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









Education Editorial: College savings accounts
NBC 12 (WWBT)
October 12, 2014

"With legislation developing at the state and federal levels, perhaps there is merit in replacing a 'hand out' for today with a 'start up' for tomorrow…"

Richmond school board investigating scope of information leak
NBC 12 (WWBT)
October 8, 2014 

Experts Weigh In On Richmond Student Information Link
ABC 8 (WRIC)
October 8, 2014

Richmond School Board member leaked disciplinary files to Medicaid vendor
CBS 6 (WTVR)
October 8, 2014

Articles of Interest
State & Local Policy

Teacher's group fights to overhaul Va. Beach School Board
ABC 13 (WVEC)
October 10, 2014

A group of Virginia Beach teachers is fighting to oust half the school board over controversial decisions like snow makeup days.

Six of the 11 positions are up for grabs in the upcoming November election.

People are disgusted with the school board and the support they're not giving to families or teachers.
VBEA president Trenace Riggs

"People are disgusted with the school board and the support they're not giving to families or teachers," Virginia Beach Education Association President Trenace Riggs says.

Shenandoah Valley educator named Va. teacher of the year
The Washington Post
October 10, 2014

A third generation Virginia educator whose lessons on farming explore the mysteries of plant life and the finer points of livestock care was named the state’s teacher of the year for 2015.

Jaclyn Marie Roller Ryan, a agriscience teacher at Signal Knob Middle School near Strasburg, was among eight finalists in the state for the honor. The surprise announcement was made Friday at a hotel in Richmond by Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven R. Staples and state board of education president Christian N. Braunlich.

Ryan, a native of Strasburg, is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where she studied agricultural education. Both her father and grandfather were agriscience teachers before her.

Federal Policy

The Biggest Blown Opportunity in Higher Ed History

Gallup Business Journal
October 7, 2014

A few months after Gallup released findings from the largest representative study of U.S. college graduates, there is much to ponder. The Gallup-Purdue Index surveyed more than 30,000 graduates to find out whether they are engaged in their work and thriving in their overall well-being. In simple terms, did they end up with great jobs and great lives?

We learned some stunning things. But one of the most important is that where you went to college matters less to your work life and well-being after graduation than how you went to college. Feeling supported and having deep learning experiences during college means everything when it comes to long-term outcomes after college. Unfortunately, not many graduates receive a key element of that support while in college: having a mentor. And this is perhaps the biggest blown opportunity in the history of higher ed.

College debt study: Student loans cross socio-economic lines
The Oregonian
October 8, 2014

More students from wealthier families are borrowing more money to finish college.

A just-released Pew Research Center study of 2012 data shows a record 69 percent of graduates took out loans to finance their educations and that they're borrowing about twice as much as 20 years ago....
How should we fund higher ed?

The rising cost of higher ed is a recurring theme of education news coverage, as is often declining government support for the same.  A quick visual comparison of tuition/fees growth vs. other major costs in life is striking. 






















As costs increased, so did federal funding via grants and loans - funding that eventually comes from taxpayers.  This naturally creates energetic debate about whether there are better ways to fund access to higher education. 

A recent article from Inside Higher Ed provides a run-down of state-level referenda in this November's elections, including one from Oregon that adopts a different mechanism for increased funding:

The debate over the high cost of a college degree is in full swing in Oregon, a state that ranks low in its support for higher education and where tuition and fees rank above the national average.

As a solution, Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, has pushed for more funding for higher education through the creation of a statewide endowment, with interest from a fund used for student assistance. Supporters of the amendment, named Measure 86, call it the Oregon Opportunity Initiative.

In his weekly editorial, Dr. Bosher highlights a recent NYTimes op ed by Andrea Levere on the potential of publicly seeded individual college savings accounts (CSAs) to increase college attendance and better target higher education funding toward students who otherwise would not be able to afford it.  As Levere points out, even CSAs with modest sums ($500) triple the likelihood of attending college and quadruple the rate of graduation among low-income students.  Levere argues providing this type of support may be more efficient in increasing access to low-income students than current federal tax deductions for higher ed - about $600 million a year, 90% of which goes to families in the top 20% of the income bracket. 

Using such a funding mechanism may also be smart politics - Levere points out the use of savings accounts makes the idea popular among both Democrats and Republicans.  But another factor in its favor may well be that the recipients of the initial startups are children rather than young adults. 

Our poll snapshot this week points to the different support levels among Virginians for paying higher taxes to keep a state budget area at its current funding levels.  Unsurprisingly, K-12 education ranks higher than public universities and higher ed.   

Finally, we share another excerpt from Dr. Vacca's most recent Ed Law newsletter, which looks at recent case law regarding mandatory school uniforms.

Sincerely,
CEPI
Poll Snapshot:  Willingness to pay more to keep spending the same
For the past six years, CEPI has asked a representative sample of Virginians whether they would be "willing . . . to pay more in taxes in order to keep the program going at its current level."  Public schools and public universities are two areas of spending listed, alongside mental health services, aid to low-income families, transportation and prisons.  



























Consistently public schools are at the top of the rankings (the last two years virtually tied with mental health services).  Public universities tend to get support from about half the population, similar to transportation spending.  For the purposes of our previous discussion about CSAs, what is perhaps most interesting in the demographic breakdowns is the different reaction among independents to K-12 funding vs. public universities.

A very strong majority of respondents were willing to pay more for public schools - 70%.  Fully 80% of Democrats were willing while only 57% of Republicans said the same.  Independents landed in the middle - 70% were willing.  Given the centrality of holding the same or reducing tax rates to current Republican party members, this spread is not surprising. 

This spread is not reflected when it comes to higher ed.  While only 49% of respondents were willing to pay more in taxes to keep public universities at the same level, independents were least likely to express such a willingness (36%), alongside Republicans (38%).  By contrast 61% of Democrats would be willing to pay more taxes to keep public higher ed funding the same.

Does this necessarily mean that independents would be willing to fund CSA start-ups for public school kindergartners while they would be reluctant to do so for 18 year olds?  No, not necessarily - the questions are too different.  But it does raise an interesting question and highlight a potential swing vote issue when it comes to independents in the commonwealth. 

(To read the full results of the 2014 poll, visit our website. Question 8 is the question reported above - topline results are on page 29; crosstabs are on pages 43-48.)

Ed Law: Teacher Methods and Classrooms Discussions - Policy Issues

Excerpted from Dr. Vacca's October Education Law Newsletter

"Controversial Subjects in the Classroom
As the United States Supreme Court has expressed, “classroom methodologies and techniques are matters best left to teachers and not the courts.” Owasso v. Falvo (2002) This point is subsequently emphasized in a Virginia case involving a teacher’s posting materials on his classroom bulletin boards. In affirming the lower court’s award of summary judgment to the school board the Fourth Circuit Court offered the following observation: “Although school teachers provide more than academic knowledge to their students, it is not a court’s obligation to determine which messages of social or moral values are appropriate in a classroom.” It is the school board’s responsibility. Lee v. York County (4th Cir. 2007)

In the Eighth Edition of our text, LAW AND EDUCATION: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES AND COURT DECISIONS (Lexis/Nexis, 2012), Professor Bosher and I devote an extensive discussion, with numerous case citations, to the school curriculum, academic freedom, and the inclusion of controversial subjects in the classroom. Beginning with Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) and the Supreme Court’s declaration that teachers do not shed their freedom of expression “at the schoolhouse gate,” the case law covers such issue producers as using R-rated films in class, requiring students to research and read materials dealing with sex education, and bringing outside speakers into classes, among others. One issue producer that has caused conflict has involved class discussions and teacher extemporaneous comments and remarks during class discussions. What follows is a brief look back at a court decision included in our text. I selected the case as an example of what a court might say in a situation where a classroom teacher was disciplined not for the materials or methods used, but rather for comments made in giving examples in response to questions asked by students in his ninth grade government classroom.

Miles v. Denver Public Schools (10 Cir. 1991) . . . "

To read the full newsletter, visit our website.