About $100 million was allocated to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s lab school program in 2022, but future funding to maintain them is in the hands of Democratic legislators who argue existing public schools need funding first.
“We'll show Virginia leading in how to blur the lines in education and allow you to run as fast as you can run,” Youngkin said to about 60 high schoolers in the inaugural class of CodeRVA, a math and science-focused lab school hosted at Virginia Commonwealth University’s school of engineering.
VCU’s program was the first of 20 proposed lab schools that was approved late last year.
Lab school programs technically already exist in Virginia. Those programs allow for a kind of dual enrollment which helps put would-be teachers into the profession quicker. But Youngkin, armed with that $100 million, sought to expand lab schools to include math and science and other STEM programs.
And while Youngkin remained hopeful for the program Wednesday morning, Democratic Delegate and House Education Committee Chair Sam Rasoul splashed cold water on the idea.
“We’re going to be focusing our investments, and making sure we’ve got mental health, adequate teacher pay - at least at the national average, and making sure we’ve got good support staff to take care of our children,” Rasoul told Radio IQ.
The Roanoke-area Democrat said those needs were highlighted in a watchdog report which suggested the state was underfunding public schools by hundreds of millions of dollars. Money Democrats have argued was being misappropriated in Youngkin’s lab schools.
The governor could still push for lab school funds during the budget process, but with Democrats controlling both chambers, and a request for a $2 billion sports arena in Northern Virginia sucking much of the air out of the room, the experiment may be short lived.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
