Last Fall, we began the All In VA initiative together when all 131 Virginia school divisions finalized their plans to address significant learning loss through high intensity tutoring, literacy education, and measures to promote school attendance. It is evident that every school division embraced the challenge to helping our students get back on track. As of April, statewide data shows there was a sizable reduction in the number of students being chronically absent to school.

Schools are still going strong engaging students through these last days and celebrating successes. At Carver Elementary School in Newport News, students and their families celebrated amazing attendance performance with a “Color Fun Run.”  In Winchester’s John Handley High School, the sophomore class won the attendance challenge and got to choose their prize. Still kids at heart, they picked a Kona Ice and petting zoo celebration! Thank you for the many creative and innovative things you have done all year to motivate and help students understand that attendance matters! 

I am so impressed by what school divisions have done to ensure students receive the academic support necessary to recover learning loss, increase their attendance, and improve literacy performance. Please take time to celebrate these successes with your teams, students, and families! Then together, think about your All In VA plan, your data, and consider what you will “start-stop-continue” to do on this journey so that ALL student meet goals and achieve their dreams. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the children of Virginia!

The Office of Apprenticeships is pleased to call for proposals for a teacher residency partnership between university teacher preparation programs and hard-to-staff school divisions to help improve teacher candidate training and retention for hard-to-staff schools. The grants will support a site-specific residency model program for preparation, planning, development, and implementation of the program.  

Full details about this year’s application process and submission details can be found in the Teacher Residency Programs Call for Proposals. Interested applicants must apply by 4 p.m. on August 1, 2024.  

The Virginia College Advising Corps (VCAC) is offering virtual FAFSA assistance appointments to any high school senior in Virginia through June 28, 2024. The VCAC college advisors are available to support students with the FAFSA and the Virginia Alternative State Aid application on weekdays, including evenings.  

School counselors and postsecondary access staff members are welcome to share the information about the VCAC’s “FAF$A Now” initiative with high school seniors and their families. The “Let’s Finish Your FAFSA”  poster can be displayed in schools and offices or distributed virtually. Please contact VCAC Assistant Director Maria Martinez if you have any questions at mariamc@virginia.edu. 

Set up a virtual appointment and learn more at FAF$A NOW.  

Update on Spring 2025 SOL Reading and Mathematics Tests

Article: 2024-22-195
Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principals, Teachers, School Test Coordinators
Contact: Office of Student Assessment, student_assessment@doe.virginia.gov

With instructional implementation of the new standards occurring next school year for both the 2023 Mathematics SOL and 2024 English SOL, VDOE will have items in our current bank that can assess the standards that overlap across the old and new standards. Item review and field testing has been underway for the alignment to the 2023 Mathematics SOL. Work to review the item bank alignment to the 2024 English SOL is progressing. More information will be provided this summer following the completion of the alignment review.  

The Department has developed new innovative item types using one-time surplus federal funds following the recommendations of the House Bill 585 Work Group. However, the new innovative item types will not be included on the Spring 2025 assessments as additional funding for administration and scoring of these items were not included in the biennium budget. 

The final FY 2024 budget, approved by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, includes $18.5 million in state and federal funds for School Safety and Security Grants for public schools. This is a one-time grant program, and the grant funds will be available for use by divisions beyond FY 2024 after they are awarded. These one-time grant funds may be used to support equipment purchases and installations, software purchases, planning, and training to improve the safety and security of public school buildings, including purposes not authorized under the existing VPSA-funded School Security Equipment Grants program. 

School divisions are requested to complete a nine-item online survey, responding to the survey items based on the total number of school buildings and other education facilities in the division where instruction is regularly provided for students in grades PK-12. The online survey and instructions are available here: https://virginiadoe.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a9MxbW0eFCPE1Rs 

The survey data will only be used by the Department of Education in awarding the one-time grant funds to school divisions. School divisions wishing to be considered for grant funding must complete and submit the online survey to VDOE no later than 5 p.m. May 31, 2024. The online survey submission must be received by VDOE by the May 31 deadline for the division to be considered for grant funding. Grant awards will be communicated to school divisions prior to June 30, 2024.  

Section 22.1-94, Code of Virginia, requires local governing bodies to appropriate funds to school divisions that are sufficient to maintain an educational program that meets the Standards of Quality (SOQ). Section 22.1-97, Code of Virginia, sets forth the procedure that the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) must follow if a county, city, or town fails to appropriate sufficient local funding to support the SOQ. The 2024-2026 biennial budget adopted by the 2024 Special Session I General Assembly (Chapter 2) directs VDOE to follow certain procedures for calculating required local effort as well as procedures to follow if a school division does not spend the required state and local shares for the SOQ. 

The FY 2025 Budgeted Required Local Effort and Required Local Match (RLERLM) data collection application and instructions are accessed through the Single Sign-on for Web Systems (SSWS) portal.  Supporting documentation, including instructions to assist with completion of the data collection, are provided in SSWS.  Most programs with a required local match have additional eligibility requirements to ensure that school divisions qualify for state funding. These additional eligibility requirements must be met prior to the release of state funds, and certifications indicating that the requirements will be met will continue to be collected as in previous years.  Please note that each jointly-operated school division (Fairfax County and Fairfax City, Greensville County and Emporia City, and James City County and Williamsburg City) must submit separate certifications for each locality. 

The RLERLM collection window will open on June 3, 2024.  The data submission and the electronic certification forms are due to VDOE no later than June 30, 2024.  Please note that recurring FY 2025 state payments to school divisions for optional Incentive and Lottery programs cannot begin until all school divisions have certified the RLERLM data collection.  Distributions of funds for Lottery programs will begin in January 2025 upon availability of Lottery funds. 

If you have questions about this data submission or the instructions in SSWS, please contact the Budget Office at (804) 225-2025 or email at DOEBUDGETOFFICE@doe.virginia.gov. 

Section 1127 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended, allows school divisions to carry over up to 15 percent of their Title I, Part A allocation for any federal fiscal year. School divisions must encumber 85 percent of each award year’s Title I, Part A allocation by September 30 of the following year. The law allows school divisions to apply for a waiver to exceed the 15 percent limitation once every three years if:  

1) the state agency determines that the request of a local educational agency is reasonable and necessary; or  

2) supplemental appropriations become available.  

School divisions that are eligible for a waiver must submit the request in October. School divisions that receive less than $50,000 are excluded from the carryover limitation. 

An email will be sent in October to any division that has not submitted reimbursements for 85 percent of their FY23 funds by September 30, 2024, outlining the procedures for certifying that 85 percent of funds have been encumbered or applying for a waiver. The request must be signed by the superintendent. Directions for submission of the Certification of Obligation will be provided by email in October. 

Section 1126(c) of the ESEA requires the state educational agency to develop procedures for the reallocation of Title I, Part A funds that have not been expended within the allotted 15-month period of each award year. The procedures for reallocation of Title I, Part A funds can be found on the Title I, Part A webpage.