A Call to Advocacy for SB21 and HB509 I am a parent of a dyslexic student. When it became clear in first grade that our daughter could not read, we had to pay for private testing to ensure that our daughter accessed dyslexia services in FCPS before she fell so far behind that she could never catch up or was so filled with self-doubt that she was convinced that she would never succeed. Due to the support of amazing FCPS teachers and staff, our daughter is reading close to grad

February 3rd will end the third week of the 2024 Session of Virginia’s General Assembly. At the time of this writing, one priority education bill has cleared the Senate (SB14) and most of the other priority education bills 4 Public Education endorses are working their way through the committees. One of the bills we opposed (SJ9) was defeated. The early success this year is at least in part due to the vigorous support of these bills by public education advocates who have been

Last year, public education advocates were unsuccessful at getting the 2023 priority education bills passed in the General Assembly. This was because the majority party in the House (GOP) tended to be less supportive of public education than the minority party (Democratic). Although the Democratic members in the Senate were in the majority, bills could not advance that year because each bill must pass both chambers before they have a chance of being signed into law by the G

Choosing a Reading Curriculum that Works In 2022 the Virginia legislature passed The Virginia Literacy Act, often referred to as VLA. It was sponsored by such unlikely co-sponsors as lead Senate Democrats Louise Lucas from Portsmouth and Jennifer McClellan, and Siobhan Dunnavant, Republican firebrand from Henrico. The House sponsors were Carrie Coyner, a Republican from Chesterfield, and Kaye Kory, a Fairfax County Democrat. What could have brought legislators from such varie

The Board of 4 Public Education is disappointed with the proposed budget released by Governor Youngkin on December 20, 2023. It seems...

Pundits cast Virginia’s Tuesday general elections as a referendum on abortion rights. It was more than that. Further down the ballot those votes also sent a strong message to those trying to disrupt public education: listen to parents. Parents who came out to vote in Fairfax, Loudoun and even Spotsylvania, the epicenters of vitriol and fantasy, voted with a resounding “no” to candidates who focused on anti-CRT, book bans and transphobia. Parents overwhelmingly voted for moder

Even before he was elected, Virginia Gov. [Glenn] Youngkin focused his attention on harmful, fabricated fibs about public education. He...

Imagine a world where the Moms for Liberty and like-minded individuals were elected to the school board, state legislature, and governorship in your state. Imagine a world where our schools were plundered for funding, teachers abandoned the profession, and our kids were left to pay the price. This is a semi-fictional tale taken from real world events in schools and school districts from across the country where people failed to vote in support of their teachers, students, and

A recent poll by the Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government revealed factors that may...

The General Assembly reconvenes in Richmond on April 12th to address unfinished legislative business. There are three major items on the session’s agenda: the state budget, bills the Governor vetoed, and remaining appointments made by the Governor since the General Assembly session ended in February. Below is an explanation of what to expect related to K-12 education for this April session of the General Assembly. The Budget Virginia has a two-year budget cycle; thus, in even

The 2023 General Assembly adjourned on Saturday, February 25th. During this session, things played out as predicted for a divided legislature where each party blocked efforts of the other party which resulted pretty much with the status quo as a result. Regarding 4 Public Education’s priority bills, all the bills we opposed failed, but most of the bills we supported also failed with two exceptions: A bill to increase mental health resources in K-12 went to conference but was

After the General Assembly adjourns on February 25, 2023, all bills that pass both chambers will go to the Governor for his signature or veto; however, the General Assembly will reconvene on the sixth Wednesday after adjournment (April 6th) to consider any of the Governor's recommendations and vetoed legislation. Bills that are signed by the Governor will become law on July 1 of this year. Now the attention turns to the 2024 State Budget. The Governor provided his proposed bu

At this the first full week after Crossover, only five of our original 29 priority bills remain active. We oppose three of those bills and support two. The following information about those bills is current as of Wednesday morning. You can help oppose or support them by answering the easy one-click call to action. HB1448 and HB1379 will be heard in the Senate Public Education subcommittee on Wednesday. These bills are part of the attempt to ban books in public school libra

Tuesday, February 7, 2023 is the Crossover deadline in Richmond for the 2023 General Assembly. Advocacy by the public has been successful.

Things continue to be hectic in the General Assembly with the House and Senate both trying to finish hearing bills before crossover (to the other chamber) next week. Education bills are progressing, thus we are continuing to update Calls to Action as the bills change status. Another update will be sent out via email on the weekend Take Action Alerts. If you haven’t subscribed to get email updates, please do now here. These bills are current as of 1/31, and are broken out base

If it is the end of January in Richmond, Virginia, then the General Assembly is in session. The General Assembly consists of state Senators and Delegates who make new or change existing laws. Bills can be introduced by either Senators or Delegates, be debated in committees, and if successful, can advance to the chamber floor. If the bills pass the chamber where they are introduced, they will be passed to the other chamber during ‘crossover’ where the bill must go through the

We are fortunate in Virginia to now have a surplus in our budget. We are pleased to have legislators who advocate to apply that surplus toward public education to solve critical problems such as overcrowding, deferred maintenance, and inadequate staffing. These needs have gone unfilled in past years because the budget could not stretch far enough to meet those needs. However, other officials in our executive and legislative branches intend to use that surplus to cut taxes, de

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) constructs satellite Gross Domestic Product accounts which look at the contributions of certain...

4PublicEducation.org champions public schools as the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and the right for every child to an exceptional education, thus we encourage all to vote before or on Election Day, November 8, 2022. Some deadlines are fast approaching, including: November 5th: Last day to apply in-person for absentee ballot AND last day to request a replacement absentee ballot. November 7th: Last day to Request an Emergency Absentee Ballot. November 8th: Election Day. O

Network for Public Education's Statement on the Supreme Court's Decision in Carson v. Makin The ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in...