Public education in Virginia

Public education in Virginia

Early childhood initiatives

Virginia is spending $58.6 million on pre-kindergarten programs for fiscal 2009 and will spend $68.8 million in 2010.

Pre-kindergarten spending for 2009-2010 budget increased $26 million from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's 2007-2008 budget. The program, aimed primarily at low-income, at-risk 4-year-olds, currently serves about one in eight Virginia preschoolers, or 15,600.

Dropouts

Later this month the State Department of Education plans to release a more accurate picture of the dropout situation in Virginia's high schools and school divisions.

The state's data-management system, started in 2004, tracks each of its 1.2 million students with a unique 10-digit identifier from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The state reported in October 2008 that 81.3 percent of Virginia's graduating class of 2008 finished high school on time.

Charter schools

Four public charter schools currently operate in Virginia, with a fifth slated to open in South Richmond in July 2010.

Charter schools, which are meant to give flexibility for more innovative educational programs, basically are public schools with a different focus. They are subject to state education standards, including the Standards of Learning.

Virginia's law has been criticized for leaving the decision to grant or deny a charter school with the local school board, and some think that's why Virginia has only a handful of them.

Higher education

Attempts to make higher education more affordable drew praise from Yvonne Hubbard, director of student financial services for the University of Virginia. In some families, she said, children believe from the beginning that college is out of reach financially, "that it is never going to be part of their dream."

Obama wants the U.S. to have the world's highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

He said he will raise the maximum Pell Grant, which helps the neediest students, to $5,550 a year.

Calendar changes

Virginia's "Kings Dominion law" prohibits schools from opening before Labor Day unless they have a waiver from the state because they've missed a lot of days for bad weather or they have an experimental program.

The 1986 law got its name from the strong lobbying efforts of the Hanover County theme park and other tourism-dependent businesses that support the late opening.

Virginia's school term is at least 180 teaching days or 990 teaching hours.

Many school officials, however, say they would prefer the flexibility to shape their calendars.

Dinwiddie County schools Superintendent Charles Maranzano Jr. said a year-round approach to education could be beneficial.

"(We're) in a one-size fits all paradigm, and it's killing us. We can't continue to move forward in a schedule and structure that was designed for the 19th century in the 21st century," he said.

Gloria Brown, a parent with three children in the Petersburg school system, said she is uncertain about extending the time that students spend in schools but that it boils down to one thing: "Is the quality of instruction going to be there?"

Rewarding good teachers

Kitty Boitnott, president of the Virginia Education Association, said she is encouraged that Obama wants to recognize good teachers with professional pay for professional service. She takes issue, however, with tying teacher quality to test scores alone.

"If that's the only measure then certainly we're going to have an issue, but if that is one of many components that are going to be considered then I don't think the [National Education Association] and VEA would argue that we need to reward excellent teachers," she said.

-- Staff writers Karin Kapsidelis, Olympia Meola, Jim Nolan,

Holly Prestidge and Jeremy Slayton contributed to this report.