Fairfax County School Board Matters: March 7, 2024 First, I want to address the elephant in the room: I was unable to attend in-person last week because I suddenly realized that my tax deadline was less than 24 hours later. I love watching civic engagement in action, but to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin: death and taxes come for everyone. I also did not attend the 2/22 meeting either. I have a family who twisted my arm to miss the "excitement" of a school board meeting. Nevert

TJ and FCPS Win in Court after Three Years of Litigation Fairfax County and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) are celebrating a victory for its students, families, taxpayers, and schools because the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of the Coalition of TJ on February 20, 2024, thus permitting the May 2023 U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that ruled that TJ admissions did not constitute discrimination against Asian students. When Thomas Jefferson High Scho

School Board Matters, February 8, 2024 meeting School Board meetings are ground zero for the culture wars. Our “School Board Matters” blog will include analysis and links to video, agenda, and votes that affect you and your student(s), including links to primary source documents to support involvement in your student’s experience and education. We hope this will provide better access to and understanding of the Fairfax County School Board, including their powers and duties,

The pace has picked up in Virginia’s General Assembly as we approach some key deadlines. ‘Crossover’ is February 13, the deadline by which legislators must complete work on bills originating in the House of Delegates or the Senate. Any bills that have not passed their respective chamber will be left behind for this legislative session. In addition, deadlines loom for each chamber to complete their budget amendment bills. The House Appropriations and the Senate Finance an

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

School Board Matters, January 25, 2024 meeting School Board meetings are ground zero for the culture wars. Our “School Board Matters” blog will include analysis and links to video, agenda, and votes that affect you and your student(s), including links to primary source documents to support involvement in your student’s experience and education. We hope this will provide better access to and understanding of the Fairfax County School Board, including their powers and duties,

School Board Matters, January 11, 2024 meeting School Board meetings are ground zero for the culture wars. Our “School Board Matters” blog will include analysis and links to video, agenda, and votes that affect you and your student(s), including links to primary source documents to support involvement in your student’s experience and education. We hope this will provide better access to and understanding of the Fairfax County School Board, including their powers and duties,

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

Saturday, March 12 was the last day of the 60-day 2022 General Assembly. However, the legislature had not completed their work so there may be a need for a special session. In addition to dozens of bills left unresolved, the budget has not been passed. Here is a description of the status of each high-profile education bill and the K12 education issues left unresolved in the Budget. High profile education bills that were defeated in the Senate include the "divisive concept"