Virtual Learning: How Gov. Terry McAuliffe and VEA Failed Virginia Families

As the Virginia Legislature continues its "Special Session" next week, one of the biggest issues that will get debated by legislators is how to address the Commonwealth of Virginia's public school system and the lack of "in person" schooling taking place as a direct result of the Covid-19 crisis.

Legislators will have opportunity to consider legislation that attempts to address those students throughout Virginia that live in areas or regions that do not have broadband internet access to facilitate "on-line" or "virtual learning" as well as all the students in the urban and suburban areas with access.

However, it is important to remember that the unpreparedness that the Virginia public education system has experienced during the pandemic very well may have been avoided had it not been for Governor Terry McAuliffe and the Virginia Education Association.

In order to understand why things are where they are in Virginia in terms of education it is important to look backward.

This week during the "Special Session" we have seen Delegates using a "virtual" session which they managed to of on Thursday yet many school systems are still lacking the infrastructure or tools to implement such programs effective

"Let’s empower parents to get the technology, to get their kids the technology to learn virtually... Let’s empower parents to get the tutoring and in-person teaching their children need to excel, regardless of how much money they make.” stated Delegate Carrie Coyner (R).

"I would hope that we would support school systems as they go virtual...not because it’s what we want, but because where we are right now in this epidemic it’s what we need. It’s what’s doable. It’s where students can best learn.” Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg (D).

Both Coyner and VanValkenburg have experience in education. Coyner is a former School Board member in Chesterfield County and VanValkenburg is a teacher in Henrico County. Both entered the House of Delegates after Governor Terry McAuliffe had left office and never had the opportunity to vote on Virginia's Virtual School Board first introduced in 2016.

These two counties represent significant school age populations in suburban Richmond rivaled only on Northern Virginia counties like Fairfax.

Where other states have transitioned to on-line or "virtual learning" though such platforms as Google classroom or Blackboard, Virginia lags behind. The question becomes how is it that Virginia get caught so off guard during the pandemic with the extended periods of no "in-person" learning and how could the state leave local jurisdictions in such a position of unpreparedness to deal with the situation.

Truth be told this very situation very well could have been avoided entirely. Republicans began working on legislation as early as 2015 regarding increasing the funding in the area of virtual learning though you will not hear much of that around Richmond these days. Members of both parties supported vital legislation in 2016 and 2017 that would have moved virtual learning forward in Virginia with the necessary funding. Virginia did in fact already have some on line learning programs through the Department of Education however, the virtual learning transformation sought via the legislation would have created a virtual school independently.

Here is the measure. Both Senate Bill 1240 and House Bill 1400 were identical.

Republicans Siobhan Dunnavant in the Senate and "Dickie" Bell in the House were the chief patrons of these vital virtual learning bills in 2017.

SB 1240 Virginia Virtual School Board

Virginia Virtual School established. Establishes the Board of the Virginia Virtual School (the Board) as a policy agency in the executive branch of state government for the purpose of governing the full-time virtual school programs offered to students enrolled in the Virginia Virtual School (the School). The Secretary of Education is responsible for such agency. The 14-member Board is given operational control of the School and assigned powers and duties. Beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, the bill requires the School to be open to any school-age person in the Commonwealth and to provide an educational program meeting the Standards of Quality for grades kindergarten through 12, with a maximum enrollment of 5,000 students statewide. The bill requires the average state share of Standards of Quality per pupil funding for each enrolled student to be transferred to the School

Incorporates S.B 1380 ( Sen. Petersen (D) )

Incorporates S.B.  1570 (Se. Peake (R) )

02/03/17 Passes 38--0- 1 abstention Senate

02/20/17 Passes the House of Delegates 59-37

03/13/17- Vetoed by Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) 

04/05/17  Senate sustains Governors Veto  21-19

04/05/17- Veto Overide fails in Senate--- requires  27 YES votes.

So what happened? Why did this particular bill supported by both the House and Senate that not only passed in 2017 but had also passed both in 2016 get vetoed a second time by Governor Terry McAuliffe (D). This may provide insight.

         

This comes from the Virginia Education Association (VEA) Daily Reports dated April 6, 2017. Clearly the VEA stood in the way of this significant legislation becoming law. This provides some insight of how the lobbying efforts of the VEA who represents teachers throughout Virginia who pay membership may have directly resulted in where Virginia is today with virtual learning and why Virginia is playing catch up some three years later.

VEA had Virtual School Board in effect killed even after legislators supported it until the Governor vetoed the measure.

"Every year, on a Wednesday, six weeks after the close of session, the General Assembly reconvenes to take up the Governor's action on the bills passed by the legislature during the regular session. Yesterday was that day. Governor McAuliffe has vetoed 40 bills this session. Delegate Kirk Cox gave a floor speech announcing that the Governor has set a single-session record for vetoes. Because all his vetoes held, Governor McAuliffe has vetoed 111 bills during his term. That is a term record as well. Governor Gilmore has the next highest number- 91 vetoes. Delegate Toscano did remind the House that many of the House bills the Governor vetoed this session are identical to bills he vetoed last session.

The VEA was following a group of bills. These bills are all bad for public education and we are thankful to our members who have called, emailed, and written the Governor asking for his veto. We are also grateful that WE WERE HEARD! Governor McAuliffe vetoed all of the bills we requested. We expect the vetoes to be upheld since you need a 2/3 vote to overturn a veto. The Senate sits at 21-19, so it is very difficult to get a 2/3 vote in that body. The House, on the other hand, sits at 66-34, just one vote away from a 2/3 vote possibility. We followed the House closely, but we felt good that we had locked up our votes. Thank you to the 34 members of the House of Delegates who stood with us on the vetoes!

Today we will watch the following veto votes:

House Bill 1400, Delegate Dickie Bell's Virtual School Bill (the Senate version, Senate Bill 1240, from Senator Dunnavant is identical to the House bill and was also vetoed). In his veto, the Governor questioned the constitutionality of these bills. He also commented that, even with off-session work to improve this legislation, it passed in a nearly identical form as House Bill 8 from the 2016 session that he also vetoed. These bills would establish a separate Virtual School Board independent of the Virginia Board of Education and would receive state funding on a per-pupil basis based, draining those resources from our traditional public schools. All school divisions in VA are already required to offer on-line courses, and the VA Department of Education already offers full-time, virtual high school. The VEA opposed these bills and we are grateful the veto was upheld. In the House, the 34 Democrats were joined by Republican Delegates Bloxom, Farrell, Habeeb, Helsel, Hugo, Miller, Ware and Yost in sustaining the Governor's veto."

These bills in 2017 were first introduced in 2016 as House Bill 8. The Daily Press reported the following on March 31, 2016:

"Under the legislation, a student will be able to enroll in a state-approved virtual program if a parent determines that doing so is in the "best interest of such student," but no more than 2 percent of all students in a division could enroll.

The school would be tuition-free to all students, but comes with a $275,000 initial start up cost in Fiscal Year 2018 under the General Assembly-approved budget.

The state share of the per-pupil funding provided to each division would be transferred to the virtual school"

This was the basis it seems for the VEA determined effort for two years to keep the "Virtual School Board" from happening. The state share of the per student funding to local jurisdictions would be impacted if such a board were established and create an entity that very well may have been beyond its lobbying control.

So when Virginia parents look to Richmond for answers in terms of the circumstance the Commonwealth education system faces now with no in-person schooling to start the school year and the majority of school systems having to implement "virtual learning" understand that Virginia has been here before. Richmond had the opportunity not once but twice in 2016 and 2017 to get a jump start on such virtual learning for students and the VEA and Governor Terry McAuliffe(D) failed them.

Jonathan Scott

Guest Contributor