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The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) constructs satellite Gross Domestic Product accounts which look at the contributions of certain economic clusters to the overall economy. BEA makes these data for such areas as the Arts and Cultural Production, Outdoor Recreation economy, and others. The Arts and Cultural Production account includes the Performing Arts, Museums, Design Services, Fine Arts education among other activities. This sector is responsible for 4.2% of US GDP and 4.6 million jobs in 2020, the latest year for which these data are available. This is, of course, significantly lower from pre-Covid levels. In Virginia, the Arts contribute 2.9% of our state GDP. In DC, 8.2%, Maryland, 2.5%. This sector supports 109,900 jobs in Virginia. The Outdoor Recreation sector incudes conventional activities such as bicycling, skiing, equestrian, boating, hiking, hunting; other activities such as gardening and outdoor concerts; and related supporting activities such as related construction, travel and tourism. Outdoor recreation is 1.8% nationally and 1.5% in Virginia. This sector contributes 104,300 jobs in Virginia. Each of these sectors of our economy supports jobs, income, and each contributes towards enjoyment of life in our Commonwealth. Within each of these clusters is a wide range of occupations. In the case of the Arts and Cultural segment, there are artists, performers and musicians and the array of support people including set construction, bookkeepers, lawyers, HR professionals, etc. that comprise the industries. Without the artists, performers and musicians, these other jobs would not exist. We take great pride in Virginia’s great outdoors, we should take the same pride in our artistic and cultural beauty. Support the arts in our schools and we support our economy.

Virginia Organizations and Community Leaders call for the Virginia Board of Education to Pass the August 2022 version of the proposed History and Social Studies Standards of Learning and Curriculum Virginia’s 60-year-old history curriculum originally was built around Eurocentric content and perspectives. In 2019, Virginians began an extensive process of revision to the 2014 History and Social Studies Standards and Curriculum, ensuring Virginia’s History and Social Studies standards were inclusive, factually accurate, and reflected all facets of U.S. and Virginia History in an age-appropriate manner. In the spring of 2022, after extensive consultation with subject matter experts, historians and after two public comment sessions, a revised draft of History and Social Studies Standards of Learning and Curriculum was ready for approval. In August of that year, the revised standards and curriculum documents were well-received during Virginia Board of Education’s (VDOE) August 2022 meeting. However, a couple of VDOE representatives felt some minor additions needed to be made. Instead a completely rewritten version of the document was presented at the November 17, 2022 Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) meeting. That document bore little resemblance to the document proposed in August and was replete with significant omissions of history, misinformation, and grammatical errors. 4 Public Education and collaborating organizations are preparing a letter for the Virginia BOE to be delivered to the chair on Nov. 30. This statement will demand that the August 2022 version of the History and Social Studies SOL be accepted and implemented. If your organization would like to sign onto the letter please contact Marianne Burke at Marianne.VaGrassrootsCoalition@gmail.com by noon on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.

Do you remember learning about sex ed in school when you were a teen? I do. Not only do I remember the cheesy heavy-handed after-school specials with Tiger Beat heartthrobs, but I also remember extreme mortification when I was excused from sex education class to go to the hospital to meet my brand new baby sister. In my 13 year-old mind, my sister’s birth advertised to all of my friends and classmates that my parents were having S-E-X…the horror! A million years ago, when I took sex education in Fairfax County, girls were separated from the boys for most of the class, as they still are decades later. Today, Fairfax County students voice that separation during sex education increases suspicion of each other and reduces empathy among students of different genders. Experts like Nicole Cushman , executive director of a sex education program at Rutgers University, says that separating genders for sex education “reinforce[s] the idea that sex is not something to be discussed in ‘mixed company.’” There has never been a scientific reason for gender-separated sex education, just social taboos combined with an antiquated concern about “natural modesty” of children, as if students weren’t already mortified being taught by (seemingly) ancient adults about “how babies are made” with their peers. Of course, if we stopped teaching everything that made students uncomfortable, there would be little learning to be had. First to go: calculus! After vigorous discussion among the parents, students, teachers, and health professionals on the Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC), the committee voted unanimously to adopt gender-combined instruction for the human growth and development portion of Family Life Education (FLE) for grades 4-10. Community members of FLECAC felt it was the best way to support the social, emotional, and physical health and safety of FCPS students. Close to half of the FLE classes are already taught in a mixed gender setting already for emotional social health lessons like consent, avoiding abuse, and using social media safety. Some parents and teachers have expressed reservations about boys’ immature behavior affecting the girls’ learning environment in a mixed-gender FLE class. Is immature behavior ONLY reserved for FLE? Absolutely not. Anything can inspire puerile behavior…even talking about the weather can sound dirty. If we are worried about immature behavior interfering with lessons, then Franz Kafka’s “The Penal Colony” should be thrown out of English class and nobody should graduate magna cum laude in mixed company. Dozens of FCPS students rallied for gender-combined FLE . Those most vocal against gender-combined FLE seem to be against teaching FLE altogether, despite the fact that comprehensive sex education is beneficial to students’ health and safety by: preventing unintended pregnancy, reducing sexually transmitted infections, delaying initiation of sexual intercourse, and improving academic performance. Gender-combined FLE enables students to have these health and safety conversations together, thereby enabling them to have a lifetime of such conversations. 4PublicEducaton.org is asking you to provide input from now until 12/1/22 4:30 pm supporting gender-combined FLE, which is supported by experts, FLECAC, students, and parents.

4PublicEducation.org champions public schools as the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and the right for every child to an exceptional education, thus we encourage all to vote before or on Election Day, November 8, 2022. Some deadlines are fast approaching, including: November 5th: Last day to apply in-person for absentee ballot AND last day to request a replacement absentee ballot. November 7th: Last day to Request an Emergency Absentee Ballot. November 8th: Election Day. On November 8th, Election Day, you should have a plan: Know who the candidates are. Ballotpedia is a neutral source that covers all of the Virginia 2022 candidates. Identify your polling place in Virginia here. Arrive at your polling place during polling hours, from 6:00 am until 7:00 pm As long as you are in line by 7:00 pm, you will be able to vote. Bring a friend, neighbor, or family member to vote. Vote with your conscience. Vote for the future. It is your civic duty to try to get to the polls. Don’t let anyone dissuade you. Additionally, since 2022, Virginia has had same-day registration for voting with a provisional ballot. Some common myths about voting can be found here. Finally, if you are disabled, polling places should be accessible, meet state and federal accessibility standards, and should have at least one voting machine accessible to disabled voters. The full range of accessible voting options at each polling place can be found here. Education and justice are democracy's only life insurance. --Nannie Helen Burroughs (Virginian, Educator, Innovator, Activist)

4 Public Education strongly opposes ableism in all of its forms whether in the classroom or in public, which includes the use of slurs like the one used by Ms. Karen Keys-Gamarra during the October 20, 2022 Regular School Board Meeting. Such words not only severely harm those in the disability community, but harm our entire community and should never be used or tolerated. We appreciate that Ms. Keys-Gamarra quickly apologized and continues to try to make amends to the individuals and community she has harmed. Nevertheless, we see her words as a caution for the community: ableist slurs, words, and actions are far too common and too infrequently pushed back upon. Such words and actions are deeply offensive and harmful to students and their families, and employees. We would hope that each of us in our school system commits to countering such damaging words, while working harder to center our education system on the needs, dignity, and abilities of all students. If any students with disabilities are bullied or name-called as a result of their disability, then our community has failed. As Ms. Togbe so aptly said, “Students are watching.” If they see that we do not value each student by name and by need, then they will follow that poor example. Ms. Keys-Gamarra has a long history of advocacy for a diverse group of children and their families, including as a family law attorney and serving as a court-appointed guardian ad litem. She is an important part of the Fairfax County School Board, having served as chair of numerous committees and having spearheaded the Special Education audit. She is continually advocating for equity and quality education. Her lifetime record illustrates her dedication to children. 4 Public Education hopes that she will continue in these endeavors as she works to heal the harm she caused. In the meantime, we oppose attempts to remove her from the School Board or censure her. Ms. Keys-Gamarra is in her third year of a four-year term and is up for re-election next year; therefore, the Fairfax County voters should decide if she should stay on the school board for future terms. Censure is one of the most serious consequences a legislative body can impose on its members. While Ms. Keys-Gamarra’s behavior was disgraceful, it does not rise to a level at which such a drastic measure should be invoked. Censure affects not only that member, but also her constituents. In our view it should likely be used for behaviors that are both egregious and intentional. This action does not meet this test; therefore, while strongly condemning her words, we oppose censure as a resolution. This is a moment for the entire community to reassess their words, behavior, and biases regarding disabilities and disabled people. We can all do better and be better for our students and our community. Download PDF version here:

October 26, 2022 4 Public Education, Fairfax Federation of Teachers, Fairfax Education Association, Stand and Deliver and FCPS Pride have joined with other community groups to co-sponsor the Free and Antiracist Minds’ resolution at the October 20, 2022 FCPS School Board meeting. The resolution was to support administrators and teachers who daily are presented with the difficult questions surrounding race in Virginia and are charged with educating our children with accurate, balanced and meaningful information. It was also an effort to reassure those who work with Fairfax County children that some political perspectives and politically motivated attacks would not endanger their jobs and careers. Additionally, it was needed to assure parents of Brown and Black children in Fairfax that their children will see and hear themselves and their ancestors represented with dignity in the curriculum and instruction in their schools. At the 11th hour, the carefully drafted and fully vetted resolution was scuttled for a watered-down, and toothless version that was presented and approved as an amendment to the resolution. The language used in the new version reflects the current status quo of policy and offers little reassurance either to school based educators or parents. This version of the resolution merely reinforced the current policy. The amended version passed with a vote of seven to four. As concerned members of the FCPS community, we remain committed to supporting teachers, administrators and students. We seek a curriculum and culture that does not shy away from our collective history, but embraces it, for all its good or bad, and respects that without an honest reckoning with our past, we cannot move toward a just future. Respectfully, 4 Public Education, Stand and Deliver, Fairfax Education Association, Fairfax Federation of Teachers, and FCPS Pride request that the FCPS Board reconsider their decision to support a resolution that may seem politically safe, but is both damaging to its most vulnerable students and signals to its most creative and engaged teachers that they can not count on this Board to protect them from extremists.

Dark money's influence on public education is not new. For decades, groups funded by billionaires have worked to push policies and proposals that pull teachers, funding, and other resources from public schools, including efforts to promote school privatization, charter schools, vouchers, and other so-called “education reform” schemes intended to defund and dismantle public education. In 2022, dark money groups are continuing these efforts to undermine and defund public education. Their impacts to public education are far-ranging and damaging, including: Shaping the pandemic response School board recalls Chaotic school board meetings Curriculum challenges and restrictions Teacher shortage State-wide efforts to attack public schools The global COVID pandemic offered a unique opportunity to implement multi-pronged efforts by the political operatives that were hidden by the pandemic chaos. In fact, a network of dark money groups shaped the education pandemic response narrative to in-person schooling and no mask mandates, since March 2020. Additionally, it is clear that since mid-2020, experienced dark money operatives used new and established school privatization groups to take “ advantage of parents’ genuine concerns about their children’s well-being in a global pandemic to further attack public education.” The number of recalls of school board members have skyrocketed since the beginning of the pandemic. Per Ballotpedia , 47% of school board recalls in the last ten years were conducted in less than three years. Many of these were fueled by pandemic-related outrage over reopening schedules or masking mandates and others related to the teaching of alleged divisive topics such as Critical Race Theory (CRT). How many of these recalls were run by astroturfed groups supported by dark money? It is unknown; however, in Fairfax County, VA, the openFCPS school board recall effort received 73% of its funds from N2 America , a right-wing dark money organization. The recall effort in Loudoun county was run by Fight For Schools , another well-known astroturfed dark money organization. Seemingly, there may be a similar trend across the country: San Francisco saw recall efforts with significant funding from PACs and super PACs funded by billionaires . Recall efforts distract school boards from doing their best for students. School board meetings have become intense and confrontational and sometimes dangerous due to these attacks. Rallies organized by dark money groups sometimes bring people who are from out of district and/or may not have children in the school district; therefore, they are not limited by civil discourse , much less the truth. Parents, teachers, and elected officials have been targeted for harassment , which has created fear in the public school community and has silenced many leaders and parents. Obviously, these distractions would and do negatively impact the ability of school boards and public schools to support and educate students. How can one do their best job for students if their job or very life is threatened? Across the United States, laws are being passed to affect what and how students learn. Such bills are rooted in culture wars and manufactured panics; however, 25 states have passed 64 laws that limit student access to books, education on gender and sexuality, education on racism and civil rights. This doesn’t even include all 42 states that have introduced anti-CRT bills that would result in restricting the ability of teachers to teach about civil rights, social justice, and American history. Teacher resignations remain high after two years of pandemic teaching, harassment by parents and right-wing groups, and a lack of support by school administrations who are struggling under the same attacks. The National Education Association identified dark money networks that have used social media networks to radicalize adults over COVID protocols, curriculum, culture war issues, and book bans. The resulting teacher shortage is affecting schools across the nation, which means some classrooms may not have certified or experienced teachers. For years, Virginia public school students have typically outperformed the national average in most, if not all subjects and grade levels. Virginia is ranked in the top 5-10 school systems across the United States; however, this academic excellence in Virginia has been under attack since the Youngkin Administration is aggressively working undermine public education in Virginia by: Instituting a series of standard anti-public education initiatives designed to pull money from public education (e.g, lab schools and charter schools ); Installing pro-privatization anti-social justice appointees in the Virginia Department of Education at all levels , including on the Virginia Board of Education ; Interfering in the authority of the school boards to supervise their school district, as granted by the Virginia Constitution , which states “The supervision of schools in each school division shall be vested in a school board.” Creating a much-maligned tip line for Virginia residents to inform on teachers. A media coalition is suing Youngkin over a lack of transparency regarding information gleaned from the tip-line. Pushing a myriad of efforts via Executive Orders, curriculum challenges, and new policies to reduce support and protection for vulnerable students, including disabled, LGBTQIA, immigrant, African American, non-native english speaking, and other students. School boards were elected and administrators were hired to run our public schools; however, sometimes it seems that politically-motivated groups, funded by dark money from unknown donors outside the school district, are driving the public education conversation. This results in reduced money and resources for public education, which directly affects each child’s constitutional right to free and appropriate public education and interferes with school districts’ ability to educate children, much less train and support teachers. 4PublicEducation.org champions public schools as the cornerstone of a healthy democracy and the right for every child to an exceptional education. We reject the interference by dark money to undermine and defund our public schools.

As he did before the 2021 election, Governor Glenn Youngkin continues to inaccurately and unfairly disparage public schools in Virginia. That strategy helped him win the governorship in a close race by stoking culture wars and convincing voters that public schools were denying parents their rights. He now continues to wage culture wars and fuel the rage of some voters and parents. During the 2021 gubernatorial election, Glenn Youngkin focused on such school related issues as opening schools without adequate mitigation measures during the COVID epidemic, and opposing mask and vaccine mandates for teachers and students. Simultaneously, his campaign painted public schools across the Commonwealth as failing indoctrination institutions, thus he promised to expand charter schools as alternatives. However, it was his false claims that public schools denied “parental rights” that won him the 2021 election. Once elected, Governor Youngkin continued to disparage Virginia’s public school systems, even claiming at a recent Annandale, VA rally that “progressives” believe “schools should lock children out of their parents’ lives.” Early in his term, the governor’s administration released a report that was highly critical of Virginia’s public schools and attributed an alleged drastic decline in student achievement to policies, choices, and priorities of previous administrations. Repeatedly in this report, Youngkin claimed that previous administrations had reduced transparency, lowered standards, and caused achievement gaps that eroded public confidence in Virginia’s public schools. However, many professionals in education disagreed with these assertions, including members of the Virginia Board of Education, the Virginia Education Association, city superintendents, the Washington Post, Politifact, and Senate Democrats (including the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus). Published evidence also contradicts the report finding that: Virginia was ranked 4th best in the nation by Forbes, 5th best in the nation by Scholaroo, and unlike claims in the report, has relatively high NAEP math scores. Perhaps more importantly, most Virginia families approve of their public school systems. How can there be such a discrepancy between the high national rankings for Virginia and the claims in Governor Youngkin’s report? Experts point to the fact that the Youngkin administration erroneously compared scores that should not be compared, for example, the term “proficient” is scored differently among standardized tests. Despite this failure to compare standardized tests appropriately, the Youngkin administration claimed that was an “honesty gap” on behalf of prior administrations, not a “careless conflation of NAEP’s “proficient” benchmark with grade-level performance” by its own administration. Nevertheless, Governor Youngkin continues to claim that Virginia’s public schools are failing in order to spur voter interest in education alternatives that involve diverting public funds from public schools by way of school vouchers for students to attend private schools, and creating new charter and lab schools. It is even possible that the Governor would personally profit by diverting public school funds to private businesses, since he recently resigned from, but is still heavily invested in the Carlyle Group, a private firm that invests in private education. As a result, diversion of public school funds to private schools and education ventures in and around the United States seems likely to benefit Carlyle Group portfolios. Of course, there are schools in Virginia that are not performing adequately for students, like other public school systems across the nation. Those schools tend to be in low-income communities and tend to be inadequately funded. It is incumbent upon the Youngkin administration to better provide for those schools, not to destroy the largely successful public school system in the Commonwealth. Yet, parents are being lured toward the idea that publicly funding private schools and new charter schools offer quick solutions to perceived problems with their community schools while potential problems associated with diverting public school funds to private businesses are inadequately evaluated. In Part 2, Honest Conversations about Attacks on Public Education, of this two-part series of , members of the Virginia Senate and House continue the discussion on how Virginia’s Governor actions impact the success of public schools.

Part 1 of this 2-part series, introduced Governor Youngkin’s attack on public education during and after his campaign. This second part focuses on recent Honest Conversations among legislators hosted by the former Virginia Secretary of Education, Atif Qarni, that debunked the Governor’s lies. The legislators are on legislative committees that consider public education bills including: Senators Louise Lucas, Mamie Locke, and Ghazala Hashmi who serve on the Senate Education and Health Committee; and Delegate Elizabeth Guzman who serves on the House Education Committee. All agreed that Youngkin’s attack on public education helped him win the Governorship in 2021, and his administration continues the attacks using misinformation to mislead Virginia’s voters. The four legislators described how damaging those attacks are to Virginia’s students and the public school system in general. Thankfully, they promised to fight the Governor’s attempt to divert funding away from public schools by offering firm intentions to continue to fight for public education resources in the Commonwealth. Senator Lucas, Chair of the Senate Committee, charged the Governor with focusing his attacks on the previous administration’s successes and using misinformation to stir outrage in the voting public. The erroneous claims have reduced the public’s confidence in public schools and are employed to make the case for privatizing public schools. Senator Lucas promised “We are not going to let the Governor do that. We will expose his attempts to defund our public schools. We cannot divert money from public education on the backs of poor children… we must fully fund all [public] schools, and provide more funding to schools in low-income communities… We need to call [the Governor] out on this nonsense" We cannot divert money from public education on the backs of poor children… we must fully fund all [public] schools, and provide more funding to schools in low-income communities… We need to call [the Governor] out on this nonsense. Senator Locke shared that she is a product of an unequal public school system; however, she “found education to be the great equalizer.” Locke stated, “Our students deserve to know the diverse and complex world in which we live in order to build the communities we want to see…We should not have to fight this battle [for inclusive history but] we must fight, because we must not allow the whitewashing of Virginia history…We can’t [accomplish our education goals] if we have an administration that does not believe in diversity, equity and inclusion… It is my hope that we can weather this storm … until such time that we can ensure that we can go back to a sense of reasonableness…and provide the diversity and equity that we need for the education of our children.” We should not have to fight this battle [for inclusive history but] we must fight, because we must not allow the whitewashing of Virginia history. Senator Hashmi said “Public education is the cornerstone of public good. Children must be able to work and communicate across culture, racial and ethnic lines and we must provide that context in our public schools [with] a broad and inclusive history curriculum.” She reported “Currently teachers are demoralized… they are concerned about the [Governor’s] ‘tipline’ and feel constantly under attack.” Referring to the Governor calling his plan for education ‘innovative’, the senator reminded us “We already know how to provide a quality education [and we] must rely on that information instead of falling for buzzwords used by the Youngkin administration…We must focus on the students, ensure small class sizes, provide individual attention, repair the teacher retention issue by paying teachers well… We must step back from the culture wars.” Senator Hashmi reminded us that when public school funds are diverted to corporations, K-12 education suffers, as has happened in other states. “This is the direction that this administration wants to take public education in Virginia. And we have every responsibility to fight back against that.” We must focus on the students, ensure small class sizes, provide individual attention, repair the teacher retention issue by paying teachers well… We must step back from the culture wars. Delegate Guzman pointed out that “Governor Youngkin is not here for students, teachers, or most parents, and that his policies and agenda target only a small but vocal group of parents…Parents are not a homogeneous group and that the Governor does not listen to the many parents who are upset with his policies and the inaccurate information he shares.” One example of the Governor’s problematic policies: his attempt to delay the approval of the revised History and Social Studies Standards of Learning (SOL) that has already gone through a time-consuming revision and review by historians, educators, administrators, and parents. Guzman states that, “Any further delay in approving [the revised SOL] is not necessary or warranted. Most parents and teachers want the Governor to honor the constitution, adopt the standards and do what is best for the students.” Instead, the governor is trying to silence the voices of many Virginians by removing references to African American and other minority groups from the document. “[He is] trying to suppress the history that students need to know” while also stimulating outrage among the electorate by removing the parts of history he claims to be divisive. He’s tone deaf on the needs of Virginians and what we need in public education…We have one of the best public education systems in the world…and we will fight tooth and nail to protect what we’ve accomplished so far. Secretary Qarni offered a historical perspective explaining that “ historical backlash [sometimes occurs] after significant social justice progress has been made.” For example, after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Virginia responded with Massive Resistance which closed public schools rather than allow integration of the public schools. 4PublicEducation.org agrees that we need to resist the backlash against the progress we made in Virginia. We need to continue to have honest conversations about Virginia's history and our public schools.

STATEMENT OF 4 PUBLIC EDUCATION REGARDING GOVERNOR YOUNGKIN’S ACTION AGAINST TRANSGENDER YOUTH AND FAMILIES We strongly condemn the recent policy directive of Governor Youngkin’s Department of Education to reverse guidelines to protect and respect transgender youth. The new mandatory policy is designed to interfere with family dynamics, further harass, intimidate and undermine teachers and staff, and to place some of our most vulnerable children at greater risk. It is anti-family, anti-children, and anti-public school. This policy has the potential to damage long-developed relationships between families and schools during times when families and students need support. This is done to further the false narrative that schools are trying to take away parents’ rights. The proposed policy follows a dangerous authoritarian pattern of this administration of seeking out potential conflicts in school communities, sensationalizing them, and then exploiting conflict to sow distrust and discord in our public school communities. This pattern is clearly aimed at popularizing Youngkin’s overarching mission to promote religious and secular charter and private schools at the expense of public education. The proposed policy will significantly damage the relationship between teachers and vulnerable transgender youth, some of whom have no other adult in whom they can confide. The new regulations not only crush sensitive relationships within the school setting, but they pit students against teachers and teachers against parents. These model policies trammel on the personal rights of students while nullifying the legally protected gender identity rights of students, even if they have parental consent, absent a decision by a court. Any teacher who objects to the decision of a transgender student to be addressed by their chosen name or gender identity, is allowed to ignore the wishes of that student and their parents. Further, parents have no power to control the name requested of the transgender student, absent a court order. This is not a “parents’ rights” issue as it is being advertised, but rather the extreme over-reach of an authoritarian governmental entity without the skills, training or empathy necessary to appropriately determine the best course of policies to protect and support children and their families. This is clear, since research consistently finds that affirming transgender student identity improves both their mental and academic outcomes. This model policy is designed to stigmatize transgender and non-binary students; rather than protecting parents rights; otherwise, it would not actively violate the rights of most parents of transgender students while endangering the smaller number of transgender students whose parents ignore or reject their gender identity. Research shows that rejection at home increases the rate of a transgender adolescent of suicidal ideation and homelessness. We urge the public’s participation in condemning this action through the public comment period that begins on September 26th. However, of significant note is that the policy requires all school divisions to comply with the directive one month later, regardless of any information received during the comment period. This effectively eviscerates the value of public participation in our democracy. This bald-faced attempt to override the legislation of a duly-elected General Assembly will not be tolerated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION HERE: