State Sen. Bill Stanley recently announced the creation of the first-ever School Facility Modernization subcommittee, a nine-member panel charged with looking at ways to modernize school facilities in Virginia.
Stanley, R-Moneta, who is chairman of the Senate Local Government Committee, also will serve as chairman of the new bipartisan subcommittee.
Stanley recalled that Gov. Ralph Northam said in his Inaugural Address, there are too many “children who are sitting in crowded and crumbling schools our great state. In 2013, then Gov. Bob McDonnell ordered the first ever gubernatorial inventory of the state’s public school infrastructure. It shockingly found that over 40 percent of the state’s public school buildings had been initially constructed at least 50 years ago, with another 20 percent at least 40 years ago.”
Only a small percentage of school facilities “had undergone complete renovation and modernization. Based on this survey, it is clear the average school student in Virginia, whether living in a rural, suburban or urban community, attends, as the Governor pointed out, an obsolete public school building by accepted educational standards. This is simply unacceptable in 2018,” Stanley said.
Among the committee’s goals are:
Holding meetings across the state to seek input from residents, local education officials, teachers, business leaders and others on how to best tackle the situation; update a 2013 study commissioned by McDonnell; work with state and federal representatives to develop policy options and legislation, and convince lawmakers it is in the national interest to build a more effective national-state-local partnership to develop innovative solutions; set up a statewide advisory committee on School Facility Modernization to assist the subcommittee; have a draft report ready on or about December 1 to be circulated to all interested parties; after receiving input, have a final report ready for publication on or about January 1, 2019 to be circulated to members of the Northam Administration General Assembly with the goal of introducing legislation on the subject during the 2019 General Assembly Session.
