The Latest from VEA

Dr. James J. Fedderman, President of the Virginia Education Association, made this statement today on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Directive:

“We all know that we have a teacher shortage in Virginia and the reasons for it aren’t a mystery to anyone who’s been paying attention: Our teachers are not only underpaid, but do their jobs under almost unbearably difficult working conditions. They don’t get the respect they deserve and they aren’t given the resources they need to most effectively serve our students.

If the new collective bargaining law for school employees that we helped get passed was in place widely around our state, educators and local school leaders would be at the table, negotiating effective ways to fix teacher shortages in their communities. While Governor Youngkin’s Executive Directive today certainly has some ideas we can support, it doesn’t offer the type of serious investments that can really move the needle on this issue. Here are some of the solid solutions educators have been offering all along:

• Pay educators competitive salaries to attract and retain high-quality staff.
• Increase additional aid to high-poverty schools through the At-Risk Add-On.
• Lift the “support cap,” which limits state aid for critical school positions.
• Invest in community school models to break down barriers to education faced by many students.
• Fully fund the Standards of Quality set by the Virginia Board of Education.

Our current budget surplus could be used effectively to solve this problem, which affects all Virginia’s citizens. By what he decides to do with those funds, our governor will show us if he truly values education and solving our teacher shortages.”