In collaboration with the Virginia Grassroots Coalition , 4 Public Education initiated a letter to Governor Youngkin about the upcoming...

Best Schools Update 2024 “Above all, I believe every child, no matter their ZIP code or their parents' jobs, deserves access to a quality education.” - Betsy DeVos 2016 “A child's course in life should be determined not by the zip code she's born in” - Barack Obama “Literally nothing is evenly distributed by zip code, except having a zip code.” - Elon Musk Part I: Rankings v. Zip Codes “All children should have a great education regardless of zip code,” is perhaps one of the

A Strong Student Production of Kinky Boots While several hate groups descended on the FCPS high school last weekend, the students, teachers, and families of West Potomac High School chose to work together, put on an excellent show, and have a great time. Like their shirts said, “You can change the world when you change your mind.” The administrators, parents, students, and educators who put their hearts, souls, and bodies on the line for this production should be commended.

Today is May 1st. In an alternate reality where the U.S. Department of Education hadn’t completely botched the FAFSA form update, roll-out, and processing, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors would have signed on the dotted line and committed to a college. Today should be “College Day,” but instead, many students are in limbo and hundreds of colleges have now moved deadlines twice: first to May 15th and then to June 1st. If you don’t know the lingo: the FAFSA (Free

Thursday, April 24th, was a beautiful day for a moving experience of shared trauma, survival, triumph, and advocacy. Many thanks to Lisa Sales of Virginia National Organization for Women (Virginia NOW) who organized a press conference in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in front of the Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia where she gathered local experts, survivors, and legislators to advocate for strengthening laws, culture change, and better enforcement mechani

Give the Boot(s) to critics and let the show go on! Thousands of Fairfax residents are looking forward to seeing an amazing student musical at West Potomac High School (buy tickets here) about allyship and finding common ground with people who have different ideas and come from wildly different backgrounds. Meanwhile, a teeny-tiny group of parents are freaking out that Kinky Boots is somehow deviant or “sexual.” I don’t want to give their complaints air because they are so no

The Problem Two hundred thirty-three amendments : there are so many problems with the Governor’s amendments to the bipartisan budget that...

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

December 14, 2023 School Board meetings have become 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, as governed by the Cod

December 4, 2023 School Board meetings have become 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, as governed by the Code

November 9, 2023 School Board meetings have become ground zero for the culture wars, so 4 Public Education is introducing a new blog called “School Board Matters” for 2023-24. It 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 Boa

October 26, 2023 School Board meetings have become ground zero for the culture wars, so 4 Public Education is introducing a new blog called “School Board Matters” for 2023-24. It 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 Boa

School Board meetings have become ground zero for the culture wars, so 4 Public Education is introducing a new blog called “School Board Matters” for 2023-24. It 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 the

Although Governor Youngkin was lambasted 18 months ago for his inaccurate conclusions about the current state of Virginia Public...

School Board meetings have become ground zero for the culture wars, so 4 Public Education is introducing a new blog called “School Board Matters” for 2023-24. It 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 the

For two years in a row, Governor Youngkin has blamed slow growth and recovery of SOL test scores on his predecessors and pandemic school closures. Although scores showed some recovery in 2022 during Youngkin’s first year in office, 2023 SOL scores remained stagnant during his second year in office. This begs the question: Is Youngkin intentionally attempting to gaslight Virginians and spread disinformation, or does his administration fundamentally not understand how SOLs are

School Board meetings have become ground zero for the culture wars, so 4 Public Education is introducing a new blog called “School Board Matters” for 2023-24. It 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 Fairfax County School Board, including their p

School Board meetings have become ground zero for the culture wars, so 4 Public Education is introducing a new blog covering Fairfax County School Board meetings called “School Board Matters” for 2023-24. It will include analysis and links to video, agenda, and votes that affect you and your student(s). Where possible, we will provide links and primary source documents to support involvement in your student’s experience and education at FCPS. We hope this will provide a bette

Governor Youngkin continues to gaslight the public by manufacturing problems that he continues to blame on public schools in Virginia. It worked stunningly to get him elected in 2021; nevertheless, parents are weary of Youngkin’s empty claim that he is the “education governor.” This November, all of the Virginia General Assembly and many school board seats are up for election, thus the Governor and his supporters are repeating the tired claim that Virginia K-12 schools are fa