Talk to your legislators

A new legislative year brings both opportunity and challenges for our schools, and the Fluvanna County School Board is preparing to bring to the attention of our legislators by personal visits, letters and emails the issues that are of concern to our community. Below are some of the areas our School Board would like everyone to be aware of that impact our schools:
Increased flexibility in local use of SOQ funding
State funding of education for SOQ (Standards of Quality) positions is often rigid and does not take into account that each school district has its individual needs. We’ll be asking for the ability to move funds from one requirement category to another to make the funding better fit our schools.
Keeping local control over charter schools
There is a proposed constitutional amendment to divest local school boards of the sole authority to approve charter schools, vesting authority with a gubernatorial appointed board. We believe that local school boards are best equipped to assess the needs of their locality’s students and should be solely responsible for authorizing any new school in the community.
A more balanced assessment system
Local boards should be free to establish a balanced assessment and accountability system that utilizes a more complete picture of student learning by measuring both achievement (such as SOL testing) and better measures of individualized student growth. We also favor a reduction in the number of SOL tests to permit reallocation of assessment dollars and instructional time.
Implementation of a statewide health insurance option
We support legislation that allows school divisions to participate in the Commonwealth’s health plan, a move that could save millions of dollars that could be used to provide needed school funding. The Commonwealth would have much greater leverage negotiating rates with insurance providers that the individual school divisions negotiating individually do not. If we could implement this change, salary increases for our teachers and staff would not be decreased by the offset needed for the increase in health insurance costs each year that substantially impact our budget.
If these issues are important to you, please take the time to write to or call your legislators about them. If you have your own story about how these issues have affected your life or the lives of your children, tell it to them – they do listen! At a conference, one legislator admitted that they cannot be experts on every issue they need to consider and therefore they need the input from those who are experiencing firsthand how these issues impact their lives. You can find contact information for your legislators on the Fluvanna County Schools website at http://vsbalegislativeupdate.blogspot.com.