At the Statehouse: It's Week 3 and Education Bills are Moving!
- Marianne Burke, PhD
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
We are in our third week of the Virginia General Assembly, and bills are moving steadily through the committees and chambers. This is a relatively short session, with Crossover Deadline on February 18, 2026 and Adjournment on March 14, 2026.
2026 Priority Public Education Bills
The status of priority education bills for 4 Public Education and the Virginia Grassroots Coalition can be found at this link and current calls for action can be found here. For a wider view of bills passing in each chamber, go to this link. General information about the General Assembly is available here.
Much Ado about Nothing and Taxes
Readers may be hearing the much hyped concern emanating from conservative media about democrats raising taxes, which makes it clear that fact-checking is not their thing! In fact, only one bill related to tax increases has passed in the House and is on its way to the Senate for consideration. It is a bill that would allow an additional and temporary 1% sales tax, but only if voters in that locality approve the increase with a referendum. The revenue raised would go toward school construction and renovation.
More than half of Virginia’s schools are greater than 50 years old, and it will cost $25 billion to replace them. The bill would give localities the option to put it to a local vote to impose this tax, and the bill will go into effect only if the voters agree in that locality.
A number of jurisdictions in Virginia already have asked for and been given permission to use this referendum in their jurisdiction. This bill just extends the local option to all jurisdictions. Regardless of what you hear, this is not the Democrats raising your taxes as it has been a bipartisan bill.
Constitutional Amendment Status
Regarding bills for Constitutional Amendments, all seven passed in both chambers, but there is a hiccup with HJ4, the redistricting bill. Thanks to a successful court shopping effort, the court that heard the case blocked the bill from advancing based on what they determined to be a procedural issue.
Democrats in the General Assembly have sought an emergency halt with the Virginia Court of Appeals and they set a date to ask voters to authorize redrawing congressional districts. Voters have to remember that HJ4 would go into effect only if other states undergo redistricting.
