Michael Bolling passed along some disappointing news from the Virginia General Assembly’s January 2013 session.
You may remember that the Virginia Board of Education provided the Governor and General Assembly with a report at the end of November that included recommendations for changes to the Standards of Quality or SOQ (this is a section of the Code of Virginia – Virginia Law), which mandate minimum staffing ratios and other elements of the foundational educational program all Virginia school divisions must provide.
The board’s recommended SOQ revisions included:
· One reading specialist for every 1,000 K-12 students and one mathematics specialist for every 1,000 K-8 students;
· One educational data coordinator for every 1,000 K-12 students;
· One full-time assistant principal for every 400 K-12 students and one full-time principal for all elementary schools; and
· Inclusion of the state’s Early Intervention Reading Initiative and Algebra Readiness Initiative in the SOQ funding model.
The board’s recommendation for one mathematics specialist for every 1,000 K-8 students was not included in the Governor’s budget, and we are not currently aware of any legislation addressing this topic.