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.يرجى زيارة موقعنا الألكتروني لقراءة هذه النشرة الإخبارية بلغات أخرى
اس نیوزلیٹر کو دوسری زبانوں میں پڑھنے کیلئے ، براہ مہربانی ہماری ویب سائیٹ ملاحظہ کیجیئے۔
Mason District Community,
Each year, the Fairfax County School Board adopts a legislative program which serves to inform local, state, and federal public officials and lawmakers of the division’s position on various legislative policies that impact Fairfax County Public Schools students, families and staff. The program also outlines areas of advocacy including teacher licensure, budget and school funding.
On October 24th, the Board held a work session to discuss the 2024 State and Federal Legislative Program which contains the proposed positions and points of advocacy to be voted on by the Board on November 20, 2023.
The 2024 State and Federal Legislative Program includes new and/or expanded advocacy in many areas including assessment and school funding to support:
- Expanded use of nationally and internationally benchmarked substitute assessments, including flexibility to use substitute growth assessments in place of the grade 3-8 Virginia Growth Assessment (VGA). [pg. 11, T.4]
- The development of subject matter assessments in a student’s native language for both academic screening assessments and assessments of grade level content standards. [pg. 11, T.5]
- Standards of Learning content standards that emphasize a realistic body of content knowledge, conceptual understanding, application, and critical thinking; and that de-emphasize rote memorization and low-level thinking skills. [pg. 12, new]
- Subject matter assessments that adhere to universal design principles, including "plain language" assessments, to ensure more accurate measurement of content knowledge. [pg. 12, new]
- SOQs which strike a fair balance of costs between the state and localities. [pg. 13, U.1]
- Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission’s (JLARC) 2023 recommendation to eliminate "Great Recession" era changes to the SOQ funding formula, including elimination of the support cap, re-instating non-personal cost categories, and reinstating the federal fund deduction methodology used prior to FY 2009. [pg. 13, U.6]
- JLARC's 2023 recommendation to calculate salary and other Standards of Quality formula cost assumptions using division averages, rather than a linear weighted average. [pg. 14, V.7]
- An in-depth review of the LCI focused on JLARC’s 2023 recommendation to replace the LCI with a revenue capacity index to more accurately measure local ability to pay. [pg. 15, V.22]
- Addressing barriers to entry for school bus driver candidates, particularly related to eligibility requirements, to Commercial Drivers License (CDL) training costs. [pg. 18, AA.5]
- Addressing cost concerns related to high-quality teacher preparation programs. [pg. 18, AB.1]
- JLARC’s 2023 recommendation requesting the Virginia Department of Education to list the specific teacher license types and endorsement areas in other states that qualify for a Virginia teaching license through reciprocity. [pg. 19, new]
- JLARC’s 2023 recommendation to create a waiver allowing the issuance of a Virginia teaching license to qualified individuals attending approved higher education teacher preparation programs who have not passed the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment but have met established criteria. [pg. 19, new]
In addition, the 2024 State and Federal Legislative Program opposes oversimplifying school achievement measurements by aggregating the wealth of data already available about school performance into a single summative rating, such as a grade on an A-F scale. [pg. 12, T.20]
Please review the full draft of the 2024 State and Federal Legislative Program that highlights each proposed change. Also included is a summary of these changes.
I value the input I receive from the Mason District Community and use it to inform my work as your representative on the School Board. Please review the draft program and use this form to provide feedback and comments or ask questions related to how the proposed positions may affect the Mason District.
Action by the Board is scheduled for November 20, 2023.
The views contained within this newsletter reflect the views of the individual school board member who is the publisher of this newsletter and may not reflect the views of the Fairfax County School Board.
© Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia
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