WAMU story: Urban Coalition Presses Virginia Lawmakers to 'Meaningfully Increase' Education Funding

[Anonymous]

Heard this story today on the radio -- it's about time there was a strategy to advocate to members of the General Assembly in the rest of Virginia. It really is not just about Fairfax County.

https://wamu.org/news/15/12/14/urban_coalition_in_virginia_presses_state_government_to_meaningfully_increase_education_funding

Last week, leaders from 130 local governments, school divisions and business leaders from across Virginia met in Fredericksburg to plot strategy. Part of that strategy is coordinating a message, and the group is seizing on two particular data points. One is that the commonwealth has reduced its share of funding for public education by more than $1 billion since 2009. Another is that state funding on a per pupil inflation adjusted basis has decreased from $4,275 per student in 2009 to $3,655 per student in 2015.

[Anonymous]

Since 2009 -- have we all forgotten the Great Recession, followed by the sequester, which hit Virginia hard financially and economically? If the money's not there, the money's not there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since 2009 -- have we all forgotten the Great Recession, followed by the sequester, which hit Virginia hard financially and economically? If the money's not there, the money's not there.

If the money's not there, we'd better figure out a way to raise it then. Or live with the consequences of a declining educational system.

[Anonymous]

A listing of the Urban Crescent member jurisdictions is on the invitation letter for last week's meeting in Fredericksburg.

http://www.gwregion.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/110415-Urban-Crescent-Letter-of-Invitation.pdf

[Anonymous]

This news article suggests this effort may be too late as the Governor announces his proposed budget on December 17.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/education/dp-nws-education-notebook-1215-20151214-story.html

"It was a good meeting to get all of this leadership in the room and pretty much hear the same message that the funding cuts have taken a real toll, brought a real toll on some of the things we'd like to and really feel like we should be doing," Stodghill said. "It's time to start communicating to the governor and the General Assembly that funding for education needs to be increased."

Stodghill said current spending levels can't meet all needs, especially in urban school districts that deal with a range of student issues. He said the meeting was productive, although he cautioned that it was held in the "shadow of Northern Virginia," where funding formulas impact divisions differently than in Hampton Roads."

...Now that the discussion has taken place, a letter detailing why McAuliffe and the state need to provide more public education funding will be circulated this week to stakeholders. The plan is to send the letter in early January, although McAuliffe is set to unveil his proposed budget on Dec. 17.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since 2009 -- have we all forgotten the Great Recession, followed by the sequester, which hit Virginia hard financially and economically? If the money's not there, the money's not there.

The money is there, but it's decidedly not there for public education. The money is there for ridiculous amounts of standardized testing ($37-46 million annually) and technology that expires in 2-3 years, but it's not there to lower class size. hmmmmm The money is there for a multitude of remedial classes to prepare for the SOLs, but not for electives of art, music, languages.... hmmmm The money is there for the new requirement of "Personal Finance" class for graduation, but not for vocational education. hmmmm In other words, the money is there, but our politicians are not spending it in ways to really benefit children, they are spending it on private interests.

Next on the list for taxpayer hand-outs are Charter Schools with the Obenshain amendment. If OA passes the General Assembly, local districts will be forced to take charter schools, who have no accountability to the tax payers or state education policies. The local districts will have to foot the bill for charters. Charter Schools do not educate all kids, they pick and choose those without IEPs and ELL learners at taxpayer expense. They are partially staffed by unqualified teachers and even the qualified teachers earn less at charter schools. So....who would benefit from this financial outlay? The charter school companies.

[Anonymous]

I don't agree with charter schools but agree with the other spending matters. SOLS were decreased and the plan is to decrease them further. The amount given for them is not very high. Another thread worked it out to a couple of dollars per pupil. VA is 41st in terms of educational spending in the nation. They need to increase the pot of money going towards education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't agree with charter schools but agree with the other spending matters. SOLS were decreased and the plan is to decrease them further. The amount given for them is not very high. quote]

The SOL committee reduced SOLs by 5. The average VA student takes approx. 70 standardized tests from K-12 and about 7 standardized tests per year. That does not include WIDA for students learning English or remedial testing for students who failed an SOL and some students will take as many as 150 standardized tests from K-12. Check the Testing Calendar on any School Division website, add up the tests and practice tests, some of which last several days. Then add up the classroom time spent on preparing students for the tests. Add up all the time that classroom teachers are pulled from the classroom to administer tests or test Kindergartners on PALS. It amounts to weeks of lost instructional time and a whole lot of stress for the students and teachers. ASK any teacher, if there is too much testing and they will agree 100%. Ask parents with school age children how the testing effects their child and they will report all kinds of anxiety, illness and depression and "hating school".

The cost to the taxpayer is astronomical and there are figures between $37-$46 million annually. The budget is buried deeply. But every time a student takes a test, it is money for Pearson or Scholastic or the vendor testing company. Furthermore in 20 years of SOL testing, the achievement gap persists. The standardized testing mandate has not benefited students, but it sure has benefited corporate interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't agree with charter schools but agree with the other spending matters. SOLS were decreased and the plan is to decrease them further. The amount given for them is not very high. quote]

The SOL committee reduced SOLs by 5. The average VA student takes approx. 70 standardized tests from K-12 and about 7 standardized tests per year. That does not include WIDA for students learning English or remedial testing for students who failed an SOL and some students will take as many as 150 standardized tests from K-12. Check the Testing Calendar on any School Division website, add up the tests and practice tests, some of which last several days. Then add up the classroom time spent on preparing students for the tests. Add up all the time that classroom teachers are pulled from the classroom to administer tests or test Kindergartners on PALS. It amounts to weeks of lost instructional time and a whole lot of stress for the students and teachers. ASK any teacher, if there is too much testing and they will agree 100%. Ask parents with school age children how the testing effects their child and they will report all kinds of anxiety, illness and depression and "hating school".

The cost to the taxpayer is astronomical and there are figures between $37-$46 million annually. The budget is buried deeply. But every time a student takes a test, it is money for Pearson or Scholastic or the vendor testing company. Furthermore in 20 years of SOL testing, the achievement gap persists. The standardized testing mandate has not benefited students, but it sure has benefited corporate interests.

There are 1,284,680 students in Virginia. Even at $46 million, the state would be spending $36 per student on testing for the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since 2009 -- have we all forgotten the Great Recession, followed by the sequester, which hit Virginia hard financially and economically? If the money's not there, the money's not there.

The money is there, but it's decidedly not there for public education. The money is there for ridiculous amounts of standardized testing ($37-46 million annually) and technology that expires in 2-3 years, but it's not there to lower class size. hmmmmm The money is there for a multitude of remedial classes to prepare for the SOLs, but not for electives of art, music, languages.... hmmmm The money is there for the new requirement of "Personal Finance" class for graduation, but not for vocational education. hmmmm In other words, the money is there, but our politicians are not spending it in ways to really benefit children, they are spending it on private interests.

Next on the list for taxpayer hand-outs are Charter Schools with the Obenshain amendment. If OA passes the General Assembly, local districts will be forced to take charter schools, who have no accountability to the tax payers or state education policies. The local districts will have to foot the bill for charters. Charter Schools do not educate all kids, they pick and choose those without IEPs and ELL learners at taxpayer expense. They are partially staffed by unqualified teachers and even the qualified teachers earn less at charter schools. So....who would benefit from this financial outlay? The charter school companies.

The problem is the increase of ESOL FARMS

[Anonymous]

The problem is the increase of ESOL FARMS



Children are not the problem. Not ever. Policy makers, corporate investors and education privatizers are the problem.

[Anonymous]

An increase in ESOL/FARMS signifies that the parents are the problem not being able to pay for the services they need for their children.

[Anonymous]

"Policy makers, corporate investors and education privatizers are the problem." These people are all adults and probably parents too. Just like the adult parents of FARM students. The problem in education more complicated than saying any of these people are the sole issue. The policy makers are the ones who created NCLB and testing which in turn ended up costing counties millions to try to educate their ESOL/FARM students. Before the NCLB policy there were few requirements to hold underperforming schools accountable. Was it a good move for the country to require more of FARM students? People at low performing schools are still advocating to keep some of the NLB controls, so it sounds like NCLB has been better than nothing. Corporate Investors pay money to help schools. I have a hard time seeing how you can entirely fault them even if they push a certain product. It's free money to the schools. Education Privatizers take children out of the public school system which is not necessarily bad. Less cost for the county to educate some students, but less interest in paying taxes for schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the increase of ESOL FARMS

Children are not the problem. Not ever. Policy makers, corporate investors and education privatizers are the problem.

Lolololol FCPS says the illegals and farms are the problem, stfu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the increase of ESOL FARMS

Children are not the problem. Not ever. Policy makers, corporate investors and education privatizers are the problem.

Lolololol FCPS says the illegals and farms are the problem, stfu