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2016 PWFT Legislative Agenda

+Oppose HB3 and SJ256

They grants constitutional authority to approve Charter Schools to the Virginia Board of Education, enlarging a bureaucracy, rather than granting that authority to  local school boards and the people who elect them. Research on charter schools suggest weakness in outcomes compared to traditional schools, governance problems, and high teacher turnover.

+Support legislation stipulating teacher performance evaluations are not  public records.

+Support increasing  access to the Virginia Preschool Initiative.

+Oppose Erosion of VRS Pension Benefits.  Teacher pensions face unnecessary risks. Support    meeting the VRS Certified Contribution Rate.

+Support Medicaid Expansion which will free up revenue for education.

+Support  closing  the 12% salary gap that exists between Virginia and the National Average.

+Support the recommendation of the 2015 JLARC report on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of K-12 Spending  by "amending Section 22.1-23 of the Code of Virginia to require the Superintendant of Public instruction to track teacher turnover and report annually to the general Assembly and the Governor the numbers and most common reasons for teacher turnover."

+Support the efforts of the VEA in their efforts to promote legislation saying "a student's IEP dictates if he or she should not take  SOL test(s), and that the students non participation will not count against the school's accreditation".

+We support legislation to bring fairness to the dismissal process;  a three person panel in dismissal cases.