Governor Glenn Youngkin Invests More than $50 Million to Accelerate K-12 Student Success

RICHMOND, VA – Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced a $51.25 million budget investment to direct critical resources to students most in need, as identified by the Virginia Board of Education’s School Performance and Support Framework. This investment will further enhance the implementation of the Road to Readiness Resource Hub, a transformational tool by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) introduced last month to provide transparent, data-driven insights into school performance and support mechanisms for students, families, and educators.  

“With this targeted investment, we are strengthening our commitment to deliver for students across the Commonwealth by ensuring resources directly reach those who need them most,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “Our students cannot wait; therefore, we are making these investments now to accelerate learning and unleash opportunity to succeed.” 

This one-time $50 million investment as well as $1.25 million in ongoing funds to VDOE’s Office of School Quality for regional support specialists focused on math, literacy, and science will prioritize additional resources to schools that have the most need to better support their students’ achievement. Out of this new investment:  

• $250,000 the first year and $1,000,000 the second year is provided for new Office of School Quality regional support specialists to assist divisions and schools with the biggest student gaps in math, literacy, and science.  

• $50,000,000 is provided for FY25 to support infrastructure, technical training, and evidence-based supports needed for the preliminarily identified Needs Intensive Support schools. These funds will be expended by the Virginia Board of Education, in consultation with VDOE, and shall be used to support data-driven, evidence-based supports focused on the following priorities:  

• Leadership Development including principal training, mentorship, and coaching, as well as instructional leadership professional development; 

• Mastery and Growth Supports including grants for schools preliminarily identified as Off Track or Needs Intensive Support to partner with non-profits specializing in school improvement techniques with proven results at improving student outcomes; piloting math competency models; and providing additional Virginia Literacy Act implementation support; 

• Readiness Supports including an infrastructure platform for academic career plans, college and career readiness, and work-based learning; a statewide attendance and data dashboard; start-up grants for middle school advanced courses; guidance counselor training and support; and seat time flexibility support; 

• New Virginia IEP System Modules to better serve students with disabilities; and  

• Capturing Best Practices by partnering with a research institution to learn from Virginia’s high performing economically disadvantaged ‘Beat the Odds’ schools and scale proven practices to other economically disadvantaged schools to better serve students. 

“The Board is ready to prioritize these monies where the data says the greatest needs and student gaps are with evidence-based and effective practices and infrastructure to help our students truly be ready for life,” said Virginia Board of Education President Grace Creasey. “We must act swiftly to help students now, not years from now.”  

Since the beginning of the Youngkin Administration, Virginia has made record-setting investments in education, including an 18 percent increase in teacher salaries, over $1.6 billion in grants and loans to support school construction, and an increase in direct aid to K-12 public education of $7.3 billion from $14.3 billion in FY 2019-2020 to $21.6 billion in the current biennium. Building upon these unprecedented commitments, the current biennial budget allocates over $21 billion in education funding to local K-12 schools.  

The School Performance and Support Framework builds on Governor Youngkin’s commitment to high expectations, transparency, accountability for results, and targeted support to empower schools and improve student outcomes across the Commonwealth. Under the School Performance and Support Framework, K-12 public schools are evaluated based on an index of mastery, growth, and readiness.  

“Since day one we said we would prioritize resources to support the students, schools, and communities that need it the most. Due to the unprecedented amount of actionable information available in the Performance Framework, this major investment makes it possible to provide the schools most in need with tailored resources that are focused on enhancing school performance and ensuring every learner is on track for success,” said Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera. 

The Framework evaluates school performance across elementary, middle, and high school through three areas of focus: 

• Mastery incorporates all student Standards of Learning (SOL) test results. It awards additional credit for students who reach advanced levels and partial credit for students who do not yet meet grade-level standards.  

• Growth uses past performance on Virginia SOL tests to measure expected learning and compare it to actual learning at the end of the year. The metric then compares expected learning to actual learning at the end of the year.  

• Readiness considers measures such as chronic absenteeism and the percentage of students demonstrating post-secondary readiness upon graduating from high school through the 3E Framework (Enrollment, Employment, and Enlistment). It also includes the percentage of students graduating on time. 

Each of the three areas of focus is weighted differently to meet the focus of the school, as follows:  

• Elementary Schools: Mastery (65%), Growth (25%), Readiness (10%) 

• Middle Schools: Mastery (60%), Growth (20%), Readiness (20%)  

• High Schools: Mastery (50%), Readiness (35%), Graduation (15%) 

The School Performance and Support Framework categorizes schools into four performance tiers to provide targeted support. A summative rating encompassing all public K-12 schools is expected in Fall 2025, but preliminary data on these tiers shows the following: 

1. Distinguished: Exceeding state expectations (273 schools). 
2. On Track: Meeting state expectations (883 schools). 
3. Off Track: Below state expectations; receiving additional VDOE support (409 schools). 
4. Needs Intensive Support: Significantly below expectations; receiving intensive VDOE intervention (208 schools). 

The Virginia Board of Education voted to replace Virginia’s outdated and nontransparent school accreditation system in October 2023. After 30 public engagements across the Commonwealth and multiple public comment opportunities, the Board moved forward with a split accreditation system and new accountability model, the School Performance and Support Framework, which focuses on student outcomes and provide real transparency for parents, educators, and community leaders. To ensure students and schools have the supports they need, the Virginia Board of Education voted in August 2024 to transform the state’s confusing system to have a clear school accountability model through the new School Performance and Support Framework. In November, Governor Youngkin and the Virginia Department of Education announced the Road to Readiness School Performance and Support Framework Resource Hub. Today’s announcement builds on the many existing resources available in the Hub.