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.

Give the Boot(s) to critics and let the show go on! Thousands of Fairfax residents are looking forward to seeing an amazing student musical at West Potomac High School (buy tickets here) about allyship and finding common ground with people who have different ideas and come from wildly different backgrounds. Meanwhile, a teeny-tiny group of parents are freaking out that Kinky Boots is somehow deviant or “sexual.” I don’t want to give their complaints air because they are so nonsensical, but unfortunately far right publications are giving these people and their wild conspiracy theories publicity they do not deserve. These publication authors are not talking or listening to the students, teachers, administrators, and parents who have worked months on this production Kinky Boots and who know its value. They aren’t talking to families, grandparents, and citizens who are looking forward to this production, and who enjoyed the more raucous and risque version of this musical production on Broadway or the 2005 British movie (from the same folks who brought us the Full Monty). (Wait a second…how old am I to just learn that Chiwetel Ejiofor, lead actor from Amistad and 12 Years a Slave, played Lola!) Well, listen to the student reporters at The Wire who are reporting on this wonderful show: “The musical follows the story of a shoe factory owner, Charlie Price, who seeks out the assistance of a drag queen named Lola to produce high-heeled boots in order to save his struggling business.” “In the show, you’ll notice that the characters start out really divided… towards the end they all come together in a really beautiful way....This is really a story about acceptance and community.” -- Mr. Omar Cruz, West Potomac theater teacher Kinky Boots evening shows run at 7 pm Friday 4/26-4/27 and Thursday 5/3-5/4 with two 1 pm Saturday matinees (4/27 and 5/4). There are special events planned for the matinees: April 27th, a discussion with FCPS Pride about the history of drag has been planned to take place in the Auditorium after the show and on May 4th at 12 pm, a family-friendly drag brunch will be held in the Kogelman Theatre (details here). Student reporters at The Wire also reported on a bomb threat that forced everyone out of the school for hours on Wednesday of this week. I have heard no official news that this bomb threat is connected to fringe anger about the Kinky Boots production run by West Potomac students, parents, and teachers; however, it is hard not to think that they are connected when they occurred on the same day as the Daily Signal story with this title. (UPDATE: Opening night, originally 4/25, has been postponed until Friday 4/26. Also, the bomb threat this week was not related to the show.) In fact, I have heard that some at West Potomac High School have suggested canceling some Kinky Boots events or shows. I’ve also heard that Mount Vernon School Board member Mateo Dunne stepped in to advocate for the show to go on. (Many thanks, Mr. Dunne!) I am sorry to see people attacking students, the arts, and our first amendment rights. As a parent, education advocate, and co-leader of FCPS Pride, I plan to attend this play and the drag brunch. To be honest, I’m not really an aficionado of drag performance; however, I would like to learn more about this art form and its history to hopefully expand my horizons. I appreciate having my preconceptions challenged, which enables me to grow and be a more compassionate member of our Fairfax community. Please consider joining us and attending West Potomac High School’s age-appropriate version of Kinky Boots. See the students sing, dance, and act while they teach us about allyship and finding commonality among our differences. Don't forget that music and lyrics are by Cindy Lauper! You can purchase tickets here.

The Virginia General Assembly reconvened in Richmond as originally planned on April 17, 2024 but adjourned early, after only one day. Originally, this session was to address changes made by the Governor to both the bipartisan budget bill and dozens of legislative bills that were unresolved were passed by the General Assembly in the 2024 session that adjourned on March 9 but were not yet resolved. Before any discussion on the budget or bills, the House of Delegates used a procedural maneuver to vote down all the amendments Governor Youngkin made to their Budget bill. This action was a compromise with Governor Youngkin that extended the timeline for resolving the budget and offered a reset for the unproductive and often contentious budget process in play over the past few months. The new, not yet developed, compromise version of the state budget will be addressed in Special Session 1 that will begin May 13. Major sticking points in Virginia’s two-year budget included the Governor’s desire to cut taxes versus the legislature’s desire to more fully fund K-12 education. Governor Youngkin had cut funding in the General Assembly’s Conference budget for a number of K-12 priorities, including reducing funding for at-risk students’ programs and the Commonwealth’s contribution intended to increase the number of teachers for English language learners. It appears that a willingness to compromise and extend the budget deadline was in response to news that the general fund has grown by 6.2% for the fiscal year to date, so there may not be a need for a tax increase or dramatic cuts to K-12 education. The tax deadline is May 1 and the new deadline for the two-year budget has been extended to May 13. Also planned for the upcoming special session is finalizing a number of unresolved K-12 education bills. In addition to the bills that the Governor has either signed or vetoed, the Governor made recommendations to other bills that were subsequently rejected by the initiating chamber. The rejected recommendations were communicated to the Governor and he has until May 17 to act on those bills. To follow the updated status of the K-12 legislative bills, go to this link.

Governor Youngkin continues to feed Virginians misinformation after he gutted the K-12 Education component of the Bipartisan General Assembly’s Conference Budget. Sadly, the Governor is gaslighting Virginians with untrue statements about how the Commonwealth funds public education in an attempt to rationalize his actions. Although he has been corrected repeatedly that his criticisms of the JLARC reports are unfounded, he continues to use that rationale to gut Virginia’s K-12 Education budget. This Virginia Education Association's Fact Check of Governor Youngkin’s error filled 'Fact” sheet is eye-opening. A‌lso, The Commonwealth Institute compared the Proposed Budget by Governor Youngkin from December 2023 to the Conference Committee Budget from March 2024 (endorsed by 4 Public Education) and the Governor’s amended budget he sent back to the General Assembly in April 2024. The K-12 Education budget starts on page 3. Governor Youngkin's amendments impacts vulnerable students the most. Funding for high poverty schools, English Language Learners, Community Schools, School breakfast, Community Leaders and Literacy support are the most impacted by the Governor’s amendments. The governor increased support for the controversial new Accountability and Assessment Systems (read more about them in this week’s blog) and, although it is difficult to find it in the budget, the Governor appears to have allocated $85 Million for his controversial Lab schools. Next week 4 Public Education president Cheryl Binkley will share her analysis of the Virginia Lab Schools and how they take money away from your public schools.

“The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.” ― Merlin to King Arthur in The Once and Future King by T.H. White, As we approach the time of year when students have a special Thanksgiving lunch, and families make plans for their big four day weekend, here at 4 Public Education we are thankful for many things: For our families, Since last Thanksgiving, there have been many graduations, weddings, moments of health stress, and joyous rites of passage for the 4 Public Education team and our families. We are glad to have shared them all and hold one another’s lives with thoughtfulness as we continue to navigate life and our work. For our communities, Regardless of the crises at any given moment, we have always met people who stood to protect all students’ right to learn. From national sister organizations to religious communities, to neighborhood parents and local community groups that are active in our schools on a daily basis, partners have supported our schools and the students in them with kindness, consideration, and generosity. For our schools themselves and the students who learn in them, Our grateful thoughts extend to the staff and policy makers whose life’s work is to support the chance for students to learn. Most of all we have watched in allied awe as students across Virginia participated in the defense of their own schools. Students have rallied, spoken at school board meetings and state board of education sessions, formed their own organizations, campaigned for pro-public schools candidates, and gathered friends for walkouts and protests. Most of all, they have continued to learn. In spite of pandemics and culture wars, beyond controversies and intrusions into their learning spaces, students have pursued their studies and allied with anyone who would help them protect and defend their right to learn. We are grateful for their wisdom, activism, and dedication to learning. So at this Thanksgiving holiday season, we at 4 Public Education wish you and yours a bounteous harvest of learning, plenty, and care. We invite you to join us as we all pause to count our blessings.

Choosing a Reading Curriculum that Works In 2022 the Virginia legislature passed The Virginia Literacy Act, often referred to as VLA. It was sponsored by such unlikely co-sponsors as lead Senate Democrats Louise Lucas from Portsmouth and Jennifer McClellan, and Siobhan Dunnavant, Republican firebrand from Henrico. The House sponsors were Carrie Coyner, a Republican from Chesterfield, and Kaye Kory, a Fairfax County Democrat. What could have brought legislators from such varied perspectives and parts of the Commonwealth together on an education bill that will directly define what and how students in elementary schools across Virginia are taught? The Virginia Literacy Act (VLA), as being implemented by the Virginia Department of Education, dictates that all schools in Virginia will teach literacy as distinct from language arts and will use state-approved, “evidence-based” materials. Whether the materials are locally developed, or purchased, they must be approved at the state level. As a result of VLA, schools all around Virginia are reviewing and changing their elementary language arts materials and resources, and national vendors are advertising and adapting their materials to suit the Virginia Department of Education’s specifications. To date, there are 11 commercial products approved for use in Virginia schools. Seven of those are for the full span of K-5. They are from traditional education companies such as McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin and from more recent companies such as Amplify, which was founded and later sold by Rupert Murdoch. Savvas, which is on the list, was formerly Pearson but was bought and retooled by hedge fund Nexus Capital in 2022. The VLA change marks perhaps the largest direct mandate in classroom instruction since the establishment of the Standards of Learning in 1995. The VLA materials adoptions will heavily determine what happens for the language arts portion of students’ days (usually a 90-minute to 120-minute daily block), and move teaching techniques toward scripted lessons and complete “fidelity” to the prescribed curriculum in order to collect data on whether the curriculum materials are working. So, what prompted the legislature to get involved at this level? In three words: phonics and test scores. Closing the achievement gap and test scores that confirm all students are reading at a high level has been the holy grail of education since at least the initiation of the NAEP in 1996. Despite programs, initiatives, and ever-increasingly rigorous tests and accountability, the grail has remained elusive, and scores have continued to correlate most closely with the affluence of school neighborhoods. Then came Dr. Hollis Scarborough’s reading rope and the Science of Reading. Though the Reading Rope was developed in 2001, it took time for it to become an almost universal image of reading pedagogy. The reading rope includes strands related to comprehension and fluency, but the basic letter and word approach skills (phonemic awareness and phonics) receive far more emphasis in the public and legislative discourse, and the Science of Reading is explicitly stated as the goal of VLA, since the act calls for materials to be scientifically based reading research. Will the Virginia Literacy Act prove to be “The Answer” to reading, poverty, and access to success in Virginia? It’s a tall order, never reached before. Yet, teachers are already reviewing and looking for ways to choose and make the newly adopted materials engaging and exciting for their students. Though the Science of Reading has a substantial body of studies, there are those, like Dr. Nancy Bailey, who challenge the notion that it is entirely science based. Will the state and localities provide the support to help both the teachers and students succeed? Will students respond positively to the new approach? We can only hope.

Reflections on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday 2024 This past September, I attended the PEER conference in Memphis Tennessee for groups and activists advocating for equitable public school funding. The trip was more of a pilgrimage than I expected. The hotel where I stayed was very near the Lorraine Hotel where Rev. King was assassinated. We toured the Lorraine Hotel, now a civil rights museum, and during the stay we stopped at the Masonic Temple where Rev. King gave his last speech to the sanitation workers who were on strike.  I was deeply touched to be in those spaces. It brought back many memories of that year when so much happened: Our first black teacher in my all-white hometown, the dark news of Dr. King’s assassination, followed shortly by the assassination of Bobby Kennedy whom I had just heard speak at Vanderbilt University, and the ongoing riots on the TV at night.  Being at the Lorraine Hotel and the Masonic Temple felt like being on hallowed ground. There has been much progress since that fateful year.  Black students enroll and graduate from colleges and universities that were still mostly off-limits then. Our first Black President, Barack Obama, was elected and served two terms, and this November, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, elected the largest Black Caucus in history , including Don Scott as the first Black Speaker of the House. But, several things about the PEER conference and the continuing work that needs to be done reminded me all too vividly of how much there is left to do.  We heard from Justin Jones and Justin Pearson,  the two black Tennessee legislators who had been expelled from the legislature for protesting gun violence in a school (They were re-elected). While there, we had dinner with the people of Earle, Arkansas,  a small town whose public schools were under siege from Governor Huckabee and the conservative state legislature. Earle’s fight to save their schools from closure seemed all too reminiscent of the challenges faced in Dr. King’s day.  So many political and educational leaders insist that education policies are data-driven. However, that claim is untrue if the data shows that we still have too many separate and unequal schools in 2024. The fact that 56 years after Dr. King’s death we still cannot say with any integrity that our schools are equitably funded or that Americans of color have the same access to  home loans  and healthy environments as white families, shows twenty-first century America stands as an embarrassing coda to Dr. King’s Christian ministry to our nation. Here is the  speech  he gave at the Masonic Temple, the night before he died. He was sick and had not planned to appear, but there were so many people his aides went back to the hotel and asked him to come anyway. He did. Standing in Memphis vividly brought home, we have much work to do before we can face ourselves and say we have brought Dr. King’s Dream to fruition and contend we are a place where all children have equal access to the American Dream.