The McDonnell administration and state education groups have fashioned a compromise on charter school legislation that would leave final approval with local school boards and give one of the governor's marquee initiatives a better shot at passage.
But there's no guarantee that the bill, even with newfound consensus, will survive the legislative process. The measure is slated to come before the Democrat-controlled Senate Education and Health Committee tomorrow.
The introduced legislation, which would have given gubernatorially appointed Board of Education members the power to overrule elected local school boards on granting charters, met with staunch opposition.
The politically muscular Virginia Education Association, the Virginia School Boards Association and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents quickly lined up against the bill, raising concerns about the constitutionality of the proposed change. The Virginia Constitution states that: "The supervision of schools in each school division shall be vested in a school board."
The administration has been working behind the scenes with the parties to find agreement. In an interview yesterday, representatives from the three associations said they believe they have found it.
But the Legislative Black Caucus, which this week expressed opposition to the charter school legislation, retains its concerns, according to a member of the caucus staff.
Under the revised process, charter applicants would submit their application for review to the Board of Education, which would recommend approval or disapproval. Local school boards still would make a decision on granting a charter.
If a school board denies an application, it would have to provide reasons in writing and post them to its Web site. The charter applicant would have 60 days to petition the local school board to reconsider its decision.
Before asking for the reconsideration, the applicant could seek technical guidance from the state Department of Education to address the reasons it was unsuccessful. The final decision still would rest with the local school board.
Sen. Stephen D. Newman, R-Lynchburg, is carrying the measure in the Senate, and Del. Rosalyn R. Dance, D-Petersburg, a member of the Legislative Black Caucus, is among the patrons in the House of Delegates.
If the bill makes it to the governor's desk, the compromise could avoid a potential legal battle and give the administration a boost in its bid for $350 million of the Obama administration's Race to the Top competitive grant money.
This week, the Legislative Black Caucus blasted McDonnell's original bill, saying "Members expressed extreme concern and objection to the most radical change in public education since Massive Resistance."
Robley Jones, with the VEA, and Patrick Lacy, a lobbyist with the VSBA, said they are sensitive to concerns about potential enrollment discrimination in the charter schools, which are public schools that are exempt from many of the school board policies and state regulations that apply to traditional public schools.
"In Virginia, you always have that context of 'Are we going back, are we going to resegregate,' and I think that's a legitimate concern, but the provisions that protect against that aren't touched by this new language," Jones said.
The groups also hammered out changes to McDonnell initiatives to encourage virtual school programs and create college partnership lab schools.
Eric Finkbeiner, McDonnell's senior policy adviser, said the parties involved in discussions were committed to improving the bills.
"We've come out with products that are really strong in each area," he said, "and I think are going to bode well for demonstrating both throughout Virginia but also to the folks in D.C. who are looking over the Race to the Top applications that Virginia is really committed to innovation and options and making progress in those areas."
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.
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