Four of the earliest school houses in Colonial America, (clockwise from top left) The Bray school of Williamsburg taught enslaved and free black children, The St. Augustine Oldest Wooden School House, the Boston Latin School, and the Staten Island Voorlezer's House. All these schools were in operation decades, some even more than a century before 1776, and some were operated with local tax dollars. When John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson were writing the Decl

Disruption is NOT Accountability The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) created disruptive accountability measures that will harm...

Courtesy of Cappies NCA Why Schools Should have a full-time dedicated Theatre Arts teacher in every K-12 school Spring Productions are underway!  Let me detail why a Theatre arts program is one of the most important elements in a school's repertoire of offerings. In the Theatre all are welcome and students learn to be accepting of the wide array of humanity and their beauty.  It has always been and will remain a safe place for all our unique, commonplace, variedly able, a

This is an update from the  report  on priority education bills that was published on February 14, 2024 and is current as of Wednesday, February 28, 2024.  The following five bills have passed both chambers and will go to Governor Youngkin for consideration. He will decide whether he will sign, veto, or amend each bill or allow it to become law by not addressing it. If the Governor vetoes or amends any bill it will go back to the General Assembly for further consideration. Th

The following is a letter posted by 4 Public Education Board Member Robert Rigby to Loudoun County Public Schools in response to their...

The 2025 FCPS budget  is worth reading. This 211 page document is extraordinary for its length, surely, but really for its fully integrated structure that includes the strategic plan, quality standards, and performance benchmarks. It provides details on every aspect of where the funds come from and how the money will be spent and basically how each dollar will forward the goals for our children. Most families may not have the time to read this hefty tome, so FCPS also created

Reflections on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday 2024 This past September, I attended the PEER conference in Memphis Tennessee for groups and activists advocating for equitable public school funding. The trip was more of a pilgrimage than I expected. The hotel where I stayed was very near the Lorraine Hotel where Rev. King was assassinated. We toured the Lorraine Hotel, now a civil rights museum, and during the stay we stopped at the Masonic Temple where Rev. King gave his last

Like many parents of high school seniors, my family has been knee deep in college applications since October. My son managed to meet all of the deadlines to request transcripts, request recommendations, and apply to colleges, but now we are in the next step: submitting financial aid forms. In fact, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA ) was the first thing on my list for 2024…and then my pen stopped working, which I’m hoping isn’t an omen. Applying for merit-

2023 was a busy year for 4 Public Education. In addition to our presence at school board meetings, key education events, and a robust...

If you care about public education, then you have noticed that school districts across the country have been under fire for the last...

Although most of us think of Christmas when we talk about the December holidays, there are eleven cultural and religious holidays...

“The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your...

November 9, 2023 School Board meetings have become ground zero for the culture wars, so 4 Public Education is introducing a new blog...

Election analysis from 4 PE Leadership continues with Public Testimony at the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) School Board meeting on Thursday, November 9th. Read the remarks and watch the video clip below: Good evening, I am Rick Clayton on behalf of 4 Public Education. I don’t need to be a fortune-teller to interpret the results of this week’s election . I can read the tea leaves. Chaos, transphobia, anti-CRT and lack of civility were trounced by the voters, by the p

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

On October 10, 2023, 4 Public Education co-founder Vanessa Hall spoke at a hearing in support of the proposal to rename W. T. Woodson...

We need to allow people to talk and we need to be open-minded. Our differences don’t need to divide us–they can bring us together. - Dr....

Respect Student Voices My heart broke listening to adults demonizing and dehumanizing students at the last school board meeting demonize...

All these school board seats are up for election this November, and you can tell things are heating up because false claims are...

Although it was nowhere on the Virginia Board of Education agenda, nearly all public input today, July 27, 2023, was about Youngkin's...