the General Assembly. The two amendments that were introduced during this year’s session are
HJ 629 and
SJ 240. The resolutions propose to add the following language to Article VIII, Section 5 (Powers and duties of the Board of Education) of the Constitution: “Subject to such criteria and conditions as the General Assembly may prescribe, it shall have authority to establish charter schools within the school divisions of the Commonwealth.”
After having been approved by the 2015 General Assembly, this amendment was defeated in the Senate last year. It appears that the amendment will not be successful this year, as just this past week,
SJ 240 was stricken from the committee docket at the request of the patron. The House version of the resolution will be up for a vote this coming week. [
Update - the House version
died along with 25 other amendments in a subcommittee vote on Monday morning.]
Virginia’s original charter school law was established in 1998 after several years of consideration in the mid-1990s.
HB 543 and
SB 318 were the 1998 bills that allowed local school boards to establish public charter schools within the school division. The law then, and still, vests the authority for approval of public charter schools with local school boards. The law does provide specific direction for the establishment and operation of such schools, the charter application process and use of performance contracts, funding for the charter school and the employment of charter school teachers.
Attempts have been made to allow local school board decisions to deny a charter application to be appealed to the Board of Education, but those efforts were denied by the legislature. Current law allows denied applicants to petition a local school board for reconsideration of its decision, with the local school board decision being final. Since 2010, applicants are required to submit applications to the BOE for its review and comment, prior to submission to the local school board.
The BOE website contains useful information about charter schools in Virginia
here.
What the public thinks: Last week we released results of our
annual education poll
- it found a roughly even split in support for such a change to the constitution. Forty-five percent (45%) of Virginians opposed a change while 40% favored it. Importantly, 15% or respondents said they didn’t know whether or not they would support such a policy.
Likely outcome in 2017: As noted above, both Senate and House versions have already been defeated.
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General Assembly Update - Legislation Filed
Excerpted from the January 20th General Assemby K-12 Education Update, written by David Blount. Read the full update on our
website.
Budget Update
Senate and House budget leaders this past week signaled their intention to provide a 3% pay raise for 70,000 state employees and to hike law enforcement officer salaries in the next fiscal year. A state salary supplement for teachers and other school employees would not be provided. It recently was reported that all but a dozen local school divisions gave teachers a pay hike for the current year, when it was anticipated that a state supplement was going to be provided (those raises later were scuttled due to falling state revenues), so there is a sense among state leaders that pay for local educators will be addressed by local governing bodies. The latest teacher salary survey from the Department of Education (DOE) shows the average, budgeted classroom teacher salary for the current year is $56,148, up 2.29% percent from last year.
The committees responsible for the budget bills will be putting the finishing touches on their proposed amendments to the introduced budget this coming week. The competing House and Senate spending plans will be released on Sunday, February 5, 2017.
More detailed information about proposed budget amendments submitted by legislators is available
here. Information from the DOE about the introduced budget can be found
here.
Education Legislation
As the General Assembly races toward the February 7 “crossover day,” consideration of bills in committees has been proceeding, but at a pace that means some additional meetings beyond those regularly scheduled. Some “heavy lifting” will have to occur next week, as the House Education Committee has over 60 bills left on its docket, while Senate Education and Health has just under 50.
As noted in last week’s “spotlight” on school calendar legislation, the House has grown supportive in recent years of giving local school boards control over setting the school calendar. The House continued that trend last week, first in committee, where with the backing of education and chamber of commerce groups, the panel endorsed
HB 1983 on a 15 to 6 vote. The hospitality industry provided the usual opposition. Later in the week, the bill handily passed the House, 75 to 24. This is the lone “school calendar” legislation remaining, following Senate Education and Health’s narrow defeat (on an 8 to 7 vote) of
SB 1111, which would have allowed an exception from the post-Labor Day opening law for a school division that has a dual enrollment agreement with a community college and participating students are required to attend college credit courses that begin prior to Labor Day.
The House Education Committee also spent considerable time discussing
HB 1757 before shipping the bill off to Appropriations in the face of fiscal and other concerns. A substitute version of the bill would have set school nurse ratios at one per 550 students, effective July 1, 2018. There also was concern about singling out nurses for special treatment to the exclusion of other school support services.
With little discussion, the full House of Delegates approved the “Tebow” bill,
HB 1578, to allow participation by homeschoolers in public high school athletics and other interscholastic activities governed by the Virginia High School League (VHSL). The vote was 60 to 38.
The full House easily passed
HB 1770 to allow local school divisions to waive teacher licensure requirements for career and technical education teachers. A companion version,
SB 1583, awaits approval on the Senate floor. The House also has endorsed
HB 2341 to require at least two of the nine Board of Education (BOE) members to represent business and industry in the private sector in the Commonwealth. The vote was 92 to 7. Finally,
HJ 546 has been defeated for the session. The bill proposed a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study of the Virginia High School League, but was dispatched by the House Rules Committee.
The Senate Education and Health Committee has been focused thus far on the many health-related bills before it. It did handle some education bills this past week. In addition to the school calendar bill previously noted, the Committee narrowly defeated
SB 828 that would have required the learning objectives for family life education to include age-appropriate instruction in the prevention, recognition, and awareness of child abduction, child abuse, child sexual exploitation, and child sexual abuse in all grades. The vote was 8 to 6.
The Committee did approve
SB 1245 to require the BOE, by July 1, 2018, to include evaluating the economic value of a postsecondary degree, including the cost of attendance, potential student loan debt and potential earnings, in the Board's objectives for economics education and financial literacy. The Committee narrowly backed sending
SB 1243 to the Senate Finance Committee. This is the Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts legislation. It would allow the parent of a public school student to apply to the relevant local school division for a one-year, renewable Parental Choice Education Savings Account, to consist of up to one-quarter of all applicable state per pupil and sales tax funds applicable to the student, for use at a private or religious school or for various other education expenses. The House version,
HB 1605, is in the House Appropriations Committee.
Read the full update on our
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