News

A new state school division to manage some underperforming schools is NOT the only change to public education to be approved this year by state lawmakers. 

An array of new laws to revise some programs and expand others will soon take effect. 

Under one law, schools must add early reading intervention services for kindergarten, first and second grades, AND algebra readiness intervention for sixth through ninth grades.  Parents will receive clear, A-through-F report cards to rate local schools under a second law—sponsored by Delegate Tag Greason.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has cleared another speed bump in its drive to build a bypass to Route 29 through Albemarle County. 

Those who oppose the 29 bypass have made many arguments.  Some think the project, which VDOT predicts will cost about $240 million is too expensive for the limited time drivers would save.  Others worry about the impact on health from a six-mile road that would pass by six schools, while a third group feared trucks with hazardous cargo could pass too close to the city’s water supply. 

A Charlottesville chef has won a kind of lottery, but he didn’t buy a ticket -- and he could have lost big.  For Chef Ian Boden, flavorful food is a lifelong obsession.  Now, he runs Charlottesville’s newest gourmet restaurant,  Glass Haus Kitchen.

National Republican leaders are doing some soul searching after suffering losses in November. Some Virginia Republicans are wary of a new re-branding effort being conducted by the national party.

The dust has settled in Richmond.  Lawmakers and lobbyists have gone home, and educators are licking their wounds after failing to get much more money for public schools. 

Barbara Coyle is neatly dressed and coifed – polite and professional -- but a measure of frustration simmers under the surface when she talks about the plight of Virginia schools.

“The state dollars have been declining, the federal dollars have been declining and it’s been put back to the localities to make up that difference.”