Education Beat: County, city schools grapple with budgets

Albemarle County Public Schools parents and teachers spoke out in support of the school board’s $164.3 million funding request last week before the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. The division is $5.8 million short of what the school board says it needs. Cale Elementary principal Lisa Jones said failing to fully fund the schools could put […]

Education Beat: School funding amendment falls short in Richmond

Our education beat coverage appears thanks to a partnership with Charlottesville Tomorrow. Legislation to change the state’s funding formula for Charlottesville and Albemarle’s education budgets has failed in Richmond. Known locally as the “Bell Amendment,” for local sponsor and Albemarle Republican Delegate Rob Bell, the budget amendment would have taken into account the two communities’ […]

Education beat: SOL reform passes House and other school news

Our Education Beat coverage appears thanks to a partnership with Charlottesville Tomorrow. Students in Charlottesville-Albemarle are one step closer to taking fewer Standards of Learning exams during their academic careers. House Bill 930, which proposes a 23 percent reduction in the amount of state SOL tests students take between grades three through eight, passed the […]

Venable teacher arrested on child porn charges

Venable Elementary School fourth grade teacher Corey Schock was arrested on Monday, February 10, on two counts of possessing child pornography and one count of use of a communications system to solicit child pornography. The arrest stunned parents of students at the school, who described him as one of its most popular teachers. “Everyone wanted […]

County School Board to Supes: Show us the money!

The Albemarle County School Board last week voted 6-1 to send a $164.28 million funding request to the Board of Supervisors. This funding request exceeds anticipated revenues by $6.76 million. Despite the decision to forward the request to the Board of Supervisors, the school board is expecting to make cuts and will now begin to […]

Education Beat: School funding commission predicts $2 to $4 million shortfall

The Blue Ribbon Commission—a 13-member citizen panel charged with tackling the city schools’ funding woes —predicted a $2 to $4 million funding gap last week during its final report to Charlottesville’s City Council and school board. The report features near- and long-term “action alternatives” local officials could adopt to stem the division’s recent budget shortfalls. […]

Education Beat: Delegate seeks shift in state funding for schools

Legislation to change the state funding formula for Charlottesville and Albemarle’s education budgets has been introduced again before the General Assembly in Richmond. The proposed budget amendment, known as the “Bell Amendment” and named after its patron, local Republican Delegate Rob Bell, would take the two communities’ 1982 revenue sharing agreement into account when calculating […]

Education Beat: Albemarle predicts nearly $7 million deficit

Albemarle County Public Schools Superintendent Pam Moran presented the School Board with a $164.28 million budget proposal Thursday. The needs-based plan represents a nearly six percent increase from last year’s $155.3 million budget. However, with revenues projected to grow by only one percent, to $157.3 million, Albemarle is predicting a deficit of nearly $7 million. […]

Education Beat: CHS to extend school hours for struggling students

Some Charlottesville High School students are attending class at night, thanks to the extension of a supplemental learning program prompted in part by concerns over dropout and attendance rates. The Work Achieves Lasting Knowledge Program (WALK), which began in 2007, and which helped 82 CHS students earn diplomas in the 2012-13 school year, is an alternative learning initiative […]

UVA prof’s study highlights problems with out-of-school suspension

Research has shown that school suspensions are linked to higher dropout rates and an increased risk of incarceration, and a new study by UVA education professor Dewey Cornell and the Legal Aid Justice Center brings more bad news: Black male students are suspended for minor infractions at more than twice the rate of white males. […]