Kaine touts new education bill at Fredericksburg's Original Walker-Grant
It’s not every day that a U.S. senator visits your school to bring a present.
But Head Start students and staff members at Fredericksburg’s Original Walker–Grant School enjoyed seeing Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine on Tuesday as he delivered news about a bill that will replace the federal No Child Left Behind legislation and help schools such as theirs.
And the little ones gave Kaine gifts, too: ornaments to hang on his Christmas tree.
Last week, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law. Kaine, a Democrat who is the co-chair of the Senate Career & Technical Education, was instrumental in the bill’s formation. The former Virginia governor has been a longtime supporter of expanding early childhood education.
One difference between the new bill and No Child Left Behind is that it will provide more children with access to high-quality preschool.
In Fredericksburg, the Head Start and Virginia Preschool Initiative are at the Original Walker–Grant School, which is undergoing renovations that will improve the building and make room to add much of the Central Office staff. The building was constructed in the 1950s and little has changed since.
For the first part of his visit, Kaine spoke to school administrators, teachers and parents about their program. He said Fredericksburg is unique because it has the Head Start and preschool initiative programs together. That’s on purpose, school officials said, and visitors would not be able to tell the difference between the classes.
The biggest difference between the old and new bill is that ESSA gives states and school systems more autonomy, Kaine said.
The senator said the two things he liked most about the bill are that it breaks down student data into subgroups, and that it standardizes graduation and drop-out rates.
When Kaine visited classrooms, he tried to explain the bill in simple terms to the little ones.
“We just made a big law about schools ... to have more programs like this one,” he said.
He spoke to two parents, who both expressed their happiness with the Fredericksburg school and the support they receive.
He spoke to one parent in Spanish. She said what she loves the most is the way her children are treated, and the friendly home-like atmosphere.
The other parent said his son went through the school five years ago and is now in the gifted and talented program. He attributed that to his son’s teacher. His daughter, who turned four last week, is going through the program now and having success, he said.
Kaine is the third legislator in recent weeks to visit the school. He followed Republican State Sen. Bryce Reeves of Spotsylvania and Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell of Stafford.
