The report by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia says fall enrollment declined at eight of the state's 15 four-year schools, compared to fall 2013.

Total head count dropped from 214,667 students to 213,718. It's the first year-to-year decline in enrollment since 1994.

During the same period, enrollment at private, nonprofit four-year institutions rose from 131,910 students to 135,910.

“I am honored to be elected by my colleagues to lead Democrats on the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the 114th Congress. When I was first elected to Congress, I was privileged to serve on this committee to promote educational opportunity for all children, economic justice for families and fairness and safety for America’s workers.

To gut those measures, he said, would be to fail students.

“For a Republican Party that has fought hard against wasting money, that has pushed for a focus on results for taxpayer dollars, turning back the clock would be truly hypocritical,” Duncan said in a speech at a Washington, D.C., elementary school. “This country can’t afford to replace ‘The fierce urgency of now’ with the soft bigotry of ‘It’s somehow optional’,” he continued, referencing President George W. Bush’s 1999 speech decrying lower expectations for disadvantaged children.

"The 2015 General Assembly session gavels to order on Wednesday, January 14. The session runs 46 days and is scheduled to end on February 28. During the course of the session, legislators will consider more than 1,500 bills and hundreds of resolutions. Amendments to current two-year state budget also will be crafted. “Cross-over day,” the last day for each house to act on its own bills, is February 10. House and Senate amendments to the budget for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 will be released on February 8.

Overview of Proposed Amendments to the 2014-2016 State Budget
Governor McAuliffe submitted his proposed amendments to the 2014-2016 state budget to the General Assembly money committees in mid-December. As noted above, legislators will craft their own amendments to the current spending plan during the upcoming 46-day legislative session. Approval of the budget typically is one of the final acts taken by the legislature at the end of the session.

In his speech to the committee members, Governor McAuliffe stated that “Virginia stands at an economic crossroads. We are still creating new jobs, but they can’t compensate for the loss of high-paying federal government-related jobs over the past three years, especially in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. A direct result of the deep cuts in federal spending, Virginia’s general fund revenue collections remain abnormally sluggish.” The governor’s proposed budget leaves in place the current revenue forecast of 2.8 percent growth for the remainder of FY15 and 2.6% growth for FY16.

The budget proposes savings/cost avoidance actions that exceed the amount required by the budget (Chapter 3) approved this fall; that is, more money was “found” than directed by the budget. More savings than anticipated were found in the Medicaid program and slower growth in K-12 student enrollment also produced state savings. The budget funds new expenditures with the balance from those adjustments and by reducing tax preferences by over $114 million in FY16. The budget also proposes $9 million in new and increased fees."

(To read the full update, visit our website.)

Public Education as a Right. While today’s public school enrollments (elementary and secondary schools) are more diverse than ever before in race, ethnicity, and nationality, the right to attend a public school is not absolute. As a matter of state law, local school boards retain legal authority to decide what children are legally eligible to attend the schools in their school district. As a general rule, and subject to reasonable requirements and regulations such as school age, bona fide residence requirements and valid immunizations, all children have a conditional right to attend public schools in the community where they live.

Judicial Benchmarks
A class action, Lau v. Nichols (1974) was originally brought in federal district court by parents of non-English speaking (Chinese) students in the San Francisco public schools. In their law suit the parents sought relief claiming that school officials were responsible for their children’s “unequal educational opportunities” by failing to provide courses in the English language, which they alleged violated equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.

At the time of the lawsuit The California Education Code (which compelled school attendance of children between the ages of six and sixteen years) mandated that “English shall be the basic language of instruction in the schools.” School districts were permitted to determine under the circumstances that “instruction may be given bilingually.” And, it was the policy of the state to insure “the mastery of English by all pupils in the schools.” Moreover, the law specified that no pupil shall receive a diploma of graduation from grade twelve who has not met the standards of proficiency in English.