Virginia delegation helped secure passage of education reform bill

The bill is touted as providing states and local districts more control over the education they provide, but also dictating and suggesting how money maneuvers from the federal government through the states, localities and programs.

Virginia’s U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, had proposals woven into the 1,000-plus-page bill. Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte also worked with the Education and Workforce Committee on a provision related to flexibility in state testing, according to a written statement to The News & Advance.

“While not the perfect solution, this bill makes critical improvements to the current law and will help put decisions that impact today’s students back in the hands of local school boards and state and local governments,” Goodlatte, whose 6th congressional district includes Lynchburg, Amherst County and part of Bedford County, said in the statement.

Kaine called No Child Left Behind “a long expired and broken law,” when speaking before the Senate on Tuesday in support of the bill. He then described bills he proposed, provisions of which were “folded” into the broad legislation.

After a Rolling Stone article focused on the University of Virginia spurred national conversation on campus sexual assault, Kaine met with students there. While much of the story’s narrative was debunked, the statistics stood, he said.

“We’ve been dealing with it in the military. We deal with it on college campuses. We deal with it in the society at large,” he said.

Kaine and Sen. Claire McCaskill D-Missouri, then proposed the Teach Safe Relationships Act, to address the problem.

“One of the young ladies in the room said we get a sex ed curriculum in high school but it’s about reproductive biology not about behaviors and relationships and strategies, and sort of the right and wrong issues,” Kaine said.

The “Succeeds” act includes legislation allowing certain federal money for “instruction and training on safe relationship behavior among students” in K-12 education.

Provisions stemming from Kaine’s Career Ready Act to encourage workforce training for career and technical skills also were included.

In a written statement, Sen. Mark Warner said he is dedicated to making sure federal education dollars go into classrooms and not the administration, and he worked on this act toward that end. 

The legislation includes a provision giving school districts access to money for efficiency reviews to help streamline costs based on a program Warner initiated as Virginia’s governor.

According to the news release, 40 Virginia public school divisions have gone through the review at an average cost of $110,000, producing savings estimated at more than $1 million. Generally, the state-funded reviews are at district request, but Bedford County was required to go through the process when Bedford city reverted to a town.

“I’m pleased that this significant reform legislation includes initiatives I have championed since I was Virginia’s governor to make sure that federal education dollars are allocated into the classroom instead of toward administrative, ‘back office’ operations,” Warner’s statement said.

Warner also made proposals to improve transitions through middle school, high school and on to postsecondary education, according to his office. To receive certain federal money, localities must have education plans that include improving these transitions.

Programs may include developing relationships with postsecondary schools, area businesses, and dual enrollment opportunities, such as those offered between local schools and the Central Virginia Community College system. Warner also proposed a provision to allow federal money to support these efforts through educator training.

This “legislation reflects efforts to give state and schools the tools they need to prepare students for success from early learning all the way into the workforce,” Warner said in the statement.