Compass Point
A Weekly Collection of Data, Articles and Insights from the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute
A project of the Virginia Commonwealth University's Center for Public Policy
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs
CEPI in the News
SCHEV makes student aid a priority
Commonwealth Times
January 26, 2015


VCU poll finds majority willing to pay more taxes to support schools

Augusta Free Press
January 24, 2015

Poll: colleges should report assaults to police
Williamsburg Yorktown Daily
January 20, 2015

Poll: Colleges should report assaults to police
Stauton News Leader
January 16, 2015
Articles of Interest
State & Local Policy

Competition for in-state admission remains stiff at Va. universities
The Loudoun Times
January 27, 2015
College admissions decisions are starting to roll in for Northern Virginia high school seniors, again drawing attention to the competition for in-state seats at Virginia’s top universities.

The fight for coveted spots at state schools has become an annual topic of debate in the legislature and in living rooms across the state.

Virginia law does not set a quota for in-state and out-of-state enrollment at state colleges and universities. However, the state budget bill instructs universities that have more than 25 percent out-of-state undergraduates to avoid increasing their out-of-state population further.

Four schools -- the University of Virginia, William and Mary, Virginia Tech and James Madison University -- have out-of-state enrollment above the 25 percent benchmark.

Va. educators announce “Put Kids First” campaign
Hampton Roads.com
January 26, 2015

A coalition of parents and educators announced today the launch of their new “Put Kids First” campaign.

The goal of the effort, which will include a rally at the Capitol April 18, is to educate the public about the state’s education needs and garner support for widespread change, Meg Gruber, president of the Virginia Education Association, said during a press conference this morning.

The campaign is a joint effort with the Virginia Parent Teacher Association.

Virginia needs to overhaul its education system, including providing more funding, ensuring that funding is more equitably distributed and reducing the number of standardized tests, Gruber said.

Va. Senate panel advances mandatory reporting bill for campus sexual assault
Washington Post
January 26, 2015

A panel of Virginia senators advanced a bill Monday that would require public colleges to report an alleged campus sexual assault to police within 24 hours of notification, defying the wishes of some survivors and their advocates.

On the heels of high-profile cases of rape on college campuses, many victims’ advocates worried that in their zeal to punish perpetrators, lawmakers might take away victims’ rights when they are most vulnerable — and cause a chilling effect on reporting.

The move is one of the first indications of how the Virginia General Assembly might act at a time when a scandal at the University of Virginia prompted by a Rolling Stone article and federal investigations into rape on college campuses have put this issue front and center.

Federal Policy

A Quiet Revolution in Helping Lift the Burden of Student Debt
The New York Times
January 24, 2015


Has the student loan crisis already been solved?

This might seem an absurd question. Student loan debt is at a record high of $1.1 trillion, and the average undergraduate who borrows to attend school graduates nearly $30,000 in debt. Almost 20 percent of student borrowers are in default.

Yet a couple of little-noticed legislative tweaks to a small, obscure loan repayment program — revisions made under two very different presidents — appear to have created the conditions for far-reaching changes in how a college education is bought and paid for. The result may make it much easier for students to get out from under their debts.

White House Proposals on 529 College Savings Plans Would Reduce Benefits
The New York Times

January 22, 2015

President Obama is proposing a radical change to the 529 college savings plans held by millions of families, which would require those who use them to rethink their approach to college savings.

As part of his plan to simplify the tax code and help the middle class, one of the 529 plan’s most attractive benefits would be eliminated: Money could no longer be withdrawn tax-free. (The new rules would apply only to new contributions.)

 
How strong is public support for education funding?

Funding is a constant education policy topic, whether one talks about K-12 or higher education.  The topic has been in the news recently, with policy-makers at the federal and state levels looking for ways to keep costs manageable for more students.  Before last week's state of the union address, President Obama proposed a free community college tuition plan to expand access to education.   More recently, an Obama proposal to tax 529 savings plans drew significant critique.  And analysis from the New York Times Upshot blog suggests that the much talked about concern over huge student debt loads may have already been solved by policy choices made several years ago (but only now taking full effect). 

Here in the commonwealth, legislators are moving along several proposals designed to control higher education costs including measures that would cap athletic fees and provide administrative flexibility.  A listing of topics before the Subcommittee on Higher Education yesterday includes several more. 

Common sense says that most people are willing to pay less for the same thing (free tuition, for example).  What is more interesting from a public policy perspective is when the public is willing to pay more to get the same funding levels dedicated to a public undertaking like education.  Our Poll Snapshot this week looks at information from the recent release of our Commonwealth Education Poll that looked at several school funding questions.  Read below for more detail, but here's the headline - a slight majority would be willing to pay more in taxes to have higher K-12 education funding.
We'll also be breaking down more detailed results of the poll in the coming months in Compass Point, but keep an eye open for the release of the third section of data at 9am on Thursday, January 29th.  SOL reform, School Accountability and Virtual Education are the lead topics of the release. 

The General Assembly continues in full swing despite snowy weather early this week.  Check out the excerpt below from David Blount's General Assembly Week 2 review.  Weekly updates are posted to the website each Monday detailing the progress of education related budget and legislation. 

Sincerely,
CEPI
Poll Snapshot:  School Funding
While legislators continue to look for ways to make up for an unexpected shortfall in tax revenue, Virginians remain strongly supportive of funding for the public schools and see it as having a direct impact on school quality. More than two-thirds of Virginians (68%) say that Virginia schools do not have enough funds to meet their needs, while only 26% say schools have enough funding now.

More than three-quarters of respondents (78%) also said that the amount of funding affects the quality of schools a great deal or quite a lot. School employees/retirees (at 60%) and parents of public school students (at 59%) were more likely to say funding mattered a great deal when compared to non-employee/retiree (50%) and non-parent respondents (49%). Likewise, 58% of minorities said funding mattered a great deal compared to 48% of whites.

Virginians are willing to pay more in taxes to support school funding levels. Seven-in-ten respondents (70%) said they would be willing to pay more in taxes to keep public schools funded at the current level and 53% are willing to pay more so that school funding can be increased. Of those willing to pay more to increase funding for public schools, 44% favored a sales tax as the best vehicle for a tax increase while 22% preferred an increased income tax.


Larger proportions of Virginians are willing to pay more in taxes to protect funding for public schools (70%) and mental health services (72%) than would do so to keep programs for aid to low-income families (56%), funding for higher education (48%) and transportation (46%) at current level. Only about a quarter of state residents (27%) are willing to pay more to keep funding for prisons at current levels.

“The gap in relative support between mental health services and public education on one extreme and prisons on the other may well explain why the Governor and General Assembly leaders in October cut more than 500 state jobs in the Department of Corrections while sparing K-12 education,” said McDougle. “While those cuts are no less painful for the people laid off, it appears the decision was aligned with the public’s sense of priorities.”

To read the full results of the second release, visit our website.

General Assembly Update - Week 2

Excerpted from CEPI's weekly General Assembly Update

"State Budget Issues

Earlier this week, lawmakers released hundreds of amendments to the proposed spending plan introduced by Governor McAuliffe in December. Various salary increase proposals for state employees, state-supported local employees and teachers were submitted. Several amendments would provide the state share of a 6% salary increase for SOQ instructional and support positions at a cost of over $241 million. Several other amendments would provide varying levels of funding to restore the Cost of Competing Adjustment (COCA) rate for school support positions in primarily Northern Virginia school divisions. Amendments propose $2.5 million the second year to establish a grant program to assist school divisions in providing pay incentives designed to attract and retain teachers with needed expertise in hard-to-staff or low-performing schools. Other amendments would provide additional dollars to help schools purchase EpiPens, and to expand preschool and kindergarten readiness as well as Project Discovery. More detailed information about proposed budget amendments submitted by legislators is available here.

Elsewhere on the budget front, state revenue collections through the first six months of the current fiscal year were 6.8 percent higher than the same period a year ago. Collections are running about $200 million ahead of estimates. However, the budget is based on revenue growth of just 3.1 percent for FY15. Budget writers will receive an updated revenue estimate in February (to account for January collections) to be used in shaping the state budget over the final weeks of the session.

Education Legislation

General Assembly consideration of bills was fast and furious this past week, as committees began considering the many bills that were introduced. In the House Education Committee, Republicans began to make good on their promise to address SOL testing and accountability issues. The Committee unanimously approved HB 1490 to direct the Board of Education (BOE) to promulgate regulations to provide the same criteria for eligibility for an expedited retake of any Standard of Learning (SOL) test, with the exception of writing SOL tests, to each student regardless of grade level or course. Writing was excluded because it takes longer and costs more. The bill contains an emergency clause, meaning it would take effect upon passage. It was sent to the House Appropriations Committee, where legislators will look for the $200,000 needed to implement the bill. The Senate is on track to approve its version of the bill, SB 874, but without an emergency clause. A subcommittee also favorably recommended HB 1302 to allow expedited retakes at local expense."

To read the full newsletter, visit our website.