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2023 was a busy year for 4 Public Education. In addition to our presence at school board meetings, key education events, and a robust on-line presence, we also elected new officers. We would like to introduce: Cheryl Binkley, our President, and Vanessa Hall, our Vice President. Cheryl Binkley is a retired high school and community college English and Theatre teacher. Like many public school advocates, she began as a classroom mom, PTA member, and local PTA president. Her two children are graduates of Annandale High School, and her grandson graduated from Centreville. Cheryl’s academic credentials include an M.Ed. from the University of Virginia and she is a graduate of One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York. Her credentials include licensure in Special Education, Emotional Disturbances, and Advanced Academics. She was an International Baccalaureate and Dual Enrollment teacher and a department chair. In addition, she is a published writer of curriculum and teacher handbooks. She blogs as “3rd Millennium Teacher.” Like Vanessa Hall, our vice president, Cheryl was a co-founder of 4 Public Education and has been an active voice of support for public education by speaking at school board and Board of Education meetings, rallies, and policy actions, and has provided testimony to state legislature about education components of state budgets. Her other public school advocacy and support includes being an early member and state coordinator for the VirginiaBATs, Virginia’s wing of the national Badass Teachers Association which has 60,000 members, and as a co-founder of Virginia Educators United that coordinated the 2019 Virginia RedforEd March. She continues to serve on district advisory committees and supports fellow retirees on the boards of FEA-Retired, and FCRE (Fairfax County Retired Educators). As incoming president, I’d like to thank Holly Hazard for her leadership during our first two years. She will continue as a board member, but we are excited for her as she joins the staff of the Virginia Senate for the 2024 General Assembly session. 4 Public Education began as a firewall to protect our local students, public schools, and school board members from radical, even violent, threats and attacks. We’ve been  successful at banding together with other organizations of parents, community members, and students to meet the threat and provide a voice for the importance and successes of our public schools. Our advocacy has centered around four critical ideas that will remain the grounding of our mission: Public schools build local communities. They are the foundations of civic life and democracy, Public money is for public good, and Universal respect and access to highest quality services and practices for all students is necessary for our society and children to flourish. During 2024 we will add stronger outreach to like-minded Virginians across the state and expand our connections to individuals and organizations that share our goals. I would like to invite all who share those values and goals to join us in support and advocacy 4 Public Education in the coming year. Vanessa Hall is 4 Public Education’s parent-in-the-trenches. She has two children in FCPS. In the last three years, she has attended over 75 school board meetings, spoke at more than 25 school board meetings, and become a local expert on dark money and astroturf organizations. She also has a Bachelors from James Madison University, a Masters from Duke, and other certifications. Vanessa is a 10-year scout leader, long-time Sunday school teacher, trained OWL educator, former Science Olympiad coach, and active PTA member. She has always tried to be an active helpful volunteer in her children’s schools, whether it was serving on the board at Arlington Unitarian Cooperative Preschool, or supporting students and teachers in Fairfax County K-12 schools. She is currently serving as a co-director of FCPS Pride and a parent representative on FLECAC. Across Virginia, school boards have taken up the mantle for 2024. In Fairfax, there are eight new and four returning school board members who will need public input and support, as they begin their four-year commitment to the families and employees of FCPS. Every school board needs students, parents, educators, and citizens to speak up about what is important to them, so that boards can hear public concerns, especially when their words, actions, or votes may run counter to student, family, and educator needs. As a parent, I see vulnerable students and equity under attack. Of the myriad of vulnerable students at risk, LGBTQIA students, especially transgender students, have been the focus of Virginia’s Governor and attacks by the far right; however, they are also a proxy for all vulnerable students whose rights and access to public education are at risk if we do not steadfastly reject angry rhetoric and culture war disinformation. We need to continue to defend librarians and inclusive and diverse books in our schools, so that every student can see themselves reflected in the books they choose to read and the classes they attend. Similarly, equity has been under attack under the pretense that equity and merit are mutually exclusive. Our students can not be defined merely by standardized test scores irrespective of classroom experience, disabilities, or diverse needs and experiences. Equity ensures that students are given the support and tools they need to succeed whether it is a team-taught classroom experience for a child with ADHD or advanced math for an aggressive learner. Ultimately, the attacks on equity are attacks on funding. Equitable funding of all students provides opportunities for each and every student to succeed in and out of school. Just in case you were wondering, our work is not done. Despite major election blows to anti-public education activists, we need to remain vigilant. Their strategies will change, so our public schools remain vulnerable. We, at 4 Public Education, will continue to meet the challenge head on by pushing back against disinformation and anti-public education policies and activists. At the same time, 4 Public Education will continue to advocate for improvements to public policy and our public schools so that students, teachers, and families are best served in our communities.

The Board of 4 Public Education is disappointed with the proposed budget released by Governor Youngkin on December 20, 2023. It seems that the Youngkin administration has dismissed the report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) and their recommendations regarding the serious underfunding of public schools in Virginia. Also, the Governor has dismissed the results of an expansive study that concluded “efforts to close the learning gap should look at the more fundamental reasons for the disparity in achievement between affluent and disadvantaged children”, with the ‘quality and funding of schools’ among the factors with the greatest impact on closing achievement gaps.” For more than two years the Governor has been using manufactured crises to inflame culture wars as a means of distracting Virginians from the true problems in our public schools – that they are seriously underfunded, understaffed, and teachers are undercompensated. The JLARC report concluded that Virginia school divisions need 66 to 93 percent more funding, depending on the model used to estimate the degree of underfunding. Adjusting the funding formula to reflect the actual expenditures of school divisions would require an increase in state funding by 45 percent, or $2,700 per student. Of course, local funding obligations would also increase, but according to the JLARC report, “all localities are already contributing more than what is required; three-quarters are already contributing 45 percent or more above what is required.“ Instead of planning ahead for when the funding formula is corrected, Governor Youngkin’s proposed budget significantly reduces funding for public education in Virginia. Instead of paving the way to improve public education, his budget reveals his lack of commitment to a quality public education in Virginia. He has the mistaken notion that his proposed reduction in state taxes, which would mostly benefit the wealthy, would encourage people to move into the state. The truth is that low state tax levels are ineffective at attracting people, and it is the quality of public education that is the major factor motivating people to move to a state. The Board of 4 Public Education encourages Virginia’s legislators to pass bills and budget amendments that will revise the out-of-date funding formula that Virginia uses, and increase rather than decrease funding to public education in Virginia. There is an urgent need to correct the way school divisions are funded as Virginia’s current formula still uses funding reductions that were put in place during the Great Recession of 2008, resulting in the serious underfunding of public education in Virginia. We urge leaders of localities and other sectors of the Commonwealth to object to the Governor’s proposed budget and support amendments to his budget that will be proposed during the General Assembly session in January. We must realize the Governor’s proposed budget will damage the education of Virginia’s children, and the future of our economy.

If you care about public education, then you have noticed that school districts across the country have been under fire for the last three years. It feels there is a new outrage, investigation, controversy, or lawsuit every day from some corner of the nation. Unfortunately, Northern Virginia has been in the eye of the storm with near constant interference and investigations of its public school systems by the Governor’s office. It doesn’t matter whether one lives in Loudoun or Fairfax county–the actions of the school boards have been under constant scrutiny by politically motivated groups who have tried unsuccessfully for the past three years to recall and remove democratic members of those school boards. These attacks are mainly about politics. If they can make school districts and boards look like they are breaking the law or violating civil rights, it makes it that much easier to defund and dismantle public education. These attacks on our public schools’ reputations are intended to make public schools look like they are corrupt, dysfunctional, and inept rather than underfunded with overworked staff. The manufactured crisis over delayed notification of National Merit commended certificates is a perfect example of this effort. One year ago, on December 21, 2022, an inflammatory and exaggerated article was published that accused school administrators of intentionally delaying notification of National Merit commended certificates. The accusation was that the delay was part of a long “war on merit,” rather than an administrative oversight by an overworked school system. This story was published in the City Journal, a publication by the conservative Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research, a right-wing non-profit think tank that promotes education policies like vouchers and privatization. The City Journal is the same source for Chris Rufo’s fabricated Critical Race Theory crisis in 2020, and it has fomented the culture wars through an unrepentant anti-LGBTQIA stance in 2023. This story on the delayed notification to students was amplified throughout the right-wing media-verse and on social media before it hit mainstream media in January 2023. Somehow, a media frenzy that began over the 2022-23 winter break triggered a 9-month long investigation and lawsuit by the Attorney General under the Office of Civil Rights. In the new year, 4 Public Education will examine this particular manufactured crisis in order to estimate its impact on the school district, which involved an expensive investigation by FCPS, vilification of the school district via significant negative national and local media coverage, and multiple lawsuits racking up substantial legal costs for FCPS and the Commonwealth. If you care about your public schools, then you should care about this particular story, because it involves hundreds and thousands of taxpayer dollars spent on a manufactured crisis, rather than the education of students. Something similarly sinister may be coming to your school district.

Although most of us think of Christmas when we talk about the December holidays, there are eleven cultural and religious holidays celebrated worldwide this month. These holidays celebrated in some communities in Virginia and around the world include: St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 5 or 6): The birthday of Saint Nicholas, the inspiration for Santa Claus. Immaculate Conception Day (Dec. 8): A Catholic celebration of the Virgin Mary, believed to be born without original sin. Bodhi Day, or Rohatsu (Dec. 8): A Buddist tradition that honors the day in which the Buddha achieved enlightenment. Hanukkah (sundown Dec. 7 -18 in 2023): The Jewish festival of lights. Feast Day of Our Lady Guadalupe (Dec. 12): In honor of the patron saint of Mexico. Yule (Dec. 21-Jan.1): Wiccans and neo-pagans celebrate the Winter Solstice, the shortest night of the year, and look forward to the return of light as days grow longer. Christmas (Dec. 25): A Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus. Boxing Day (Dec. 26) A British tradition that occurs the day after Christmas Kwanzaa (Dec. 26-Jan. 1): A cultural holiday honoring African-American heritage. Zarathosht Diso (Dec. 26): Honoring the death of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31): The last day of the year, often celebrated by parties, festivals, and fireworks. Virginia has a sizable immigrant population, with more than 12% of the Commonwealth’s population being foreign-born, making Virginia ethnically and culturally diverse. In an attempt to be more inclusive, some school systems in Virginia have started to adopt school calendars with more religious holidays. For example, Fairfax County Public Schools' (FCPS) calendar has reflected the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Hindu holiday Diwali, and Orthodox Good Friday. Also, when the holidays Eid al-Fitr and the Lunar New Year fall on school days, they have been recognized with school closures. Another new school holiday is Veterans Day, when it falls on a school day.  These changes have helped some communities in Virginia to positively recognize the growing diversity of Virginians, as well as be more inclusive and welcoming. Principal Herman Mizell, of Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston, VA said it best when he sent a letter to his community saying in part: Greetings to each of you and your extended families around the globe! We are so fortunate to be in a school community that blends many traditions and cultures. While events, words and decorations may be different, we can all find a common thread in our traditions among family, love, celebrations, and devotion to giving our students rich, robust, and meaningful learning experiences. The entire team at 4 Public Education wishes the Happiest of Holidays to all in our community and beyond.

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 Code of Virginia. Although this blog will primarily focus on Fairfax County, we will share school board meeting reports from around the state, when possible. The 12/14/23 Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) meeting began with a performance of the National Anthem by the Glasgow Middle School Band Wind Ensemble. Although the agenda was fairly short, the meeting ran quite long, because there were eight proclamations honoring the outgoing School Board Members for their years of service and dedication, some of whom had served for twelve years. Many in the audience learned new things about school board members. I, for one, learned that many of them have deep friendships and relationships that go back over a decade or more. Also, I learned of long commitments against discrimination, for equity, and in support of improving mental health. These proclamations gave a different perspective to each of these hardworking women–I strongly recommend a listen to better understand them. Many thanks for your years of hard work and steadfast desire to improve education, support students and teachers, and represent the interests of families and your constituents. Public Input Surprisingly, we lost very few speakers after close to two-and a half hours of proclamations. In fact, a few additional speakers were added to the list. Most of the speakers expressed appreciation for the dedication and hard decisions that the school board needed to make during and after the pandemic, including the Fairfax PTA and two leaders of 4 Public Education (Robert Rigby and Vanessa Hall). Quite a number of the speakers thanked specific school board members including speeches by two school board members’ husbands: most of us laughed out loud at a funny, poignant speech by Mrs. Corbett Sanders’ husband and I doubt that I was the only one with tears in my eyes during a sweet speech by Ms. Abrar Omeish’s husband. There was criticism also laid at the feet of FCPS by a student and her brother describing bigotry from and a lack of consequences for a teacher at Lake Braddock, and two fathers demanding action and accountability after a data breach exposed over 35,000 students’ data. A student from Oakton High School spoke of the need for a more robust driver’s education program and pedestrian safety after too many accidents and deaths involving student pedestrians. School Board Business Student Representative Matters. Strategic Plan Baseline Report on Goal 1: Dr. Ried provided an update on Strong Start, Goal 1 of the Strategic Plan, covering priorities related to the availability of pre-K programs and language progress for english-language learners that meet the community’s needs. Action Items: Three action items were on the agenda: FY 2024 Midyear Budget Review. Ten voted yes and two abstained (Ms. Omeish and Ms. McLaughlin). Strategic Plan Goal 1 Baseline Report:  Strong Start: Pre-K-12. After significant discussion, nine voted yes and three voted no (Ms. Heizer, Ms. Cohen, and Ms. Omeish). Amend School Board Policy 2418. Three votes were held regarding the policy: Amend School Board Policy 2418 to include that high-school credit-bearing classes will utilize the 100 point letter grade scale with pluses and minuses. Eleven voted yes and one voted no (Ms. Meren). Have the aforementioned policy to be effective August 2024. Seven voted yes, one abstained (Ms. Meren), and four were not present during the vote (Ms. Heizer, Ms. Cohen, Ms. Pekarsky, and Ms. McLaughlin). Direct the Superintendent to share the findings of the Grading Working Group in a work session for further evaluation. Nine voted yes and three were not present during the vote (Ms. Heizer, Ms. Cohen, and Ms. Pekarsky). This is the last meeting of the School Board elected in 2019. It adjourned at approximately 12:21 am on December 15, 2023, requiring part of the meeting to be on a different youtube video. The next school board meeting is scheduled for January 11, 2024. Starting in January 2024 School Board meetings will include the twelve newly elected FCSB members who were sworn in on December 13, 2024. All twelve took the oath of office and swore to uphold the Nation’s and Commonwealth’s constitutions with Fairfax Circuit Court Judge, the Honorable Robert J. Smith. It was a moving ceremony filled with solemn reverence for the important job they would hold for the next four years. Each school board member chose to individualize their swearing-in ceremony by the personal books they chose and who held those books. For more information about the incoming FCSB, please see our blog.

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 of Virginia. Although this blog will primarily focus on Fairfax County, we will share school board meeting reports from around the state, when possible. The 12/4/23 Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) meeting began with a performance of the National Anthem by the Spring Hill Elementary School Select Band. You should listen, because that was one of the best elementary school band performances that I have ever heard–and my own son played in the band in elementary school! There were six proclamations since the November 20th meeting was canceled due to lack of quorum; however, only four are presented below–please check out the agenda for the rest: National Inclusive Schools Week Proclamation: Inclusion means more than it did when this effort began in 2001. It now includes ensuring that schools are welcoming to all students who are marginalized due to disability, gender, socio-economic status, cultural heritage, language preference, identity, and other factors. This year’s theme, “Draw Me In,” provides an opportunity to strengthen commitment to inclusive education, & redirect our talent, time and energy to improve outcomes for students & their families. Celebrating Our Local Native Tribes & Acknowledging Our Historic Origins Proclamation: From the first settlement of Jamestown, Native American Tribes are the original story of Virginia's sometimes tragic history with its then-over 50,000 native people, through 11 officially-recognized tribes who are indigenous to Virginia. The land known as Fairfax was home to thousands of indigenous people, including the Manahoac, Pamunkey, and Doeg nations. Tribal representatives of local native tribes were in attendance for this proclamation. National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Proclamation: Despite the wealth in our county, housing and food insecurity “remain pressing in our community,” particularly as “hunger has surged and the rate of unhoused families with children has increased by 33% in 3 years, with a quarter of those who are unhoused in Fairfax County being children.” This affects their education, opportunity, success, and health. Honoring the 2023 Citizen Bond Committee and the Mount Vernon-Springfield Chamber of Commerce: “Members of the 2023 Citizen Bond Committee, led by Chairman Len Forkas and Co-Chair Catherine Hosek, and the Mount Vernon-Springfield Chamber of Commerce, led by President Holly Dougherty, have dedicated their time, energy and resources in support of passage of the 2023 $435,000,000 school bond referendum with 68% of the county’s voters voting “yes.” (Bravo! And many thanks from this parent!) Unfortunately, the proclamations and meeting were somewhat derailed by words chosen by a school board member that referenced global issues in Israel and Palestine during the proclamation honoring local native tribes. Four of the eleven school board members present (one member was online) excused themselves from the room, and many in the audience were dismayed. Responses from other school board members ranged from gentle reminders of the purpose of proclamations to clear and justifiable outrage that politics was inserted into this otherwise respectful occasion. Before the vote, Chairwoman Tholen reminded everyone that the proclamation should be considered separate from the personal remarks by Ms. Omeish, which is likely the primary reason that the proclamation passed. As an audience member, I was dismayed that a proclamation would be used to push a unrelated political  agenda. Additionally, I felt that it was disrespectful to the tribal representatives to conflate a proclamation in their honor with the Hamas-Israeli conflict. Isn’t it bad enough that our ancestors perpetrated genocidal activities against the indigenous peoples of this land? Why insult them in person when you are meant to honor them? Public Input Since the November election, there are open speaking spots and fewer speakers, yet they are covering critical public school and school board issues like: A student from Annandale High School who applauds the educators at his school, but expressed strong concern about the heavy weight of tests versus class work (90% versus 10%), which he believes reduces interest in doing class work. Mr. Stuart Gibson, a 16-year former School Board member, condemned hateful social media posts from Ms. Omeish after Oct 7th, including posts that compared Jews to Nazis. He gave hard copies of the posts to the clerk. I’ve seen one of the posts. I’m astonished that a sitting board member in charge of ALL children’s education would post such things on Facebook (note: these were Facebook stories that were up for 24 hours). Representatives from UUCF and Fairfax AHAC declared support for the Hunger and Housing Proclamation. Both asked for continued collaborative community action because students who are hungry and unhomed cannot do their school work, much less focus in school. Two women spoke to Native Tribes proclamation. One asked that people stop erasing the Tauxenent/Doeg and Pamunkey tribes from history and the other reminded the room that the One Fairfax policy is critical for the inclusion of heritage of all people. School Board Business Academic Matters: Dr. Reid discusses youth survey results from the 2022-2023 school year which shows moderate improvement based on decreases in students reporting substance use, feeling sad or hopeless, suicidal thoughts or attempts, but persistant food insecurity with little variance since 2010. This generated significant amounts of discussion. (Note: a loss of Wifi and internet required a short 10-minute break.) Strategic Plan Update: Dr. Ried provided an update on Academic Excellence and Growth, goal 3 of the Strategic Plan. Student Representative Matters. Strategic Plan: Baseline Report presentation on Goal 3 covering priorities related to Academic Excellence in Education (i.e., reading by 3rd Grade, Algebra by 8th Grade, and advanced coursework in High School). Mid-Year Budget Presentation: Presentation by Ms. Burden, FCPS Chief Financial Officer. Action Items: Four action items were on the agenda: McLean Elementary School Capacity/Boundary Issues (formerly known as Kent Gardens ES Capacity Issues). No vote taken. 2024 FCSB State and Federal Legislative Program. Eleven voted yes, one was not present at the vote (Ms. Meren). Strategic Plan Baseline Report: Ten voted yes, one voted no (Ms. Omeish), and one was not present at the vote (Ms. Meren). Revisions to  the Monthly Report on Employee Separation to present disaggregated data, etc. Eleven voted yes, one was not present at the vote (Ms. Meren). Consent Agenda. No objections to approval. New Business: Action will be provided on these items at a future meeting: FY2024 mid-year budget Amendment to policy 2418 (i.e., high-school credit-bearing classes will utilize the 100 point letter grade scale with pluses and minuses) Policy 1421 (guidelines for retaining consultants) Policy 2202 (change role of “parent” to “parent or guardian”). Board Committee Reports: Ms. Keys-Gamarra discussed results of discussion of the engagement process for Capital Improvement Projects. The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:56pm. The next meeting will be on 12/14/23 at 7:30pm. Changes to the School Board Matters Blog I know that this blog is less detailed than usual, so I apologize if I missed something that you care about. I like to be thorough, but like many of you, I’ve been a little consumed with family crises, the upcoming holiday, normal life, work, and the recent data breach revelations, so bear with me. We, at 4 Public Education, are having discussions about how to present this information, as this blog is quite time-consuming. If the meetings are nearly 5 hours long, you can imagine how much time must be spent to watch, digest, and analyze what happened.

Like tens of thousands of parents, I received a letter this week indicating that FCPS inadvertently released my child’s private information to a local parent. Like so many parents, I am angry at FCPS for being so careless when someone gave a parent access to the private information of many students besides theirs. In addition, I am angry at the parent, who not only took advantage of the blunder and copied the private data, but who now refuses to return the private information. To make matters worse, the letter to parents about the data breach was both terrifying and useless, because 1) it did not reveal what specific data was released about my child, and 2) the 1-800 number in the letter was less than useless because those who answered read from a script and provided no useful information to parents who called. Not only is there little information about this situation, but some are sharing misinformation; therefore, here are known facts based on the November 1, 2023 74 Million report: A parent went to her local FCPS high school over three days in mid-October 2023 to gather records on her child who had already graduated. She was supervised by a central office paralegal as she copied information to a thumb drive and scanned paper documents. Also, she was given boxes of paper files, thumb drives, and CDs with personal, sensitive data from 2019-21 on tens of thousands of FCPS students, which she has refused to return even after their return was demanded. She noticed unredacted information about other people’s students in the files, but claims she was unaware of the full extent of such data until she arrived home. She initially did not report this data breach to FCPS. Subsequently she promised that she would not publish student private information, but has contacted some parents of children named in the documents and provided children’s personal data to www.the74Million.org. After investigating the extent of the breach, Superintendent Michelle Reid sent letters to the affected families and posted an official statement regarding future plans and her discussions with the parent who took the private data. This data breach involves private information from at least 35,000 children, most of whom receive special education services from FCPS. It is well-known that there are nationwide concerns about student data security at all schools, public and private. Around the country, parents and guardians have accidentally received data on other students intermingled with their own child’s information. However, state and federal governments have done little to solve this issue, despite the existence of federal law on the subject (e.g., Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment). Many parents in the Fairfax County community are justifiably angry and scared about this breach, particularly in light of misinformation and rumors. The social media platforms Next Door and Facebook, as well as parenting and neighborhood groups, and the online forum DC Urban Moms are afire about this subject. Specifically, parents are angry that: FCPS released this private and sensitive data to a person who is not authorized to have it. There is no excuse for this to happen, particularly in light of the fact that well-documented data breaches have happened before. The parent took the data without permission because of inadequate monitoring. The parent refuses to return the information for which she is not authorized The parent is sharing information with some parents and a media company, while she is publishing redacted student information in her blogs and in a public report (74 Million). She claims she will never “publish” the private data, but that doesn’t make anyone feel safe, considering her actions to date. It is likely that the Fairfax County School Board, Superintendent, and local schools are being inundated with calls and emails. Not surprisingly, lawsuits are being discussed against both FCPS and the parent who took the data. This event has eroded trust in the school system because FCPS has the responsibility to protect our children and their private information. It is distracting to all involved, including our students who should be focusing on learning, because there is no way of knowing how personal information in the wrong hands may be used in the future. This is a potentially serious issue that can have ramifications many years into the future. Personally, I had trouble working yesterday, because I was consumed with fear and anger over what may happen next and whether my child’s personal information could be used against me or her. Hopefully, this situation can be resolved by the offending parent returning all copies of the sensitive and private information on FCPS students. In addition, we must insist that FCPS solve the data retention and data sharing procedures which permitted this to happen. On a related note....Last night, a lovely neighbor distributed cards and gifts to kids on our block. When my daughter opened hers, it contained a 50-dollar bill. Astonished at her generosity, I quickly called the neighbor, who said she meant to give $20 to each child. Immediately, I ran down the block to return the money in order to fix the mistake. I would hope that any ethical neighbor or community member would do the same.

One of Governor Youngkin’s many promises to Virginia was to expand charter schools in Virginia, taking desperately needed funding from our public schools. He failed to convince the legislature to give him these funds. He’s now pivoted to promoting and expanding lab schools throughout Virginia. His strategy seems to be that any program that claws funding from the schools actually educating the overwhelming majority of our students is a win for his objective of creating doubt in and distrust of our public school system. The 2022 General Assembly appropriated $100 million for planning and start up grants for lab schools with no plan for ongoing funding. Currently the Department of Education is on a publicity tour to drum up support for lab schools. The last stop was in Bedford County on December 7th. Lab schools, like charter schools, circumvent local school board oversight and drain money from our public school system. The Virginia Education Association has published an excellent lab schools factsheet on the significant issues with this plan. These include: Lab schools have been allowed in Virginia for many years and have failed to organically grow through mutual interest between school divisions and colleges and universities. The current state budget includes a one-time allocation of $100 million for lab school planning and starter grants and per pupil funding for approved schools during the current biennium only. Higher education institutions will take a large risk establishing lab schools and should be prepared to shoulder the full cost of operating these schools into the future without any sustaining funding from the state or local level. While setting aside $100 million to establish lab schools, legislators cut more than $100 million in At-Risk Add On funds which should have supplemented our highest poverty schools, reaching hundreds of thousands of students. The benefits of investing in At-Risk Add On far outweigh the one-time investment to establish lab schools, that realistically will only support the start-up of a handful of new schools and serve a relatively small number of select students. The biggest argument against the proliferation of lab schools is that we don’t need them. This push didn’t come from universities yearning to pilot innovation. It’s come for politicians eager to create chaos and disruption in our school system--one ranked as the 4th best school system in the country. Listen to parents. We don’t need or want more gimmicks. We want funding for teacher pay, support for staff, infrastructure improvements, and local control. We have a lot of problems in Virginia. Isn’t time to focus on what’s wrong and stop fixing what’s right? For more VEA position papers and fact sheets, please check out the VEA website.

A Review of the Northern Virginia VDOE Accountability Listening Session I don’t know if any of you have attended any of the VDOE listening sessions on accountability changes around the state, but Marianne Burke and I drove 45 minutes out to the Hylton Center on the GMU Science and Tech campus in Manassas to participate in one on Wednesday, December 5th. We had read the VDOE August 2023 announcement (Item F) which erroneously compared NAEP and SOL results (again), and thought that it was a public input session similar to the History SOL sessions earlier this year, so each of us took time to prepare remarks. Marianne and I were both prepared to fight for our schools, particularly after Youngkin’s anti-transgender “Model Policies” and other efforts to harm our public schools. Marianne planned to publicly remind VDOE (yet again) that NAEP and SOL scores are not comparable–see her letter to VDOE below–while I was going to demand accountability from the VDOE to Virginia parents, teachers, and students. Yet, we were woefully unprepared for what we found, because this was (seemingly) not another farcical public input opportunity by Youngkin’s appointees to undermine the public will of Virginians. This was a completely different experience. Unfortunately, the purpose of the meeting was unclear and/or misrepresented by the public notice from VDOE, which focused on revising accreditation and adding accountability measures. The majority of the public is unaware of current accountability measures and how schools are accredited, so few parents would have the background to participate or follow the conversation. So neither of our speeches were necessary, much less appropriate for this venue. Fortunately, under Dr. Lisa Coons, the newly appointed Superintendent of Instruction for the Youngkin Administration, this VDOE session was a completely different experience than the cramped, rushed, check-the-box History SOL listening sessions earlier this year. It truly was an interactive listening session where Dr. Coons, staff, consultants, and a parent representative presented plans, asked for input, and held an informed and open discussion. It didn’t feel like they were merely checking off the boxes to satisfy public input requirements. Instead, they seemed to understand and value the input of education professionals, parents, superintendents, and principals in the room. In summary, VDOE is proposing to change the accreditation system to make it more transparent to parents, reduce the number of assessments in a year, provide actionable data to stakeholders, and rely more heavily on the SOLs, which she said VDOE intends to overhaul. Dr. Coons stated that these eight listening sessions are merely the middle of a process to update Virginia’s public school accreditation system, a process that began in 2022 and expects to be completed in 2025. The public can also provide online input here: Both Marianne and I were pleasantly surprised by Dr. Coons’ gracious greeting, level of knowledge, and interest in learning new things. It was so refreshing after nearly two years of culture wars, scandals, and disingenuous solicitation of parental involvement by her predecessor, Jillian Balow, and our Governor. It is important to note that Balow receives full salary and benefits for a year following her March 2023 resignation, paid by Virginia taxpayers despite her poor performance, which is something to note next time school districts are accused of wasting money. According to Virginia Dogwood Balow is “slated to receive almost $300,000 of taxpayer money over the coming year despite having no responsibilities or obligations to the commonwealth; further, the severance agreement guaranteeing this money allows her to take other paying jobs.” Nevertheless, I wonder: What is the true purpose of revamping Virginia’s public school system accountability and accreditation? In my experience, accountability is often applied only to public schools, whose processes, personnel, and performance is already transparent and excessively scrutinized while private and charter schools get a pass on any measurement of accountability–don’t even get me started on the lack of metrics on homeschooling. Efforts to make accountability measures “more transparent” to parents and VDOE make me question the purpose: is it to ensure that all families have access to the best schools by providing funds and other resources to schools whose metrics are less satisfactory? Or, is “transparency” merely a trojan horse for voucher efforts that suck more money from our public schools and taxpayers for unaccountable private institutions, charter schools, and homeschooling efforts? Only time will tell.

Preparing for the 2024 General Assembly: Public Education Priorities The verdict is in. Not only is Virginia seriously underfunding its public schools, but the pipeline for K-12 teachers has proven to be inadequate. A recent nonpartisan study of school funding has confirmed just how badly Virginia public schools are underfunded, and a review of the K-12 teacher pipeline revealed the reasons why we have a shortage of qualified teachers in Virginia. Now that we know the facts, local governments want things to change. These reports by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) were produced at the direction of bill SJ294 that was passed in 2021 to review the funding formula, and at the direction of the JLARC administration in 2022 to review the teacher pipeline. JLARC is authorized by the Code of Virginia to conduct program evaluation, policy analysis, and oversight of state agencies on behalf of the Virginia General Assembly. JLARC recommendations can have a high impact but it is up to our legislators whether the recommendations become bills and eventually law. In recent years only about three-quarters of the recommendations have been implemented by the General Assembly. The Commonwealth is underfunding Virginia’s public schools by billions of dollars because the formula that determines funding “needs to be significantly improved and modernized.” As per usual, Governor Youngkin blamed the underfunding problem on previous administrations, but Senator Ghazala Hashmi responded that it was: Unfair to criticize the previous two administrations given the fact that the democratic governors worked with Republican majorities in both Chambers, and these Republican majorities consistently blocked measures to fund public education at the levels needed. In 2020, when Democrats had the first opportunity to make historic changes to the public education budget, significant funding was introduced but sadly had to be put on pause because of the unexpected and uncertain economic future facing us all with the global spread of the coronavirus. Regardless of where the blame lies, it is clear that the way Virginia funds public schools needs to be fixed. The JLARC report provides details and a gameplan that legislators can use to develop legislation that would improve school funding. The main findings of the study are provided in the drop down below, and JLARC’s proposed recommendations to appropriately fund schools can be found here. The second JLARC review reported that, “Having enough, high quality teachers is among the most important factors necessary for a quality education system” and that the current pipeline for qualified K–12 teachers is not adequate. The main findings of the study are provided in the drop down below, and JLARC recommendations for improving Virginia’s pipeline for qualified teachers can be found here. 4 Public Education, in collaboration with Fund Our Schools and the Virginia Grassroots Coalition, offers what they consider priorities for Virginia’s legislators to develop into bills. Each priority is taken from the JLARC recommendations. The priorities are provided in this drop down. This blog has also been published in Dogwood--see below.