A high-powered coalition of Virginia business leaders is launching a group to push for more school funding — and closer ties between schools and employers.
The Virginia Business-K12 Partnership is modeled after the long-established Virginia Higher Education Business Council, which, since its founding 1994, has served as a way for the business community to push for more state support of higher education. In recent years, that higher education council — now led by former House Speaker Kirk Cox — has been particularly focused on pushing for state funding to help grow the number of internships available as a way to grow the state’s talent pool.
The Virginia Business-K12 Partnership is intended to do much the same, just at the kindergarten through 12th grade level.
Virginia already has groups pushing for more support for early childhood education and higher education but until now has lacked a similar group to do so for K-12 education, says the partnership’s chair, Stewart Robeson, a Patrick County native and former school superintendent who is now a senior adviser with the Richmond-based McGuireWoods Consulting.
The formal announcement of the group will come Wednesday in Richmond, with Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other state leaders — including both Democratic and Republican legislators — on the speaking program. The group’s 21-member board reads like a who’s who of Virginia’s current business landscape. Among those on the board are Dominion Energy President Robert Blue, Virginia Chamber of Commerce Interim President Keith Martin, as well as representatives from Carilion Clinic, Google, Sentara, Micron and Towne Bank. From the education side are Virginia Community College System Chancellor David Doré, and representatives from the Virginia Association of School Boards and Virginia Association of School Superintendents.
In an interview with Cardinal, Robeson said the group’s primary focus will be promoting workforce development. “How do we develop the talent Virginia needs for the economy Virginia wants?” Robeson said. “That’s not theoretical, that’s not abstract. That’s being asked every day in board rooms and classrooms.”
He said the challenge is not that Virginia lacks talent, but that “too often there’s a lack of opportunity for that talent to be discovered.”
“Are students being exposed early enough to careers they may not even know exist?” Robeson asked. “We need to talk to employers about skills they need and we need to be listening carefully to schools about what they need. These are not questions any one sector can answer alone.”
In the presentation audience members will see Wednesday, the group lays out four near-term policy goals: “math and reading initiatives,” “internships and apprenticeships,” “expanded dual enrollment,” “school construction and technology.”
Robeson said the math and reading initiatives stem from Virginia’s lagging test scores. “Virginia’s post-pandemic performance in math and reading lags many other states,” he said. “We’d like to delve more deeply into that. That is startling. From a business perspective, that is not something you ignore.”
He said to support the other initiatives, “we are going to be in the business of advocating for greater revenue.”
One place where Virginians could see that in action is at the local level. There’s a proposal currently in the Senate version of the state’s unfinished budget that would give localities the authority to hold referendums on whether to raise the local sales tax to help fund school construction and maintenance. Local referendums are a rarity in some places; Robeson cited Southside and the Shenandoah Valley and said “there will be a need for the partnership to offer counsel” on how to craft a winning message.
Cox, the former Republican legislator who heads the higher education partnership, said that “I was frequently asked why we didn’t also get into the k-12 arena. I would have
to respond that would be wonderful, but our plate was completely full just working on
higher education issues. Imagine my delight when I heard about the launch of the Virginia Business-K12 Partnership. Now both organizations can explore joint advocacy of talent pipeline policies to include internships and apprenticeships. The business education partnerships
we can work on together are endless and have the potential to be a game changer in
preparing students for high opportunity careers.”
Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke and chair of the House Education Committee, welcomed the group’s formation. “Having a concerted business coalition focused on our K-12 needs will bring a new emphasis on supporting a well-rounded student,” he said.
Among those participating in the announcement program is Del. Mike Cherry, R-Colonial Heights. “I am a big believer in the idea that a child’s early years greatly impact their success in life,” he said in a statement. “That includes K12 education. It is always beneficial when we have conversations that help us to break out of the status quo and ensure we are doing everything possible to make available a pathway to success. I really hope to focus in on that idea of breaking out of the status quo, because our students deserve nothing but the best.”
State Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico County and a high school teacher, has filmed a promotion video for the group. “We need as many entities as possible who advocate for student achievement and not culture wars,” he said.
