The Virginia Media’s Astonishing Response to the NAEP Scores

by James A. Bacon

The release of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores has hit Virginia’s mainstream media outlets like a backhand across the face. Presented undeniable evidence of a catastrophic decline in the educational performance of Virginia’s 4th- and 8th-graders by an impeccable and unbiased source, The Washington Post, Virginian-Pilot, Richmond Times-Dispatch and Virginia Mercury did something extraordinary: they reported the Youngkin administration’s spin on the data with minimal pushback.

I’ve not seen anything like it in Youngkin’s entire term in office. The newspapers touched bases with the usual partisan sources opposed to the Governor, as they should have, but they gave little play to their cavils and caveats. Given the terrible reality of Virginia’s K-12 educational meltdown, there’s not much the defenders of the educational status quo can say.

Each publication highlighted Youngkin’s charges that the actions of the McAuliffe and Northam administrations — particularly the lowering of school accreditation standards and state Standards of Learning (SOL) scoring — contributed to the downturn in the NAEP scores. And they gave prominent attention to his proposed remedies, particularly a suggestion that school systems tap some $2 billion in unspent federal COVID-relief funds to hire reading tutors.

Perhaps mainstream news outlets were just caught off guard and will resume their role as Youngkin antagonists. But I think Virginia might be turning a corner in perceptions about K-12 education. The NAEP results were so crystal clear that the awful reality described by the Youngkin administration (and harped upon by Bacon’s Rebellion) can no longer be denied.

While average English and math scores for 4th- and 8th-graders in the national assessment declined substantially across most of the country, Virginia 4th graders led the way, declining more than every other state (except where it tied with Maryland for biggest decline in math scores). Virginia has tumbled from one of the top performers in the nation to middle of the pack. While COVID accounted for much of the damage, NAEP data show that the relative decline started in 2017, before the pandemic.

The Old Dominion has squandered one of its greatest competitive advantages as a place to live and work, and Youngkin was none too bashful about putting the responsibility where it belonged.

When administration foes were quoted, their responses were remarkably lame. Reports the RTD:

Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, head of the state Senate’s Education and Health Committee, said now is not the time to point fingers at those who are no longer in leadership.

“In a time where we need proper leadership from the governor, instead of taking time off the road to find solutions to learning loss problems in Virginia’s schools, he’d instead place the blame on previous administrations,” Lucas said in a statement.

It’s no surprise that Lucas, who has consistently championed the policies that have ruined public education, doesn’t want to “point fingers.” While Northam and McAuliffe are history, she remains one of the most powerful politicians in Virginia. If there were any justice in the world, the electorate of Portsmouth, where educational outcomes have nose-dived like a kamikaze bomber, would come to its senses and toss her out of office.

Then there was this platitude from Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, a school teacher who is an occasional voice of lucidity in the Democratic Party:

The General Assembly has underfunded public schools since the great recession in 2009…. You had for over a decade a harshly GOP-controlled General Assembly, where school funding was kind of at the back of the bus.

VanValkenburg neglected to mention that Virginia NAEP scores somehow increased despite budget cutbacks after the 2007-09 recession and began declining in 2017 after much of the funding had been restored.

By the way, whining about funding cutbacks occurs in every state. But not every state has seen a Virginia-magnitude collapse in educational performance over the past four years.

Bringing the budget picture up to date, let’s see what the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) has to say about educational spending in Virginia in the current biennial budget:

The budget increases direct aid funding for K-12 schools by $2.9 billion over the biennium and includes $224.1 million in fiscal 2023 and $505.5 million in fiscal 2024 to support the state’s share of a 5.0 percent salary increase each year for teachers and support positions.

Notably absent from the press coverage was any quote from the Virginia Education Association, perhaps Youngkin’s most vociferous critic. The RTD mentioned the VEA, which represents 40,000 teachers and educators, only in passing: “In a Monday news release, the Virginia Education Association criticized the governor for politicizing test results.”

That’s it. If the VEA presented any evidence to back up its accusation of politicization, the RTD didn’t deem it worthy of reprinting, and neither did any other news outlet.

I could not find the statement on the VEA website. The latest statement, dated Sept. 26, addressed Virginia’s 2022-23 school accreditation rankings. Said President James J. Fedderman at the time:

These ratings show the resilience of our schools, educators, parents, and communities in working together as we recover from learning loss brought on from the pandemic…. The Governor is now back peddling and desperately trying to find something to discredit our schools to advance his privatization agenda, instead of facing the truth that Virginia remains one of the top public education systems in the nation.

Resilience of our schools? One of the top education systems in the nation? Oops. Welcome to reality, Mr. Fedderman. The only one who has been discredited is you. And by the way, Youngkin’s “privatization agenda” is a fantasy. There wasn’t one peep about privatization in his recommendations on how to salvage Virginia’s schools.

Fedderman, Lucas and their allies brought this educational calamity to Virginia. The first step to undoing the calamity will entail repealing the changes they put into place.