12/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/09/2024 10:48
RICHMOND, VA - Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced a $51.25 million budget investment to direct critical resources to students most in need, as identified by the Virginia Board of Education's School Performance and Support Framework. This investment will further enhance the implementation of the Road to Readiness Resource Hub, a transformational tool by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) introduced last month to provide transparent, data-driven insights into school performance and support mechanisms for students, families, and educators.
"With this targeted investment, we are strengthening our commitment to deliver for students across the Commonwealth by ensuring resources directly reach those who need them most," said Governor Glenn Youngkin. "Our students cannot wait; therefore, we are making these investments now to accelerate learning and unleash opportunity to succeed."
This one-time $50 million investment as well as $1.25 million in ongoing funds to VDOE's Office of School Quality for regional support specialists focused on math, literacy, and science will prioritize additional resources to schools that have the most need to better support their students' achievement. Out of this new investment:
"The Board is ready to prioritize these monies where the data says the greatest needs and student gaps are with evidence-based and effective practices and infrastructure to help our students truly be ready for life," said Virginia Board of Education President Grace Creasey. "We must act swiftly to help students now, not years from now."
Since the beginning of the Youngkin Administration, Virginia has made record-setting investments in education, including an 18 percent increase in teacher salaries, over $1.6 billion in grants and loans to support school construction, and an increase in direct aid to K-12 public education of $7.3 billion from $14.3 billion in FY 2019-2020 to $21.6 billion in the current biennium. Building upon these unprecedented commitments, the current biennial budget allocates over $21 billion in education funding to local K-12 schools.
The School Performance and Support Framework builds on Governor Youngkin's commitment to high expectations, transparency, accountability for results, and targeted support to empower schools and improve student outcomes across the Commonwealth. Under the School Performance and Support Framework, K-12 public schools are evaluated based on an index of mastery, growth, and readiness.
"Since day one we said we would prioritize resources to support the students, schools, and communities that need it the most. Due to the unprecedented amount of actionable information available in the Performance Framework, this major investment makes it possible to provide the schools most in need with tailored resources that are focused on enhancing school performance and ensuring every learner is on track for success," said Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera.
The Framework evaluates school performance across elementary, middle, and high school through three areas of focus:
Each of the three areas of focus is weighted differently to meet the focus of the school, as follows:
The School Performance and Support Framework categorizes schools into four performance tiers to provide targeted support. A summative rating encompassing all public K-12 schools is expected in Fall 2025, but preliminary data on these tiers shows the following:
The Virginia Board of Education voted to replace Virginia's outdated and nontransparent school accreditation system in October 2023. After 30 public engagements across the Commonwealth and multiple public comment opportunities, the Board moved forward with a split accreditation system and new accountability model, the School Performance and Support Framework, which focuses on student outcomes and provide real transparency for parents, educators, and community leaders. To ensure students and schools have the supports they need, the Virginia Board of Education voted in August 2024 to transform the state's confusing system to have a clear school accountability model through the new School Performance and Support Framework. In November, Governor Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Education announced the Road to Readiness School Performance and Support Framework Resource Hub. Today's announcement builds on the many existing resources available in the Hub.
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