by Todd Truitt

Northern Virginia school districts have settled on their latest attempt to avoid greater transparency: asking the Virginia legislature to “delay” the implementation of the new school accountability system by an additional year, claiming the new system’s 3-year development and implementation period is “rushed.”

The effect of this request would be to push the full implementation until fall 2026, after a new governor and legislature will have taken office. One of the districts’ legislative directors publicly “suggested that an all-out battle to overturn the new rules was less likely to win support in the General Assembly [this legislative session] than an effort to delay them.”

The districts likely hope to replicate the 2015 precedent of the repeal of an A-F accountability system by then-Governor Terry McAuliffe prior to its implementation following its 2013 enactment under his predecessor, Governor Bob McDonnell. (For clarification, the new system uses descriptive summative labels as advocated by civil rights organizations.)

When reached for comment, Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera said: “The new accountability system is about seeing every child, meeting every child where they are, and getting every child and school what they need to be successful.” She also pointed to the state’s recently released data showing what school scores would have been if the new system had been in place. Guidera contrasted such information vs. the old system’s under-identification of schools needing help, lack of practical data for the general community, and resulting negative impact on the civil rights of Virginia communities, parents and students.

Civil Rights Orgs Advocate for Accountability, Public School Establishment Loathes It

National civil rights organizations ardently advocate for accountability systems to provide “clear information of school performance [with] a clear overall summative rating of school performance.” However, the Democratic public school establishment’s strong verbal commitment to equity has generally stopped when it comes to greater transparency via accountability.

National accountability expert Andy Rotherham (a Democrat and Virginia Board of Education [VBOE] member appointed by Governors Mark Warner and Youngkin) described this national Democratic split in 2015:

[Accountability] rules and requirements also play a vital role in protecting groups of students who have traditionally been underserved by the public schools – in particular low-income students, minority students and those with special needs. It’s not by accident that more attention was paid to the needs of these students during the No Child era than ever before…[But] the teachers unions and the traditional education establishment…see the accountability rules, which are hard on adults in the education system and embarrassing for the underperformance they lay bare, as loathsome.

The old Virginia system had been scathingly criticized by civil rights organizations for its opacity, including for omitting a summative rating under the federal system. A Virginia Republican administration now pushing greater accountability gives the public school establishment here freedom to be openly hostile to such changes in a way the Maryland public school establishment cannot with Democratic Governor Wes Moore’s administration potentially pushing similar policy changes.

New System’s Implementation Period Is Longer than with Old System

NOVA school administrators are alleging they are too busy with implementing the Virginia Literacy Act, new Math standards and new English standards this fall to prepare for the implementation of the new accountability system next fall.

However, these districts’ staff have been publicly presenting about how they will be prepared for the new accountability system next fall, consistent with recent precedent. Notably, with the soon-to-be-retired combined accreditation and accountability system, the VBOE did not approve it until November 2017, becoming effective less than 9 months later. And the U.S. Department of Education did not approve its accountability plan until April 2018 after multiple revisions were required. At the same time, Virginia’s vastly different new Math standards benchmarked to Common Core were also implemented in the Fall 2018.

The new accountability system’s full implementation in Fall 2025 will be at the end of a 3-year process by the VBOE and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) (detailed here). Secretary Guidera emphasized that the administration had been clear about its intention to develop and implement a new accountability system since its first year in office. (Note: Youngkin had campaigned in 2021 against the McAuliffe administration’s 2017 accreditation changes too.)

When reached for comment, the VDOE stated:

The development of this system took over 2 years and had multiple public sessions throughout the entire Commonwealth (30 total), multiple rounds of public comment throughout the development of the entire Framework, as well as the discussion and development that has occurred at the Board’s meetings, which are available online and have opportunity for in-person public comment and consideration at each one.

The public, educator, and community engagement and the transparency of the development of this Framework is unprecedented, and the Framework that was passed by the Board in August 2024 and has been implemented is consistent with the input and comment received throughout the 2-year development process.

Since its approval in August 2024, the VDOE has been providing comprehensive training opportunities and regular technical assistance for school district leaders and staff (detailed here). In addition, Governor Youngkin, Secretary Guidera, Superintendent Lisa Coons, VBOE President Grace Creasey and others held a press conference on November 8, 2024, announcing the VDOE’s new “Road to Readiness” resource hub, which contains detailed information for parents, teachers, schools and communities. The administration also announced its upcoming budget would contain an additional $50 million for supports under the new system.

“Delay” Would Prioritize Adult Feelings over Civil Rights of Virginians

According to national accountability expert Chad Aldeman:

Research suggests that schools can and do respond to clear and transparent rating systems in ways that boost student outcomes in the short and long term. Last year, for example, a study came out that looked at the effects of a school accountability system South Carolina put in place in the year 2000. The authors found that high schools that were given a low accountability rating subsequently boosted attendance and achievement. More importantly, those benefits persisted: Kids who attended those schools had lower rates of criminal activity and were less likely to need welfare programs like food stamps throughout their 20s.

For instance, the Chief Academic Officer of one of the same NOVA districts has also publicly touted their district’s new “laser-like focus” to improve the academic performance of English Learners in reaction to the new system.

Even generously assuming a possible new Democratic governor and legislature in early 2026 wouldn’t buckle to dogged pressure from the teachers unions and public school administrators to gut a not-yet-implemented new accountability system, a “delay” of 1 year would mean 1 more year of:

• Schools failing to provide clear school performance data to Virginia communities and parents as advocated by civil rights organizations;
• Gaps expanding between schools that are performing and those that are not;
• Schools continuing to deny certain English Learner civil rights protections.

The civil rights of Virginia communities, families and students should not be unreasonably “delayed” another year because of the sensitivity to greater transparency of adults who run certain Virginia public school systems.

Todd Truitt is a parent of two public school students in Arlington County, Virginia. He is also the former Chair of the Math Advisory Committee for Arlington Public Schools and active in the Arlington Democrats. He is a business transactions attorney and a Certified Public Accountant.