On Wednesday August 28, the Virginia Board of Education will hold a Special Session to consider the Statewide Comprehensive Support Plan . The Plan proposes the requirements that will be imposed on schools and districts when they do not meet the Board’s new rules for accreditation and accountability. Despite significant outcry, the board approved the new rules for schools, the School Performance and Support Framework , at their July 24 meeting. The Board projects that under

After a recent school board meeting, I was distracted by a Fairfax GOP-endorsed school board candidate yelling at me, when her friend joined in by yelling, “You don’t know what banned means!” as she vigorously pointed to the word “banned” on my brand new yellow t-shirt. Fortunately, her companion pulled her away while I stood there confused: what the heck was she talking about? I’ve since learned that there is an extensive public relations campaign by far right groups and me

As you may know, book bans have been on the rise with requests to ban books at record high in 2022. Like you, 4 Public Education is concerned about the attacks on the 1st Amendment through censorship, thus, we are covering Banned Books week, October 1-7th, over multiple blogs. To kick off Banned Book Week, Maryland and Virginia congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Church held a festival of banned books entitled Unstoppable Stories that covered the joy of reading challe

Dark money's influence on public education is not new. For decades, groups funded by billionaires have worked to push policies and proposals that pull teachers, funding, and other resources from public schools, including efforts to promote school privatization, charter schools, vouchers, and other so-called “education reform” schemes intended to defund and dismantle public education. In 2022, dark money groups are continuing these efforts to undermine and defund public educat

Governor Glenn Youngkin and his allies used attacks on public education to win the governorship in 2021. National and local dark money groups managed to paint a fearful, failing picture of Virginia public education. Nevertheless, overwhelming support for public schools continued among most community members. It is now 2022, so why are Governor Youngkin’s allies and groups like Moms for Liberty (M4L), Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), and Parents Defending Education (PDE) conti