RICHMOND — Gov. Bob McDonnell announced legislation Wednesday that would create charter schools and two other new ways to educate children, with Sen. Steve Newman sponsoring them in the Senate.
McDonnell said he hoped the three bills would show that Virginia is committed to supporting charter schools and improve its chances for receiving $350 million in federal funding it is seeking from a multi-billion-dollar program that President Obama has proposed for charter schools.
Former Gov. Douglas Wilder joined McDonnell in announcing the legislation. Wilder said he told McDonnell that the Obama administration is evaluating schools that applied for the federal money and will provide it only to top-performing programs.
Virginia has just three charter schools, making it “the weakest charter school program in the nation,” Newman said.
Charter schools can offer specialized programs, sometimes within existing public schools and operating on funds currently available to public schools, Newman said. Teachers in the public schools can apply to teach in charter schools and keep their same benefit programs.
“This will be a bit of an uphill battle” in a Senate controlled by Democrats, “but one I think could bring creativity to education,” Newman said.
“It could allow large employers to set up charter schools” in a partnership with public schools, Newman said. “You could have charter schools related to math, or one that assists students who plan to go into engineering.
Newman said he could envision Lynchburg industries such as Areva or Delta Star participating in the program. Newman is a vice president at Delta Star, which makes electrical transformers.
A second McDonnell bill that Newman is shepherding in the Senate involves virtual schools, which allow public-school classroom programs to be taught in a student’s home via Internet. It meets the same requirements for the student’s attendance, testing and Standards of Learning curriculum that the public school must meet.
That program could benefit students who get easily distracted in a classroom setting, and some autistic children who are bright but don’t function well in a classroom, and some youngsters who learn much faster than other students, Newman said.
A third bill would establish “laboratory schools,” in which universities set up schools with specialized programs.
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