January 17, 2024
RICHMOND, VA – Following votes on legislation in the full Education Committee and the Early Childhood Education Subcommittee, House Democrats gathered to share updates on progress made towards its education priorities. The full Committee voted on HB181, a bill to decrease the school counselor ratio per student carried by Delegate Michael Feggans, and HB187, a bill to increase teacher salaries to at least the national average carried by Delegate Nadarius Clark. Additionally, the Subcommittee voted on two bills carried by Del. Phil Hernandez, HB407 and HB408.
All bills passed out of committee and subcommittee with bipartisan support.
“No one should have to be worried about making ends meet while they’re taking on the crucial responsibilities of educating our next generation. We must ensure our students, teachers, counselors and support staff are provided all the resources necessary to thrive at every school across the Commonwealth. It’s far time we raise teacher pay to at least the national average to retain, recruit and diversify Virginia’s renowned teacher workforce, and continue investing in mental health care and early childhood education access for our students,” said House Education Committee Chairman Sam Rasoul.
K-12 Education Subcommittee Chairwoman Shelly Simonds said, “Democrats have a vision for making Virginia the best place to be an educator. We know that our teachers are underpaid and overworked and our Commonwealth has been systematically taking advantage of their goodwill for far too long. Our task is urgent and these pieces of legislation are taking the first crucial step to addressing the problem.”
“I think it is no secret that we have a massive shortage of childcare slots that are affordable to working-class families,” said Delegate Phil Hernandez. “I think a lot about the stories that I’ve heard from constituents that I represent. One woman I heard from is a nurse and a single mother who had her first child last year. She needed to go back to work because her maternity leave was ending, but could not find childcare that cost less than her rent. I am grateful that my bills, which would help address this need, passed out of the subcommittee with bipartisan support and I am looking forward to the next step in the process.”
Delegate Michael Feggans said, “Unfortunately, because of so many disparities across our Commonwealth in terms of mental health access, our counselors have to be some of the first individuals to provide that type of intervention. As someone who has served as a mentor in Virginia Beach Public Schools, I have seen firsthand too many students struggling with their mental health journey and we are doing a disservice to children all across the Commonwealth when we do not give counselors adequate resources and support.”
“We expect our educators to be counselors, parents, nurses, security, and so many other things, but won’t compensate them fairly to do so,” said Delegate Nadarius Clark. “We cannot expect teachers to perform at the highest level if they’re worried about feeding their families or keeping the lights on. We have been fighting this fight for the last three years and it’s time to show our public schools, teachers and support staff that we have their backs and we are committed to providing them with an increased pay to continue doing the work that needs to be done to impact generations now and to come.”
Earlier this month, Democrats shared their message pillars for the session, Keep Virginia Moving Forward, highlighting education as a key priority through the pillar: Securing Our Children’s Future Through a World Class Education.
Members of the press interested in learning more about House Democrats’ Education Priorities or speaking with a legislator should contact Morgan Hopkins at morgan@vahousedems.org.
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