What Won’t Happen to Virginia Schools
Vouchers, book banning, and the bills that bully kids.
Last week, I send you a run down on the state budget and some critical investments we need in our schools: teacher salaries, support staff, construction, and more. It’s urgent work for our local partners — the sooner they know what’s coming from the state, the better they can plan around it. That’s why I’m sorry to say that we now know the General Assembly won’t finish our budget on time.
We were scheduled to adjourn this Saturday, but without a budget deal, we’ll be going into overtime for the second straight year. I’m afraid that’s what happens when the Governor’s tax cut ambitions collide with real service needs.
While we keep working to close the gap, I wanted to share some updates on the education bills we now know won’t pass. These proposals have been grabbing headlines, and I hope you’ll join me in relief that they won’t become law here anytime soon.
All of the bills that would divert public funds to private education have now been defeated.
These subsidies can come in many forms, like vouchers and scholarship tax credits. The proposals we saw in Virginia this year were “education savings accounts”, in which the state deposits money in private accounts that families can draw on to cover private schooling. Both the House and Senate saw ESA bills this year, and all of them were defeated with bipartisan votes. Though the parties may not yet agree on how much funding our public schools need, I’m heartened to know we share in the view that public dollars belong in public schools. Everyone benefits from strong local schools, so we all have a stake in supporting their success.
Several bills that would micromanage school staff are now defeated, too.
House Republicans passed bills that would mandate schools post lists of every book taught in their classrooms, notify parents of every guest speaker, and catalogue library books for parental review, all while offering no support for the administrative burden of complying. I’m glad to report the Senate has defeated those bills. Families play essential roles in public education, but these bills were just fanning culture war flames while distracting from the real needs we hear from students and their families every day.
All of the bills meant to bully LGBT youth have also been defeated.
We had every reason to believe that they would. Similar bills were filed last year and met the same fate in the Senate. It’s telling that House Republicans are so keen to campaign against trans youth — a small slice of students who so often feel unwelcome — while refusing to vote on abortion bans that affect far more people each year. It’s a clear sign that bills targeting LGBT youth are culture war weapons, not serious policy meant to meet real needs.
Though I’m glad these bills won’t become law, we know they still have consequences. Political attacks on public schools demoralize students and teachers when they need us most.
That’s why I’m so glad our local public school divisions remain committed to inclusive education. As both Charlottesville and Albemarle embark on their new efforts to empower educators through collective bargaining, I hope we’ll all take pride in giving our schools the support they deserve.
PS: While we’re here in Richmond, our local leaders are writing their budgets at home.
If you’d like to weigh in on your neighborhood’s needs — for housing, schools, transit, and more — both Albemarle and Charlottesville are holding lots of public meetings in the weeks ahead. I hope you’ll stop by and tune in!
