Governor Youngkin Signs Partnership Agreement with Colleges and Universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great news. He's doing what I elected him to do.

Public schools need competition, their product is deteriorating and unions work against parents' interests.

It’s not a fair competition unless these schools need to take all comers- the learning disabled, the LGBQT, the poor, the parents-in-jail, along with the middle class white kids fleeing public schools.

When you consider how selective these schools are in other states, their outcomes really are mediocre for the money spent.

You want to know what’s going to work against the parents interest? The for-profit consultancy that will be making every decision. They’re not going to spend a dime they don’t have to on staff, facilities, or anything else.

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great news. He's doing what I elected him to do.

Public schools need competition, their product is deteriorating and unions work against parents' interests.

It’s not a fair competition unless these schools need to take all comers- the learning disabled, the LGBQT, the poor, the parents-in-jail, along with the middle class white kids fleeing public schools.

When you consider how selective these schools are in other states, their outcomes really are mediocre for the money spent.

You want to know what’s going to work against the parents interest? The for-profit consultancy that will be making every decision. They’re not going to spend a dime they don’t have to on staff, facilities, or anything else.

This!

+1 million

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great news. He's doing what I elected him to do.

Public schools need competition, their product is deteriorating and unions work against parents' interests.

It’s not a fair competition unless these schools need to take all comers- the learning disabled, the LGBQT, the poor, the parents-in-jail, along with the middle class white kids fleeing public schools.

When you consider how selective these schools are in other states, their outcomes really are mediocre for the money spent.

You want to know what’s going to work against the parents interest? The for-profit consultancy that will be making every decision. They’re not going to spend a dime they don’t have to on staff, facilities, or anything else.

This!

+1 million

Plus more. Have you all taken a look as to what happens when charters are let loose on q district? Esepcially ones that dont need to meet stringent accreditation requirement and can kick kids out?

[Anonymous]

1. Several lab schools already exist in Virginia. This isn’t some new concept Youngkin came up with.

2. The document holds little weight. We will see what happens with funding and the budget. Given Youngkin’s lack of any experience with governing or legislating, I won’t hold my breath.

3. His view on public schools have been made clear. I wouldn’t trust him on this whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

So....the state does everything they can to hobble public schools and then says they need to allow charters because public schools are no good.

Please remember:

The state determines a lot of the funding for public.
The state creates and mandates the curriculum.
The state mandates and creates all the testing that has crippled K-12.

The state is the reason K-12 are so bad in the first place, so creating more schools that are better just seems like a really weird place to start fixing K-12.

Nevertheless, I will be more than happy to see any alternative to FCPS, which is broken beyond repair, regardless of the reason it's broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great news. He's doing what I elected him to do.

Public schools need competition, their product is deteriorating and unions work against parents' interests.

It’s not a fair competition unless these schools need to take all comers- the learning disabled, the LGBQT, the poor, the parents-in-jail, along with the middle class white kids fleeing public schools.

When you consider how selective these schools are in other states, their outcomes really are mediocre for the money spent.

You want to know what’s going to work against the parents interest? The for-profit consultancy that will be making every decision. They’re not going to spend a dime they don’t have to on staff, facilities, or anything else.

This!

+1 million

Plus more. Have you all taken a look as to what happens when charters are let loose on q district? Esepcially ones that dont need to meet stringent accreditation requirement and can kick kids out?

I like the idea of VA's public universities being in charge of these charters, as our universities are very good. On the other hand, the community college is awful and very poorly run, so hopefully it won't end up like that or be under their control.

However, I've worked with DC charters for a few years now, and they are abominable. I've never seen anything so chaotic, inefficient, and, I suspect, corrupt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of VA's public universities being in charge of these charters, as our universities are very good. On the other hand, the community college is awful and very poorly run, so hopefully it won't end up like that or be under their control.

Which community college? Or are you referring to VCCS?

[Anonymous]

Having worked in a public college that was basically taken over by a businessman, I saw first hand what happens when you put business people in charge of education.

First, they cut budgets in a way that drastically impaired our ability to teach well. We didn't have the materials or spaces that we needed.

Then they began to eat away at salaries. First cutting numbers of teachers (while increasing administrative staff in their own offices) and staff who actually worked with students.

Then they cut some benefits for current teachers.

When the most qualified began to leave, they were short teachers, but instead of trying to hire full timers they hired multiple part timers and short term teachers for much less money and no benefits. The necessary qualifications for temporary and part time teachers was lower.

Then they cut even those salaries and even the good part timers began to leave.

Then they simply lowered the qualifications necessary to work there until the teachers had gone from PhD's to almost anyone with a college degree.

The remaining program is pretty awful. Yet tuition has gone up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of VA's public universities being in charge of these charters, as our universities are very good. On the other hand, the community college is awful and very poorly run, so hopefully it won't end up like that or be under their control.

Which community college? Or are you referring to VCCS?

Yes, VCCS. The administration is corrupt and incompetent and has been for as long as I can remember. There are still some good departments and teachers, but how they remain in spite of the leadership is a mystery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of VA's public universities being in charge of these charters, as our universities are very good. On the other hand, the community college is awful and very poorly run, so hopefully it won't end up like that or be under their control.

Which community college? Or are you referring to VCCS?

Yes, VCCS. The administration is corrupt and incompetent and has been for as long as I can remember. There are still some good departments and teachers, but how they remain in spite of the leadership is a mystery.

Well, the leader is retiring.

https://www.vccs.edu/chancellor-search/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having worked in a public college that was basically taken over by a businessman, I saw first hand what happens when you put business people in charge of education.

First, they cut budgets in a way that drastically impaired our ability to teach well. We didn't have the materials or spaces that we needed.

Then they began to eat away at salaries. First cutting numbers of teachers (while increasing administrative staff in their own offices) and staff who actually worked with students.

Then they cut some benefits for current teachers.

When the most qualified began to leave, they were short teachers, but instead of trying to hire full timers they hired multiple part timers and short term teachers for much less money and no benefits. The necessary qualifications for temporary and part time teachers was lower.

Then they cut even those salaries and even the good part timers began to leave.

Then they simply lowered the qualifications necessary to work there until the teachers had gone from PhD's to almost anyone with a college degree.

The remaining program is pretty awful. Yet tuition has gone up.

You're describing the majority of public colleges over the last 20 years. Adjuncts outnumber tenured faculty nationally. Admin staffs have ballooned even at the schools that haven't slashed professorships. And tuition goes up everywhere. And most of those colleges are run by former academics or professional administrators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Several lab schools already exist in Virginia. This isn’t some new concept Youngkin came up with.

2. The document holds little weight. We will see what happens with funding and the budget. Given Youngkin’s lack of any experience with governing or legislating, I won’t hold my breath.

3. His view on public schools have been made clear. I wouldn’t trust him on this whatsoever.

He's adding private businesses as well as colleges. Right now, the program is almost non-existant because there is little reason for a college to participate. Once companies find a way to make some money off of it, they may go for it. The rest is funding getting zeroed out if the republicans loose control

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having worked in a public college that was basically taken over by a businessman, I saw first hand what happens when you put business people in charge of education.

First, they cut budgets in a way that drastically impaired our ability to teach well. We didn't have the materials or spaces that we needed.

Then they began to eat away at salaries. First cutting numbers of teachers (while increasing administrative staff in their own offices) and staff who actually worked with students.

Then they cut some benefits for current teachers.

When the most qualified began to leave, they were short teachers, but instead of trying to hire full timers they hired multiple part timers and short term teachers for much less money and no benefits. The necessary qualifications for temporary and part time teachers was lower.

Then they cut even those salaries and even the good part timers began to leave.

Then they simply lowered the qualifications necessary to work there until the teachers had gone from PhD's to almost anyone with a college degree.

The remaining program is pretty awful. Yet tuition has gone up.

You're describing the majority of public colleges over the last 20 years. Adjuncts outnumber tenured faculty nationally. Admin staffs have ballooned even at the schools that haven't slashed professorships. And tuition goes up everywhere. And most of those colleges are run by former academics or professional administrators.

I'm aware; that's been a problem for even more than 20 years. But ours went beyond even that. We actually ended up with NO full-time teaching staff, and then a low-paid (like 25/hour) staff of completely unqualified "teachers" who didn't even have admin support. In most colleges, even adjuncts have PhD's, or at the very least, master's degrees, and there is usually some oversight by faculty or at least some admin support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an interesting concept and has some potential, but I think it depends what their end goal is (and I don’t really trust the wolf in a fleece vest). UVA has a program called the Community Lab School. I don’t know much about it other than it’s a public charter for grades 6-12.

Also, it looks like he wants to push for trade schools. Personally, I feel trade schools are better after graduating high school. If funds get diverted from established local k-12 public schools for trade schools, I’d have a real problem with that.

This is a link to the UVA lab school. Sounds wonderful and I would be thrilled if these become more commonplace. And btw - these are not "trade schools."

https://cls.k12albemarle.org/about

I actually did fieldwork at this school like 15 years ago. It was an alternative school for kids who struggled with mainstream high school. It sounds like it's changed a lot since then but it's not that much different than HB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow that’s really exciting. I live in Maryland now but that really does make me think about wanting to move.

I feel the same way. This is great!

Might have to see about teleworking full time to make this happen for my children.