Rowdy in Richmond
February 21, 2024
February 21, 2024
It was a federal holiday and most of Virginia’s public schools were closed, but on this cold February morning at the General Assembly Building in Richmond, class was most definitely in session.
On the ninth floor, Waynesboro Education Association member Laura Riggan was telling Delegate Alex Askew that the school building she works in was built in 1937; when it rains, sometimes ceilings collapse; and the science labs are more than 50 years old. Carla Okouchi of the Fairfax Education Association was among the group of educators there, too, telling Delegate Askew how important it would be to lift the statewide support staff cap and about the need for better indoor air quality in our school buildings.
Up on the 14th floor, a delegation of Tidewater and Henrico members sat with Senator Louise Lucas, chair of the Senate Finance Committee. A longtime and stalwart supporter of public schools, Sen. Lucas needed little instruction on the importance of addressing the funding shortfalls highlighted in a recent report by the General Assembly’s research arm, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). She received encouragement from Chesapeake Education Association Vice President Arthur Anderson and members Charlotte Worley and Amanda Lambert, among others in the group.
Back down on the 10th floor, Loudoun Education Association President Sandy Sullivan and other members were talking with Delegates David Reid and Marty Martinez, underscoring the need for vastly improved compensation for school employees and reduced caseloads for school counselors and psychologists. Del. Reid spoke of legislation with a four-year plan designed to bring Virginia’s public school teacher salaries to the national average, beginning next year.
Those lessons were just a small part of Fund Our Schools Lobby Day and Rally at the State Capitol, as more than 200 educators and education supporters walked the halls of power, carrying stories of the needs of students and educators to those who make policy and form budgets.
Fund Our Schools (fundourschoolsva.org) is a coalition of education groups that includes, in addition to the VEA, organizations such as the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, Voices for Virginia Children, Communities in Schools, the League of Women Voters of Virginia, the Virginia PTA, and the Virginia School Counselor Association.
After devoting the morning to legislator visits, the Fund Our Schools event wrapped up with a public call for increased support for schools in the form of a rally at the Bell Tower on the State Capitol Grounds. Chants of “Fund our schools—fully!” echoed in downtown Richmond.
Sandra Aviles Poe, a community organizer with Charlottesville United for Public Education, thanked the crowd for creating a “beautiful, energetic presence” and congratulated participants for “shining a light on the gaps in our educational system.” She went on to note that those gaps disproportionately affect children of color and are in place “not because of money being unavailable,” but because policymakers “prioritize many other things above public education.”
Richmond Education Association member Darrell Turner, a preschool teacher, told an unsettling story about a nonverbal student who one day suddenly spoke out. It wasn’t the victorious sign of progress Turner had hoped for, however—the student was terrified when a mouse ran across his napkin at lunch.
“As an educator and an education advocate,” Turner said, “the lack of school funding that leads to situations like this is completely unacceptable. I’m here because our students need the kind of funding that supports the best schools—the kind they deserve.”
The rally’s final speaker was VEA President Dr. James Fedderman. “Students and schools are successful not because of great policies,” he said. “They’re successful because educators get up every day and make it happen. But we also care about good policies, and we need ones that are evidence-based and with long-term strategies.
Teacher shortages are a serious issue across the country. Here in Virginia, there are currently over 3,648 unfilled teaching positions. (FY23)
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