I’d like to take a moment to talk about school safety. This week, I’m pleased to share the 399 schools in 99 of out 132 divisions that are receiving funding through this year’s School Security Equipment Grants program, which has helped localities strengthen school security and infrastructure for more than a decade. 

School safety is top of mind for me, as it is for parents, educators, and school leaders across the Commonwealth. That concern has been especially present following last week’s frightening incident at Waynesboro Public Schools’ Westwood Hills Elementary School, the tragic killing of a 16-year-old student in Manassas, and other safety and security concerns that surface as we all head back to school.  

While visiting Osbourn Park High School in Prince William County yesterday, I heard directly from students and educators about their concerns for school safety in the wake of the tragedy in Manassas. At Westwood Hills, an individual forcibly entered the school during the instructional day, taking his own life and injuring a staff member in the process. These are the situations school leaders and educators prepare for, even as they hope they never have to face them. 

The bravery and professionalism demonstrated by staff, first responders, and the broader communities in both areas have been remarkable. On behalf of the VDOE, I am grateful for your compassion, dedication, and continued commitment to keeping students safe and supporting their well-being during these difficult times. 

I commend educators and school leaders in Waynesboro, Prince William, and across the Commonwealth for the courage and dedication you demonstrate every day. Keeping students safe is our highest priority, and your actions are a powerful reflection of that commitment. 

Thank you for all that you do to protect, support, and care for Virginia’s students. 

As the agency works to strengthen our connections with the communities we serve, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our updated Contact Us webpage. The new page is designed to improve how the public contacts our agency and ensure inquiries are routed quickly to the appropriate teams for follow-up. 

Our expectation is that the new contact form will streamline responses, improve transparency, and ensure coverage even when individual staff are unavailable. 

If you have questions about the new Contact Us page or shared mailboxes, please contact our Cybersecurity and Risk Management team.  

Section 8524 of ESSA requires that each school division that receives federal ESSA funds certify in writing annually that it has no policy that prevents, or otherwise denies participation in, constitutionally protected prayer in public schools. Section 8524 compliance is included in the general assurances for the ESEA program applications. 

This is a reminder that a PDF of the signed cover page of the Title I, Part A, application (individual or consolidated) should be emailed when the program application is submitted and sent no later than October 1. The names of divisions that do not submit the signed cover page must be included in the certification report submitted to the U.S. Department of Education by November 1. 

Please email the signed cover page of the 2026 Title I, Part A, application to ESSA@doe.virginia.gov before October 1. 

During Special Session I 2026, the General Assembly appropriated funds in FY27 and FY28 to support economically disadvantaged students in public high schools taking Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Cambridge Exams. Families who qualify for free and reduced lunch benefits are eligible for a fee reduction and should encumber only $20 in exam fees per exam taken. For students attending a school participating in the Community Eligibility Program, eligibility will be determined by the school division using the family’s income. School divisions are responsible for providing eligible students and parents with notification of this financial assistance at the time of course enrollment and exam registration.  

To receive funding, school divisions should appoint a person of contact (POC) to complete the FY 2027 AP-IB-Cambridge Funding Form by December 4, 2026. VDOE will communicate funding allocated to each division through a grant award notification (GAN) in February 2027. WHEN. In June 2027, POCs will be asked to submit the actual number of completed AP, IB, or Cambridge exams by eligible students after testing windows have closed. Unused funds should be returned to VDOE by August 1, 2027.  

To assist school divisions with the fee reduction program, a technical support document is provided for reference.  

Legislation enacted by the 2013 General Assembly, HB2343 and Item 139 C.13. of the 2013 Appropriation Act, created a school security equipment grant program for public school divisions and regional programs. Item 125.C15, Chapter 1, 2026 Special Session I Acts of Assembly, authorized $12.0 million per year in funding for the grant in the 2026-2028 biennium.  

VDOE received applications for 770 school projects from 124 public school divisions seven regional centers, and the Virginia School of the Deaf and Blind (VSDB). Applications were evaluated on competitive criteria developed in collaboration with the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), and grants were awarded to 399 qualifying school projects from 91 school divisions. 

Awarded schools must remain open for at least five more years, and a local match of 25 percent of the state grant amount is required. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is authorized to reduce the local match for school divisions with a composite index of less than 0.2000. The VSDB is exempt from the local match requirement.

A list of awarded schools, terms of the grant, and equipment eligible for purchase with grant funds are available at Security Equipment Grants | Virginia Department of Education. Awarded school divisions will receive detailed email notification.

Grant reimbursement applications must be submitted using the SEGM application located in VDOE’s SSWS portal no later than June 30, 2027.   

The School Year 2026-27 Individual Student Alternative Education Plan (ISAEP) applications have been approved and Supporting Document A: 2026-27 Final ISAEP Grant Award Allocations contains the final award amounts to school divisions. The ISAEP grant funding is provided through Virginia Lottery proceeds, which are available in January of each year and are dispersed in automatic equal payments starting in late January through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) payment process. Requests for reimbursement are not required for this grant. In order to receive the funds, school divisions must submit a grant application annually. Final allocations are determined based on the number of school divisions that apply.  

School divisions must maintain all financial support documentation and a record of all equipment purchased with ISAEP grant funds in accordance with the Library of Virginia Records Retention and Disposition Policies. Funds are to be used to augment the ISAEP program’s resources. 

Questions may be directed to GEDinfo@doe.virginia.gov. 

As required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), identified local school divisions will receive formal notification from the VDOE Division of Special Education and Specialized Populations if they will be required to set aside IDEA Part B funds for Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS) for the 2027-28 school year. The determination is based on the school division’s data submitted in the IDEA Part B Annual Performance Report for the last three years.  

Local educational agencies are encouraged to conduct ongoing internal data validation checks to identify potential significant disproportionality within the school division. 

The Office of English is pleased to launch a“Developing Skilled Readers in the Content Areas” webinar series, designed to strengthen interdisciplinary and cross‑content literacy across subjects. Series topics include: 

• Building Background Knowledge with History — September 16 
• Supporting Vocabulary Development Through Mathematics — September 23 
• Writing Using Science — October 7 
• Reading Comprehension and English Language Learners — October 14 

 “Building Background Knowledge with History,” the first webinar, highlights the 2024 English Standards of Learning’s emphasis on comprehension and knowledge‑building within the DSR strand. Using rich historical topics as the anchor, participants will explore strategies and approaches that help students build background knowledge, vocabulary, and conceptual understanding. Though the examples draw on history, these practices transfer across disciplines, supporting cognitive load and enabling students to apply their knowledge when engaging with new grade‑level texts.  

For each session, content-area teachers — history, math, science, and EL, respectively — are strongly encouraged to join English teachers and leaders during these sessions to support future opportunities for local collaborative planning. For additional details and registration for all September 2026 sessions please use the September 2026 Registration Form. 

Beginning September 16, The Health, Physical, Family Life, and Driver Education team will host monthly office hours at 10 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. The purpose of these office hours is to provide technical assistance and support for leaders on health, physical, family life, and driver education instruction, policy compliance, and other areas of note within the content area. All office hours will use this same Microsoft Teams Link. 

For divisions that do not have a dedicated division leader overseeing Health, Physical, Family Life or Driver Education programs, please consider designating a teacher-leader or principal who can share information and important updates regarding the respective programs. 

The Fine Arts team is pleased to offer monthly office hours throughout the 2026-27 school year. These structured conversations are designed to provide timely support to school division leaders in topics related to dance, music, theatre, and visual arts education in Virginia public schools. Updates to the process to review and revise fine arts Standards of Learning will be provided in each session. After relevant updates, new resources, division spotlights, and collaboration, the meetings will address questions from the field. 

Dates are listed below. Each meeting will begin at 10 a.m. and last for 45 minutes. Registration is required.  

• October 15
• November 19
• December 17
• January 21
• February 18
• March 18
• April 15
• May 20 

Division Directors of Testing and secondary mathematics and science supervisors are encouraged to review and share this information with teachers. For information about how the Virginia Desmos calculators differ from the standard Desmos calculators, refer to the Virginia Information PDF located on the Is Desmos on your test? webpage.  

These updates are currently available in the online Desmos Virginia Graphing Calculator and will be available in all EOC Mathematics and EOC Science test forms within the TestNav App on September 16. No actions are required by school division personnel for this update to occur. 

If you have any questions, please contact the assessment staff by email at  student_assessment@doe.virginia.gov.  

Virginia is not just participating in the national conversation about AI in education; Virginia is helping lead it.  Leading Through Uncertainty: State Approaches to AI in K–12 Education, a new national report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education highlights Virginia as a state taking proactive, focused steps to support responsible AI integration in schools. While many states are still developing approaches, CRPE notes taht Virginia stands out for investing early in broad access to educator training.  

Virtual Virginia, a VDOE program, led the statewide effort to advance AI literacy by guiding the development of AI‑focused professional learning modules and micro‑credentials. To deliver this work, Virtual Virginia partnered with the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) and Advanced Learning Partnerships to ensure thatschool divisions across the Commonwealth have high‑quality resources to build strong AI literacy among educators. 

As AI reshapes classrooms and careers, VDOE is helping ensure every educator and student is prepared for an AI-enabled future by aligning this work with readiness, continuous improvement, and meaningful learning experiences for all students. 

To see overviews of the modules, watch the AI Into the Classroom playlist. Learn more about educational technology and internet safety in Virginia K–12 schools, visit the Technology in Education webpage.   

The Recognizing Inspiring School Employees (RISE) Award is intended to honor and elevate classified school employees who provide exemplary service to their school, students, and their community. School divisions are invited to nominate one classified candidate for the 2027 RISE Award.  A classified school employee is an employee of a state or any political subdivision of a state, or an employee of a nonprofit entity, who works in any grade from pre-kindergarten through high school in any of the following occupational specialties: paraprofessional, clerical and administrative services, transportation services, food and nutrition services, custodial and maintenance services, security services, health and student services, technical services, and skilled trades.  

Superintendents or their designee may submit their school division’s nominee using the Qualtrics online application found on the VDOE Educator Recognition website by 4 p.m. on October 8. Virginia will select and celebrate two RISE Award recipients, to be announced in late 2026. These two candidates will then be considered at the national level for the U.S. Department of Education RISE Award. Please send questions to teacheroftheyear@doe.virginia.gov.  

VDOE is pleased to announce the Early Childhood Provisionally Licensed Teacher Incentive Program. This program provides funding from the Virginia General Assembly of no more than $30,000 for each school division and up to $6,000 per educator to provide financial incentives to provisionally licensed teachers in preschool programs operated by the school division. 

Additional information and instructions on how to apply may be found in the Program Application and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). The grant application is due on October 16. Official Grant Award Notifications will be issued to school divisions no later than December 12.

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) is launching the SREB Crisis Recovery Network, a new initiative designed to strengthen school crisis-recovery efforts following catastrophic events. This network aims to prepare 40 Virginia school counselors to provide effective crisis response and extended recovery support within their schools, districts, higher education institutions, and, when needed, across SREB states. All training and deployment costs are fully covered by SREB.  

School counselors interested in applying should submit the application and agreement by October 2. For more information, review the pre-recorded informational webinar and visit the SREB Crisis Recovery Network web page. 

VDOE’s Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs released information on the 298 public schools school year 2026-2027 Breakfast after the Bell (BaB) reimbursement. Please review SCNP Director’s Memo #2026-2027-15 for more information and review Attachment A for the list of the schools and information about funded local education agency (LEA) and school participation in data collection for a required study that is a condition of receiving funding. 

About Breakfast after the Bell:  

BaB is the state funding mechanism that supports a per-meal reimbursement for breakfasts served using an alternative service model (e.g. grab and go, second chance, and breakfast in the classroom). The goal of the additional funds is to increase student breakfast participation, as research suggests that increased breakfast participation improves attendance and academic achievement.   

VDOE’s Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs released SCNP (Dir.) #2026-2027-16 and Attachment A, announcing the School Year 2026-2027 Calendar of Requirements and Events for School and Community Nutrition Programs. 

Schools and community sponsors that participate in the USDA Child Nutrition Programs are encouraged to review the memo for important due dates, activities, and to learn more about how to stay informed.