Odds and Ends
On the American Variety Radio show I talked with Court Lewis about reading and literacy.
Rick Hess and I discussed the Des Moines superintendent debacle – immigration was in some ways the least of it.
Rick and I also discussed cell phone bans and technology and kids more generally.
What’s the education forecast in Virginia? Cross-pressure. And why that matters nationally.
A lot of people are asking: What’s going to happen on education in Virginia? It’s a good question. And matters beyond Virgina’s borders. The commonwealth took several big steps forward on schools over the past few years — some initiated by the legislature (science of reading and assessment reform), and some by Governor Glenn Youngkin (innovative public lab schools across the commonwealth, more ambitious standards, transparency, and a real accountability system).
Enter Spanberger. A moderate Democrat, perhaps more by temperament than politics. She worked for the CIA before winning one of Virginia’s vanishingly few swing districts to serve in Congress (she was my member of Congress for a time before retiring to run for governor).
She enters office with the wind at her back. Virginia’s countercyclical off-year election cycle, Trump’s abysmal numbers in the state, a non-Trump on the ballot electorate, and the government shutdown all handed Spanberger a legit landslide. Even seasoned observers and Democratic leaders were surprised by how well the party did — picking up 13 House seats and giving the incoming governor a commanding 64–36 majority. The state senate, not on the ballot, remains closely divided, though Democrats now hold a tiebreaker with the lieutenant governor’s seat.
[There’s already early pushing and shoving — mostly about higher ed, UVA in particular. This 74 article by Kevin Mahnken is a good place to start on K–12, and Anne Hyslop’s just announced appointment as K–12 transition chair is a positive signal. Anne, a Bellwether alum, was one of the first to call out the problems with ESSA, has state experience, and helped design Virginia’s new accountability system. She discussed accountability and other issues recently on Bellwether’s LinkedIn Live along with Indiana’s Katie Jenner, state education leader Patricia Levesque, and longtime Senate aide David Cleary.]
When Glenn Youngkin took office in 2022, Virginia’s standards were among the lowest in the nation — that was too often reported as just his claim, but in fact it’s federal IES analysis. The state also had the largest pandemic learning loss of any state, plunging students back to 1990s achievement levels. Extended school shutdowns deep into 2021 were the prime cause, but years of lowered standards made the system brittle. Yet because this problem implicated school closures, effort to address it became almost hopelessly political. To Youngkin’s credit he championed an accountability system that now includes all students (English language learners were previously and inexplicably excluded) and transparently reports on school performance.
For Spanberger, who clearly has 2028 on her mind, that massive House margin is a mixed blessing on education. There will be a lot of pressure to undo the accountability reforms and roll back the clock to the happier of time of just telling everyone than more than 90% of schools in Virgina were doing ok even as Mississippi passed us by. Various special interest groups are hoping the Commonwealth’s flirtation with accountability and transparency is a passing thing.
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So here’s the risk: Spanberger standing on a national debate stage and being asked why she lowered standards, dismantled accountability, closed public choice schools, or turned a clear system into a California-style maze that bewilders parents. Education won’t decide 2028, but it will be a marker of seriousness — a signal of whether Democrats learned from the unseriousness of 2024. (Check out Rahm Emanuel’s latest comments if you haven’t already, a clear signal of where politically attuned leaders think Democrats need to go.)
Happily for Spanberger, there’s a better path. Her national political interests line up with a strong agenda for students. Virginia’s unfinished education agenda gives her real opportunity to sail to her own horizon, rather than one various political interests map out for her. Three immediate issues:
- School finance reform. Virginia’s system is outdated and inefficient, among the worst in the country. It works OK for wealthy suburban districts and varying degrees of badly for everyone else. Fixing it could be a national bipartisan calling card and a positive signal to rural voters.
- School improvement capacity. The new accountability system identifies struggling schools, but the state still offers too little help. UVA’s successful school improvement center mostly works outside Virginia — truly no one is a prophet in their own land. The current state superintendent is refocusing resources and the SEA’s energy creatively, but more is needed. If Democrats won’t embrace choice, then they need to be really serious about improving schools. Like other places Virginia’s public schools are leaking students post-pandemic and various new options are emerging.
- Assessment reform. Virginia’s assessments lag in quality, frustrate educators, and yield too little timely and actionable data. This issue is bipartisan, legislation has passed the generally acrimonious legislature, and it’s an issue ripe for progress.
So, the story Spanberger could tell: modernizing finance to serve rural Virginians, actually improving low-performing schools, expanding choice inside the public system, and creating better assessments — rejecting the false choice between testing and no testing. That’s the sharp, differentiated edge Democrats need in today’s increasingly choice-saturated era. Being pro-growth and pro-education reform go hand in glove.
Getting there will take fortitude. Her lieutenant governor led efforts to delay and resist accountability implementation and isn’t going to be accused of being a reformer. Many of those 64 Democrats want to rip out Youngkin’s reforms root and branch just because. They’d be wiser to build on his mental health and early learning work, expand lab schools, and pocket the civil-rights–oriented accountability system. Republicans, decimated in this election, may not see accountability as a priority; their focus during the campaign was more kulturkampf than learning.
Virginia remains far behind much of the country on education, though many in the state’s political culture still assume we’re ahead. The fact that Mississippi’s Black students outperform ours hasn’t registered among the comfortable set. Six in ten Black students below basic on NAEP, and about half of poor kids — that doesn’t resonate with leaders who prefer to call themselves “world class.”
Again, addressing these issues would align with Spanberger’s national ambitions. Heeding activist calls to roll back progress would please the loudest voices but hurt her long-term. She’s right-to-work — part of her brand — but that puts her under pressure from organized labor. Keeping momentum on education in Virgina will upset the teachers’ unions, too.
Can Spanberger fight a two-front war? Sure. But it’ll take a defter touch of centrism than just calling “defund the police” inane and politically toxic, which was obvious but still a political lift. So the question is whether she can play a long game under pressure — and make Virginia the test case for a new brand of Democratic education politics.
The opportunity is right there.
Friday Fish Porn
This is more of a PSA than fish porn. Grateful Dead wife sent me this picture, it’s of musician Susan Tedeschi with a big fish. Tedeschi was once part of a trivia question around here. The answer was Mark D’Alessio, one of this sector’s gems. I go to a lot of live music. If I can’t be outside, that’s the next best thing. In just the past few weeks I’ve seen some local acts, Sierra Hull, Ires DeMent, Paul McCartney, Jeff Tweedy, Tedeschi Trucks Band a couple of times, and Billy Strings (yes, my kids are away in college).
It’s those last two I really want to flag for you. TTB and Billy Strings are two of the best live acts out there and they’re both advancing and innovating with genuinely American styles of music. Want to hear Doc Watson played in an arena? Bobby “Blue” Bland covers from a 12-piece act? Then do yourself a favor and check them out when you have a chance. I can’t guarantee it will brighten your day, but you surely won’t be worse off for it. Billy Strings is on tour now and again this winter. TTB is winding down their year but will be at The Beacon Theater for a long run in March, and hopefully other theater shows where they really shine.
If you’ve sent me your fish porn or fish pics and I have not posted them, apologies, working through it. If you haven’t, send me yours to become part of this one of a kind archive with hundreds of pictures of education types and their relatives with fish from rivers, lakes, and streams all over the world.
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