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Congress Just Made it Harder to Fund Public Schools
By passing Reconciliation Bill (H.R.1), Congress made the fight to fund public education even harder by starting a national school voucher program that would divert funds from public education into private coffers.
Marianne Burke, PhD
Jul 114 min read
Dear Fairfax Times: This Mom is Not Your Punching Bag
Volunteering for a committee shouldn't make you a target for far right radicals. Yet, the Fairfax Times took aim at me.
Vanessa Hall
Mar 216 min read
Project 2025 and IWF, Don’t Censor Our Students!
Project 2025 tries to cancel West Springfield High School, students, and Women's History Month in a coordinated attack.
Vanessa Hall
Mar 218 min read
A Superior Superintendent Remains at the Helm
In today’s divided world, it was a pleasure to see agreement in a school board meeting, as the Fairfax County School Board (FCSB)...
Vanessa Hall
Nov 24, 20241 min read
When Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Seeps into Public School Discussions
Combatting Disinformation is Harder than Sharing It There is so much disinformation floating around these days that it is hard to do much...
Vanessa Hall
Oct 17, 202412 min read
A Complex (and Expensive!) Legal Showdown about Student Rights Continues
Theocratic Veto versus School Policy This is part 2 of coverage on Jane Doe v. Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) (CL-2024-0003171), a...
Robert Rigby and Vanessa Hall
Aug 10, 20249 min read
Focus on Equity, Literacy, and Excellence
2025 FCPS Budget Public Input At the May 14, 2024 Public Hearing in front of the Fairfax County School Board on the 2025 Budget, the...
Vanessa Hall
May 15, 20242 min read
College Decisions Delayed. Thanks, FAFSA!
Today is May 1st. In an alternate reality where the U.S. Department of Education hadn’t completely botched the FAFSA form update,...
Vanessa Hall
May 1, 20243 min read
Governor, Show Your Commitment to Education by Funding our Schools
End of Session Update: Budget Amendments The 2024 General Assembly session ended on March 9th with 12 of the 4 Public Education priority...
Marianne Burke, PhD
Mar 14, 20243 min read
A Big Win for Students at the Supreme Court
TJ and FCPS Win in Court after Three Years of Litigation Fairfax County and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) are celebrating a...
Vanessa Hall
Mar 7, 20243 min read
Parents Feel Doubly Violated by a Privacy Breach
Like tens of thousands of parents, I received a letter this week indicating that FCPS inadvertently released my child’s private...
Vanessa Hall
Dec 14, 20234 min read
Tuesday’s Elections Send Message: Parents Want Robust Libraries, Inclusiveness, Truthful History
Pundits cast Virginia’s Tuesday general elections as a referendum on abortion rights. It was more than that. Further down the ballot...
Holly Hazard
Nov 8, 20232 min read
Op-ed: Northern Virginia in the Crosshairs
Even before he was elected, Virginia Gov. [Glenn] Youngkin focused his attention on harmful, fabricated fibs about public education. He...
Marianne Burke (PhD) and Vanessa Hall
Oct 30, 20234 min read
Gaslighting the Public: Misinterpreting Student Performance and NAEP Scores (3 of 3)
Although Governor Youngkin was lambasted 18 months ago for his inaccurate conclusions about the current state of Virginia Public...
Marianne Burke, PhD
Oct 11, 20233 min read
Book Bans by any other Name Smell like Censorship
After a recent school board meeting, I was distracted by a Fairfax GOP-endorsed school board candidate yelling at me, when her friend...
Vanessa Hall
Oct 10, 20233 min read
Gaslighting the Public: Manufactured Crisis over SOL Scores (2 of 3)
For two years in a row, Governor Youngkin has blamed slow growth and recovery of SOL test scores on his predecessors and pandemic school...
Marianne Burke (PhD) and Vanessa Hall
Sep 19, 20235 min read
Speaking out Against Hate at the VA BOE
Although it was nowhere on the Virginia Board of Education agenda, nearly all public input today, July 27, 2023, was about Youngkin's...
4PE Team
Jul 27, 20231 min read
Will the Supreme Court Affirmative Action Rulings affect TJ High School?
Supreme Court protests. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/03/us/affirmative-action-asian-americans-qa-cec/index.html
Marianne Burke, PhD
Jul 11, 20235 min read
Did We Win? It depends on who you ask.
On Tuesday June 20, Virginians went to the polls in the preliminary stage of electing a new legislature. There are 140 seats in the...
Cheryl Binkley
Jun 28, 20232 min read
Education or Indoctrination? Review of the Virginia History Standards Hearings
By the time you read this blog, public input will be closed for the Virginia History and Social Studies Standards of Learning (History...
Marianne Burke (PhD) and Vanessa Hall
Mar 22, 20232 min read
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APS: History Repeats Itself
Witness the Arlington Public School Board stand up for the civil rights of students, as it did decades ago in the face of threats and segregation.
Why 4 Public Education Stands with the Districts who Protect Transgender and Non-binary Students
The Situation August 19, 2025 the US Department of Education announced they would withhold $50 million in Title IX funding from five of...
Back to School 2025-26
Back to school means something different to everyone. Don't forget that public education is still under threat by the US Dept of Education, defunding, and lawsuits.
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