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Historically, school board elections have received little attention from voters, but recently extremists have begun trying to take over public school boards. Now we realize the importance of electing quality school board members who prioritize the students and support public schools rather than furthering extreme agendas . Because extreme right-wing groups continue to foment culture wars and support extremist candidates, we must have a concrete plan to combat disinformation and help elect good candidates.  Until recently, most of Virginia’s public school boards had a  principled and relatively nonpartisan approach  to overseeing public schools, irrespective of who was in control of the Commonwealth’s government. Virginia’s public education system operated to advance a common purpose that made decisions based on what was best for all the children. They made decisions irrespective of politics in order to support success in education and had a goal of fostering community environments where all voices in the community were heard, respected and represented by local school board members.  The role of School Boards  includes the development of the school district’s budget, setting school policies, and hiring and evaluating the superintendent–all while complying with Commonwealth of Virginia laws  and regulations. School boards are also heavily involved in academic, legal, financial and personnel issues and policies for that school district, and represent the residents and educators in their community.  Sadly, heightened political polarization across the nation has unleashed culture wars at school board meetings and mobilized extremist groups to infiltrate school boards. Even in small districts the replacement of only one or two board members can create a highly polarized and often destructive dynamic for the community. In fact, a former Virginia school board member and current president of the Virginia School Boards Association recently opined  that: "Once pillars of local community engagement, school boards have become battlegrounds for political ideologies.”  We can no longer assume that those elected to the school board have the best interest of our children and families in mind, because extreme political agendas have become paramount to some candidates. We no longer have the luxury of letting others choose our school board members. Instead we must be proactive: researching candidates, their priorities and plans for our school systems. Furthermore, we must share that information with voters so they can make informed decisions when they vote.  4 Public Education  and their partners (listed below) will assist activists who are advocating for good school board candidates in 2024 by sharing resources that can help them collect information about candidates and inform voters about the candidates. Some of these resources were used successfully in a county school board election in 2023 . 4 Public Education is partnering with the following organizations: ACLU People Power Fairfax, COVA Coalition, Fairfax Indivisible, Virginia Grassroots Coalition, Network NOVA, Red Wine and Blue The 21 cities that are holding school board elections this November are shown on the map just below.  For advice and access to resources to help with city school board elections please add your name to this form and we will put you on our mailing list for sharing information and resources.

Imagine a world where the Moms for Liberty and like-minded individuals were elected to the school board, state legislature, and governorship in your state. Imagine a world where our schools were plundered for funding, teachers abandoned the profession, and our kids were left to pay the price. This is a semi-fictional tale taken from real world events in schools and school districts from across the country where people failed to vote in support of their teachers, students, and schools. Check the links to see real-life examples from around the country--you might see your own school district. There is an important election in Virginia on November 7th. Do your research and vote wisely, or this could be your school, your teachers, your family. In January 2024, new school boards, legislators, and governors were installed across the country. They were swept in because of voter apathy, fear, and resignation, combined with a 3-year long Ed Scare campaign and dark money donors that fomented fear, anger, and action over manufactured panics about education. Some of these newly elected Ed Scare candidates were vocally endorsed by far right groups like Moms for Liberty or Moms for America , while others were sneakier: they wore lavender, pretended to be “moderate,” and their campaign literature contained great swaths of blue to confuse voters into thinking they were democrats or independents. Some Ed Scare candidates carried book bags holding frequently challenged books to scare parents into voting against their public schools. Many candidates, particularly in suburban areas, eliminated the obvious right-wing rhetoric from their platforms because they found that full-throated bigotry and exclusion of LGBTQIA kids didn’t play well with voters in 2022. Not only that, but some training by right-wing suburban candidates included directions to AVOID culture wars or book banning to hide their true agendas. Often, it was more about what they didn’t say, than what they said. They spoke of accountability, but never students. They spoke of indoctrination, but never history. They spoke of bathrooms, but never LGBTQIA student rights. They spoke of CRT , but not inclusion. As soon as these Ed Scare candidates were installed in office, they started checking things off their right-wing to-do list: undermine faith in public schools, weaken the education system, remove the rights of the majority of parents , defund programs and schools, target students and teachers, and replace curricula with indoctrination . First they eliminated Accountability to the Community For school districts inundated by these Ed Scare candidates, things went bad fast. Even for those school districts with just one or two Ed Scare electeds, everything on the School Board came to a standstill, due to incompatible priorities and deadlocked voting . No votes could be cast, no policy could be made, and no budgets were passed. These Ed Scare candidates ran on accountability, but that was a smokescreen because once in office, they refused to respond to constituents, be held accountable to the public , or follow local and state regulations and policies. “Accountability for thee, but not for me” was their mantra. At first it was small things, like reducing public comment to once a month or silencing critical comments from the public, but then it extended to installing kill switches to cut off any public input at school board meetings that ran counter to their views. It was ironic that the free speech absolutists limited and eliminated free speech, but no one could complain and few media outlets were brave enough to cover the outrage. But very soon, they started messing with the budget , playing chicken with teacher salaries and school funding, thus infuriating the Board of Supervisors that oversees the school district budget. The once complicated, but transparent, process became cloaked in mystery, often violating board policies that transparency and prevent fraud and abuse. In fact, budget discussions went dark with no opportunity for public review or input. They fired well-regarded, competent Superintendents in order to hire Superintendents who agreed with their Ed Scare agenda but had no training and experience in K-12 education , and it showed. Those superintendents knew nothing about evidence-based education practices, much less how to manage an entire district. Superintendents were chosen for loyalty to the Ed Scare candidates, rather than expertise in managing schools, students, teachers, and a multi-million dollar budget. One such Superintendent collaborated with his Ed Scare School Board to pull stunt after stunt, messing with money, salaries, and students’ lives. Teacher fled and classroom sizes ballooned. Even school boards with some of the old guard, elected officials appeared to be powerless against these moves. In some districts, the school board chair silenced public input and other school board members with kill switches. School Board chairs quashed discussion and hid agenda items so that they could not be discussed to prevent anyone from being able to raise the alarm on items like funding new charter schools, many of which close in the first 3-10 years . Thus school board members who actually wanted to do the work of the people were silenced, as well. Citizens were ill-equipped to fight this onslaught of opacity and authoritarianism , but they pulled together their finances to sue . It was expensive and time consuming for parents and other citizens, especially when the School Board’s legal expenses for violating policy, and sometimes the law , were covered by their insurance policies. Taxpayers were the ones who had to foot the bill for incompetence, greed, and ignorance. But it is the students and teachers who really paid the price. Then They Came for the Teachers Teachers were restricted from mentioning certain topics and tip lines were made available for parents to report teachers who did. Teachers were forced to publish their full curriculum online for parents to see, and lacked the flexibility to respond to student questions or tailor classes to respect student needs, which meant both they and their students were bored. Civics teachers were bribed to attend state-run civics training that were more like re-education camps where they learned how to teach a radically religious and conservative version of history. Their classroom libraries were purged of any book that dared speak of multiculturalism, social justice, civil rights; or people and experiences that deviated from white, cisgender, heterosexual, and Christian. Teacher’s classrooms were sanitized of any declarations or symbols of inclusion and only American flags were allowed– rainbows were forbidden . Gone were the signs that said “you are safe here” in high school. Elementary school crayola crayon boxes that contained crayons to color the full skin tones of kids were raided, because peach would “do fine” for all people, as it always had …. Classroom records were subject to FOIAs so regularly by some paid agitators that some administrators just left the profession, while teacher harassment and conflicting messaging sent teachers fleeing for states and districts that respected them and their profession. Teachers didn’t just fear being fired, they feared being incarcerated because their very profession had been weaponized against them. Then They Came for the Librarians Class libraries had already been decimated in the classroom purges, so school libraries were next. Instead of following district policies covering procedures to challenge books, some superintendents chose to remove books based on a trumped up question , “Will you allow your child to access sexually explicit books?” A month later, 23 books , mostly with LGBTQIA or non-white main characters, were removed from the shelf. Some Ed Scare school board members wanted to burn the books . In some states, books were removed from the libraries so that the space could be turned into holding cells for disciplining students. Librarians lost their jobs , students lost their books, and the community lost literacy. Then They Came for the Students Teachers leaving the profession and public funds stolen from public schools created the perfect storm to destroy public schools in districts across the nation. Some districts had to move to 4-day school weeks because of teacher scarcity and funding. Ultimately, it was the students who paid the price. Responding to the Ed Scare battle cry “Return to the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic” only core classes were funded, thus the arts and any non-core classes that gave kids (and teachers!) joy were eliminated because budget cuts had to come from somewhere. Advanced Placement classes were eliminated because they were too “controversial.” They cut the budgets for Title 1 schools that support low income families. Any mental health services were eliminated, particularly if they had the initials “SEL” (a.k.a., Social Emotional Learning) which Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education had called a “trojan horse for CRT.” No one understood how mental health programs were a “trojan horse” for anything but improved health and education outcomes, but Ed Scare officials attacked mental health programs in public schools and managed to eliminate successful, beneficial programs. Student affinity groups were decimated after Parents Defending Education was emboldened by its earlier efforts to interfere in how affinity groups were run , they were able to eliminate all race and religion-based affinity groups, except inexplicably “Good News” and bible study groups that thrived based on religious freedom redefined by the Supreme Court . Students felt “abandoned” by their school board when pride flags and Black Lives Matter symbols were removed. Students grew weary of nonstop protests to fight for their rights, which fell on the deaf ears of Ed Scare school board members. In some districts, families chose to move away rather than deal with the anti-transgender restrictions on health care and parental rights implemented in their state. Along the Way, They Destroyed Public Education as we Know It All of the chaos described above hid more complicated privatization schemes going on local and state levels which involve voucher scams and scandal-ridden charter schools , both of which suck public money away from the students who need it while giving the money to institutions that lack accountability and transparency while rejecting students who don’t fit their criteria. This means that public schools were further underfunded, thus buildings fell into disarray, educators fled the profession, and students’ education suffered. Some schools went bankrupt , while others were hobbled by defunding as “ the money follows the child ” out of the taxpayers’ hands into private and religious schools. These were more than temporary issues that could be fixed by the next election. The Ed Scare agenda jeopardized student education and success. It created a level of divisiveness and fear that ran counter to an inclusive environment that is open to all students no matter their race, ethnicity, country of origin, language, disability, ability, gender, gender identity, sexuality, or income level. The Ed Scare agenda managed to remove accountability, transparency, teachers, and students from education, and our entire nation paid the price. What can Voters Do? Each citizen must be ever-vigilant or freedom and rights will be abridged while children’s education will be stolen by those who want to sell it to the highest bidder. Vote. Vote wisely. Vote for public schools. Likely the future depends on it.

Public Input at 6/13/24 Fairfax County School Board Meeting My name is Vanessa Hall. I am the proud parent of two FCPS students, one of whom just graduated! Thank you for attending our students' graduation ceremonies--it means so much to many of us. I am also co-leader of FCPS Pride, and I would like to thank you for your support for our LGBTQIA staff, families, and students by today’s Pride Proclamation. We held a small rally to celebrate the pride proclamation and other successes this year, like FCPS: Reaffirming transgender and non-binary student rights by loudly rejecting Youngkin’s anti-trans policies and implementing Policy 2603. Updating the Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum on consent, safety, and health. Working to make FLE more inclusive of all students, including our LGBTQIA community. And, the updated Title IX from the U.S. Department of Education that protects students from harassment and provides consequences for assault. However, we all know that there is still work to be done. For example: Our FLE curriculum is about three decades old. Interim changes to have been beneficial, but can not address deficiencies at the core of a curriculum developed in a previous century when gay marriage was illegal and our students and staff were still in the closet. Virginia laws exist that prevent FLE from providing medically accurate and inclusive education to students. Students and staff are still targeted or bullied for their actual or perceived sexuality or gender identity. Obviously, schools can only do so much, so I beg parents and guardians to think about their words and actions, since students model what they hear and see. We should try our best to treat others in our community with kindness and respect. Yet, we must remain vigilant to prevent bullying, harassment, and harm to the FCPS community. Our work may never be done, but we appreciate working with you, the School Board, to make our schools a safe and welcoming space for students and staff to have access to a great education and amazing opportunities. Both Robert Rigby (4 Public Education board member) and Christine McCormick, of FCPS Pride gave powerful, meaningful speeches on similar subjects. Please consider listening to them to learn more about what we can work on together in the future to make our schools and FLE curriculum more inclusive.

I don’t know about you, but this has been an incredible school year. One of my kids began high school this year while the other just graduated last week. Like so many parents, I cannot believe that 13 years have passed so quickly for my high school graduate. I remember him fondly as a sweet 35-pound kindergartner holding my hand; even though he is now almost six feet tall and ready to fly off to a college far from Virginia. Just this week, my son’s third grade teacher, Mrs. K, mailed him a letter that he wrote to his future self along with a class photo of him as an 8 year old. It tugged at my heart to see the same determination in his eyes as the shortest boy in the class that he has now as a long-legged teenager who can drive. Ms. K described his letter as filled with “the hopes and dreams of a 9 year old you.” His hopes and dreams were pretty simple, filled with baseball, soccer, and dive team–such a contrast to his actual achievements in secondary school and scouts. As any parent, I am proud of his successes and a little fearful about what the future will bring, but I have seen a strong-minded, smart boy who is ready for his next steps, which are almost as important as his first. Although my family has been under strain due to things outside of our control, my kids have received amazing educations, participated in terrific opportunities, and been supported and educated by deeply caring and knowledgeable teachers. The teacher’s letter reminded me of all of the teachers who supported our kids’ journeys in and out of school. They spent time making interesting lessons, preventing in-class bullying, and offering solace when times were rough. I could speak for hours about his incredible teachers, but I won’t bore you with that...today. “I Lived” by OneRepublic was sung by the Woodson High School Chorus at graduation last week. Never were there more appropriate and beautiful words for the future of our FCPS graduates: Hope when you take that jump, you don't fear the fall Hope when the water rises, you built a wall Hope when the crowd screams out, it's screaming your name Hope if everybody runs, you choose to stay Hope that you fall in love and it hurts so bad, hey The only way you can know, you give it all you have And I hope that you don't suffer, but take the pain Hope when the moment comes, you'll say I, I did it all I, I did it all I owned every second that this world could give I saw so many places, the things that I did Yeah, with every broken bone I swear I lived A final aside: Teachers and school staff make or break a student’s experience. We need to pay them accordingly and treat them with respect for their education, experience, and intentions. That is not to say that everyone is perfect and that parents shouldn’t question teachers, but those parents who go out of their way to make teachers miserable or use them as political punching bags are doing harm to the education of all of our kids by encouraging good teachers and staff to leave the profession for greener pastures (a.k.a., more money and security, and less grief). As your kids graduate elementary, middle, and high school, take a moment to think about those who made a difference. Reach out to them to say thank you. That could be the difference between a future student having that same supportive teacher.

The Financial and Emotional Costs of anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric In the first two weeks of Pride month, I have been struck by increased hate, fear, and anger against the LGBTQ+ community, specifically against our schools. As a mom and active school volunteer, I find this concerning because I know how harmful it is to students, educators, and families. Not only are these wild accusations and misinformation scary, but they also make parents and guardians feel threatened for the safety of their children in and out of schools. Additionally, there is also a financial burden to the schools, as the actions triggered by such rhetoric requires additional safety personnel in schools and at meetings, while school staff and leaders need to take valuable time away from education to create safety plans to protect students and educators in schools, and their families at events. I have seen this with my own two eyes that over the past three years, there is an increased security presence at school board meetings after threatening words and behavior from participants in anti-LGBTQ+ rallies. More recently, I witnessed this at a recent musical production of Kinky Boots, where the Superintendent and security kept a watchful eye on the entrance door of West Potomac High School to ensure the safety of the families, students, and staff running and watching the family friendly drag show brunch before the matinee of Kinky Boots. Security was also out front of West Potomac to ensure that the 30 or so protestors, most of whom came from at least three known SPLC-defined hate groups, did not overly impede access to the school with their air horns, shouts, and ugly slogans. How much did this cost our school system? I have no idea, but the emotional cost was also high, as West Potomac moms and dads stood watch on the street, at the entrance, and around the theaters to ensure that no harm came to their children from these hell-bent on disruption hate-groups. Such hateful rhetoric drives lawsuits that suck money from our students’ education, including the recent American First Legal lawsuit, a legal group formed by former Trump administration official Stephen Miller, which seems to be more focused on raising a ruckus (i.e., publicity) than actually accomplishing any change. FCPS Pride described the lawsuit to be “abhorrent.” Hopefully, it will be found that the plaintiff lacks standing. Likely, the lawsuit would violate Biden revised Title IX regulations that bar transgender bathroom bans while strengthening harassment and assault protections. However, the lawsuit is being argued by Ian Prior (American First Legal and Fight for Schools) in court right now, so we do not know the outcome, but like the 2023 National Merit case brought by Attorney General Jason Miyares, it will likely cost our school district a lot of money. If it is not clear, much of this hate is politically motivated from the far right and is amplified and accepted by members of only one party. However, to me, this is not a political issue, but an issue of human and civil rights, so I am confused why one party repeatedly calls LGBTQ+ parents and their children such horrid names while endangering them with abominable legislation and actions. Why does the party that purportedly pushes “parents’ rights” call parents alphabet people, mutilators, and angry "Karens" while accusing them of being in a cult? We are parents and guardians! We know best for our children! Parent your own child and leave us and our kids alone! All of that being said, the emotional damage of this hateful rhetoric to families and children is immense. We, the parents, and our children see the name-calling, bomb threats, and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and we know they are true threats to the health and safety of our families and children. Thus, we need to spend time and money protecting our families and ensuring their physical and emotional safety. In some cases this hateful rhetoric causes people to be afraid to wear rainbows in public, to be hyper-vigilant at June Pride events, and fearful about sharing pronouns. The proliferation of such hateful rhetoric means that we need to see our “friends” reposting hateful local opinion pieces or anti-trans memes. To them it is political, but to us, it is our heart. Each of us knows that when hate comes for our children, it is like a knife in our own heart, because we feel what they feel and cry when they cry. So, I beg of each and every one of you to continue to wear your pride and “be kind” shirts. Speak up in your school and to the school board. Protect and support all students, because you never know who may need that extra love and support. How do I know? Well, my husband and I wore pride shirts to a graduation after Reston Pride two weeks ago. As we were leaving the party, a parent ran up to us to say “thank you” for wearing our rainbow shirts because she knew we were supporting her and her LGBTQ+ child. In this world, sometimes kindness and support from strangers can mean a lot. So wear your love on your chest, hat, and car. Let the world know that human rights should always come before politics. If we show our love for our children, families, and community, we can defeat the hate, because love always trumps hate. The intent of the hate is to silence us and push all of the rainbows (and those who wear them) back into the closet. Resist. Together. With Love and Pride.

One in six kids aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year, and half of all mental health conditions begin by age 14 with up to one-half of those untreated. Unfortunately, suicide is second only to gun violence as the leading cause of death for young people (aged 10-34), so thank you, Fairfax County School Board members, for using ESSR III funds for counselors, psychologists, social workers, and family liaisons to support students’ social emotional needs. Your choice to put social emotional and mental health first will literally save lives. Even before 2020, schools were facing a surge in demand for mental health care that far outpaced capacity, since only 15% of students have access to mental health care outside of school due to the limited number of youth psychologists, significant cost, and other access issues. Across the nation, faculty are often relied upon as first responders due to the limited availability of counseling in and out of school, thus I appreciate your efforts to train more Mental Health First Aiders . This 8-hour training has been instrumental to me being the best student-focused volunteer I can be whether it is in school, in scouts, or with youth groups at my church. I wish more adults were student-focused and understood how their behavior affects student mental health, safety, and academic excellence. Many witnessed an adult tell a student at a recent FCPS meeting that their safety was not her concern; however, student safety is required for student success, so it should always be an adult’s concern. Our adult words and behavior trickles into our schools. I’ve heard the f-slur is commonly used against LGBTQIA students–shouted in the halls at individuals or outside after school GSAs–which is threatening. How can students learn, much less thrive, in and out of school if they feel unsafe? Last Fall, our Student Representative on the School Board, Ms. Michele Togbe said: students are watching. They are listening to what we say and do. We need to set a good example: be kind, speak truth, support students and teachers, and identify issues and solutions. Merely, complaining offers nothing. But coming up with workable solutions means the world to our county. We adults need to be thoughtful and kind problem solvers to set an example for our children and all students in Fairfax County. Thank you. If you are a parent of a high school student who would like to know more about the free online teletherapy services offered through FCPS, please check this link . Additional mental health resources in Fairfax County and in public schools can be found here . Vanessa Hall's input to the School Board on April 27, 2023 can be viewed below.

CNN did no one any favors by framing the Youngkin Town Hall as “The War Over Education with Glenn Youngkin,” yet to many watching, it felt like a war on facts, as Youngkin seemed evasive and failed to truly answer many of the questions. Youngkin had a bland smile fixed on his face, even as he effectively told a trans teen named Niko, “No, you can’t use the boys bathroom in school” then pivoted to his same old talking points that target and dehumanize transgender and nonbinary students. Youngkin’s statements were at odds with his “parents’ rights” stance, made ever so obvious when Niko’s father shook his head vigorously in strong disagreement with Youngkin’s steadfast determination to deny Niko’s basic rights as a student. To defend his indefensible “transgender model policies,” Youngkin used the terms “biological boys” and “biological girls,” both terms that have been rejected by the legal and medical communities–both the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Psychiatric Association use the term “gender assigned at birth,” as do most responsible politically-independent organizations. It is hard not to interpret that Youngkin supports banning books from libraries. Not only has he supported bills to this effect, but the subtext of Youngkin’s responses made it clear that he takes issue with books in our libraries and wants them removed. Youngkin avoided saying this outright by saying he wants “to make sure that parents know what is in the library.” How does he plan on doing this, when many parents don’t even attend their school’s open house or know what is in the school sex education curriculum? Every parent I know is overwhelmed and can barely keep track of their kids’ field trips and school holidays–none of them have time to look at a list of thousands of books in a library! Of course, Youngkin’s entire Town Hall conversation about library books ignores the fact that trained professionals (a.k.a., librarians) have been hired to perform these functions, and parents have digital access to which books are in the libraries. Youngkin actions erode the trust we have with librarians Throughout the CNN town hall, Youngkin continued to push a divisive “parents versus the school” narrative when parents and schools have been partnered in education for decades. Youngkin suggests that schools are hiding things from parents; however, that is far from the truth–parents don’t have the time to know everything and many don’t have time to talk to their kids. Be a parent, be involved. Know your rights, which includes opting out of books and curricula that you feel conflict with your values. If you don’t want your children to read certain books, then don’t let them. There is an opt-out process, which avoids demonizing your school, teachers, and librarians. Honestly, Media Matters reported this best in their headline, “CNN gave Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin a town hall to spew right-wing talking points about education.” They gave him a platform and failed to do even the most basic fact-checking. I had hoped for more. Youngkin has claimed that he wants to remove divisive content from our schools; however, all I saw during the Town Hall was him re-introducing divisive culture wars into the public conversation while working to remove funding from our schools.

Last week, Republicans passed a “Parent’s Bill of Rights” in the House, which is likely to fail in the Senate. Democrats and some Republicans are “fiercely opposed to the bill, dubbing it the ‘politics over parents act’...claim[ing] it seeks to codify already existing parental rights and politicizes the classroom.” Interestingly, House amendment 123 ensures that this bill applies only to public schools, which means the bill requirements are not imposed on non-public schools, thus parents’ rights stop at the schoolhouse door at private and charter schools. For the most part, the bill would codify rights at a federal level that parents already have in public schools, including the right to privacy, communication, and curriculum review. However, codifying rights that are already regulated at the local and/or state level is a strange flex for a party that traditionally values “local government” over “big government.” If you look closer at the bill, you can see how it feeds directly into the culture wars which helped elect a Virginia governor and have purposefully divided our communities and the nation. This bill involves unfunded mandates and high administrative burden for public schools that would pull even more funding directly from student education. The Education Department has criticized the bill, stating that: "[I]t’s not rooted in the reality that parents are living in….[this bill is part of a] “political agenda, [where] Republican officials are focused more on playing politics than helping our parents, kids and schools." Additionally, the bill clearly puts LGBTQIA students at risk, includes components of the highly unpopular Youngkin’s model policies, a revision of a previous model policy, that would if passed require informing parents of any name or pronoun change requested by a student, thereby outing a student before they may be ready, despite overwhelming evidence that respecting pronouns makes student safety a priority. Also, this bill breaks the privacy rules of other students. Specifically it requires schools to inform all parents if a student who is trans or nonbinary attends the school and/or is participating in athletics. Thus, it tramples on the core civil rights of students and their families. As David Stacy, government affairs director for Human Rights Campaign, says: "It’s part of a pattern of attempts we’re seeing where the right wing of the Republican Party is really trying to marginalize LGBTQ people." Many are concerned that it could codify the ability of a small group of parents to ban books and speakers. As noted by North Carolina’s Policy Watch, “the bill’s provisions mirror those passed in some state legislatures and adopted by local school districts across the country that have led directly to parental book challenges, lawsuits and bans.” Pen America, a group that promotes free expression, identified that the move to ban books is “deeply undemocratic” with many of the books banned containing LGBTQIA themes or primary characters of color. The majority of Americans of all political stripes oppose book bans. Additionally, this bill adds significant burdens without supporting funds. Any parent will tell you about the firehose of information that comes from schools, PTAs, teachers, and after-school programs. There is so much information that sometimes it is hard to sort out critical timely needs like “when is my parent-teacher conference?” from all of the other activities ongoing at our public schools. This bill requires public schools to provide even MORE information at the school and classroom level, without commensurate funding, including but not limited to: Names of all public speakers at schools. Whether there is a transgender student at the school or involved in extracurricular athletics. Opportunities to meet with each teacher of a child twice a year (easy for elementary, but for middle and high school would require upwards of 16 conferences). Access to all professional development materials and instructional materials (videos, curricula, and books). H.R. 5 requires that the curriculum for each class be available on a publicly available website. How is that even possible for larger secondary schools that may have hundreds of classes and teachers, or elementary classrooms that may involve a responsive curriculum that adjusts to in class needs, or hands-on technical courses? Additionally, this would likely violate copyright laws, as curricula and associated materials (e.g., books) would fall under copyright laws. This feels like an intentionally impossible burden on schools and teachers, particularly when few parents even attend back to school nights where curricula are discussed and presented. Since federal laws and policy already exist to support supporting parents’ (and students’) rights in public education (e.g., FERPA, Title IX, IDEA, ESSA, etc.), it is shameful that extremists choose to push such a bill rather than invest the time to highlight how many rights parents (and students) already have in schools. Most parents do not know the level of accountability and transparency that exists within their children’s schools based on federal and state laws. Public schools already offer parents and guardians the right to: Opt out of surveys, all or part of a curriculum, or even public school altogether. Communicate with teachers and other school personnel related to their child or other concerns. Control a child’s education within the bounds of Federal, State, and Local regulations and policies. Review and modify student records. Have their children receive appropriate and needed special education support. Provide curriculum input or other feedback by serving on citizen curriculum committees at local and state levels; speaking at school board meetings, and communicating via other methods offered. Access free public transportation. Keep private information private. In any education setting, there are multiple stakeholders, including students, parents, and educators. The idea that a bill has been presented to support the rights of one group over all the others is concerning, particularly when one considers that parents are not the ones being educated, nor are they the ones doing the educating. A bill for one group over all others is both unequal and inappropriate. Based on the concept that students are also stakeholders in their own education, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici introduced a Bill of Rights for Students and Parents that serves: “[A]s a blueprint for public education rooted in evidence-based practices that support teaching, learning, and family engagement….[in] direct contrast to recent proposals that are unproductive, burdensome, and pit parents against educators.” If one looks at the extensive requirements imposed on school systems, it is clear that this bill intends to regulate public schools out of existence under the guise of "parent’s rights" while giving private schools a complete pass at being accountable or transparent to their parents and guardians. The administrative costs alone would suck funds directly from supporting student success, while the bill itself violates the rights of parents and students across the country. 4 Public Education firmly believes that parents already have extensive rights in their children’s education. We need to know our rights and exercise them to support the best education opportunities for each and every student. If you would like to oppose H.R. 5, please sign the Moms Rising Petition to reject the so-called "Parents Bill of Rights" and demand action for policies that will inspire and empower all parents and guardians. If you would like to learn more about parents’ and students’ rights in Virginia schools, please contact your school or school board members, or ask us to write more about the subject at info@4publiceducation.org.

It is that time of year again: Fairfax County Budget approval, and like clockwork complaints are raised about how much our county is spending; however, few of those complaints rely on the facts or look at the actual county or Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) budgets. FCPS proposed budget is funded from several sources: Fairfax County, Virginia State funds, sales tax, and Federal funds and other smaller scale inputs. Fairfax County $2,673M 70.1% Virginia State $723 M 19.0% Sales tax         $254M 6.7% Federal Funds $51M 1.3% For this report, 4 Public Education will focus on the contribution from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BOS) to FCPS, since it is, by far, the largest source of funds. In 2004, Fairfax contributed $1,238 million, about 53% of the total Fairfax County budget to our K-12 public schools. At that time, the number of students was 166,746, and the county population was 979,749. In 2024, 20 years later, Fairfax sent $2,435 million to the public schools, just about double the 2004 contributions. While this sounds great, adjusting for price changes using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to measure price changes over that period, the FCPS budget has barely risen faster than the CPI. The 2024 allocation to FCPS is over CPI change by only 1 percentage point, over a 20-year period! Nevertheless, the number of students, facilities, roles, and functions of FCPS has grown substantially, while the funding is flat considering inflation. In 2024, there are 182,000 students and the county population is 1,150,309. The FCPS budget highlights show that 2020-2025, several important, challenging and expensive parts of our diverse student population have grown in just the last 5 years: The number of students receiving Special Education services has increased by 7.5%. The number of ESOL students has grown by 5.1%. Students eligible for free or reduced lunch has grown by 15.7%. Obviously, these three examples of our most critical and expensive education services have grown significantly since 2004, if they have grown this much in five year. However, if total funding has been basically fixed relative to price changes over the last 20 years, how have resources been diverted to these groups? What has been sacrificed? While FCPS resources have been allocated to these and other areas, the “opportunity cost” of these factors has come in terms of lower wages and salaries for our teachers and staff. As you all know, we are not keeping up with salaries offered by our immediate neighbors (and competitors!) for teachers and other staff. Also, our class sizes are larger than our immediate neighbors. These lower salaries and higher class sizes may be why it is hard to retain teachers in FCPS. It is actually surprising that the quality of FCPS education has kept up at all, in the face of flat funding, enrollment growth, growing demands for more services and an increasingly challenging student population. That FCPS students are getting a very good education is a testament to great teachers, staff and management. But, at some point, the quality will diminish without a greater financial commitment. Maybe we should look at per student dollars per SAT point for some correlation. Maybe that would point to how much money we need to stay at the top using that metric. The 2025 FCPS budget request to Fairfax is $2,637 million, while Fairfax BOS is planning for a smaller offering of $2,600 million. This is a 6.8% increase over 2024 funding. The CPI has risen 3.2% over the year according to the March CPI report. So, in this sense, Fairfax is doubling inflation -- which is great! However, the percentage of the total budget being given to FCPS has dropped to 51.4% from 53% twenty years ago, and this is the second straight year of lower than usual proportion. Maintaining, or surpassing, the historical proportion is key to assuring Fairfax is not falling behind in providing a quality educational system. Bottom line: It is appropriate for the Fairfax Board of Supervisors to consider adding more funds to FCPS to match the School Board’s request, to further invest in our kids. To support Fairfax County Public Schools Budget Request contact your supervisor here.

Glenn Youngkin and Secretary Aimee Guidera’s constant narrative since taking office is that Virginia public schools are failing: In spite of consistent real time proofs to the contrary. Virginia public schools are among the best in the nation, and in some cases the world. Even with two years of VDOE repeating the narrative of failure, VA is ranked 10th overall and 7th in student success in their own dataset. The Accountability and Accreditation Proposed Regulations, which the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) will vote on at this week’s April 25 BOE meeting, is their latest attempt to develop false proof of their failure narrative. Although VDOE’s process in rolling out the new Accreditation and Accountability regs can best be described as fast, muddy, and incomplete, the more disturbing issue is the content of the regulations themselves. They are a classic example of the disruption accountability model. A hallmark of the disruption movement has been to demand untenable and unreasonable standards that destabilize the system, then punish the people in the system for not meeting those requirements. The final stages of a disruption accountability process is for the state to revoke the school's license, take over the schools and privatize them. The main target of disruption evaluation systems across the country has been schools in less affluent neighborhoods that are usually also deeply underfunded and vulnerable to privatization. Governor Youngkin’s new regulations are clearly in this mode. The VDOE’s new Accreditation and Accountability plan shares four traits with disruption evaluation systems, including: Heavily Weight evaluations toward elements outside school control A key element of a disruptive accountability plan involves judging schools on factors they cannot control, for example: attendance. Attendance is mostly outside of the schools' purview, and resides in control of parents and guardians, as is graduation rate. So why is the VDOE proposing to use attendance and graduation rate as 35% of a high school evaluation, and 20% of middle school evaluation? Change student performance measures to highlight small differences VDOE’s plan converts Virginia’s SOL’s current three level Fail- Pass-Pass Advanced scale to a four level scoring model, Failed, Basic, Proficient, Advanced that corresponds to the NAEP scale, despite the fact that the NAEP and SOL scores are not comparable. Basic will count less than the prior Pass score (.75 versus 1.0), while a Proficient in NAEP is considered a score above grade level. Thus the VDOE Basic category is likely to depress school ratings without instructional significance. The plan adjusts the school wide calculation to account for this change and calls it a Mastery Index. Suppress growth measures or Distort their accuracy. This involves a focus on measures that can then be leveraged to portray students as being behind expectations. This VDOE provision is designed to handicap exceptional students who are neurodivergent, or second language learners, hence penalizing schools which have higher populations of differently profiled students. VDOE’s plan does this by elevating expected readiness levels and making mastery levels exorbitantly high. For instance the Middle School completion expectations include tests such as: Algebra II, the English 11 High school test, and the English 11-12 High School American and US History tests. However, few of these classes are even available in most Virginia public schools. Create a media shorthand system for labeling schools as failing Early criticisms pushed the VBOE away from A-F ratings, which had failed in most places they were implemented. So they created color codes (with blue as successful, green, yellow and then red as failing). Thus VDOE provides a visual shorthand for critics and media to use against Virginia schools without the granular information necessary to understand the color codes. The fifth characteristic of disruption evaluation systems is not overtly stated in the presentations Superintendent Coons and the VDOE are sharing, perhaps because it would be too frightening for Virginians to accept. The potential consequences have been realized in states and districts which have already adopted disruption evaluations, districts like DC, Louisiana and Texas. Notably, Governor Youngkin is hiring people from locales which have attempted implementation of similar systems. The potential consequences for schools that don’t reach the requirements are serious. The most obvious result of not meeting VDOE’s requirements, which are set up for failure, is denial of accreditation, which has staggering consequences for students, schools, and communities. Though the consequences of that outcome are not quantified in the VDOE’s presentations, we can predict them based on states and districts which have followed the disruptive accountability playbook. They include firing of staff, state takeovers, and further economic depression of lower wealth districts, students who no longer qualify for college, and falling funding from lowered property values. Disruption has been a long-time cornerstone of the education reform movement. Back in 2012, about the same time the last Republican governor was putting forward his draconian accountability plan which resulted in teachers fleeing from the field, the Harvard Business Review ran how-to articles on Disrupting the Public Sector. Of course the Disrupt and Reform Movement goes back even farther to the standards and testing movement which took hold in the mid-1990s, and even to Nation at Risk in 1986. A hallmark of the disruption movement has been to demand untenable and unreasonable standards that destabilize the system, then punish the people in the system for not meeting those requirements. The final stages of the Disruption Movement is to take over the schools (or in the case of businesses, the stores.) What disruptors don’t admit, or maybe never knew, is that children do not do well with disruption. Students need reliability, consistency, and well managed progressive change. Sadly, The Board of Education and Governor Youngkin plan more disruption through this Accreditation and Accountability plan. How about truly innovative accreditation measures? Why not measure things Virginia schools actually can and do provide: strong core instruction, wide numbers of electives and career courses, after school programs, and strong community connections? There is much to measure that gives us better information about students, what they have learned, what they need to improve learning, and how neighborhoods might factor into the equation that are better evaluators than standardized tests with a gotcha twist.