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RICHMOND, Va. – A 3% tuition increase. Fees increase. Shrinking enrollment. A projected $25 million budget deficit. Reduced faculty positions. State mandated 7% merit increases. Temporary elimination of three-year contracts. Faculty protests. An unresolved statewide budget.
Virginia Commonwealth University has a number of challenges to navigate as it works through its budget process for the upcoming year.
VCU has approximately a $1.5 billion annual budget, according to Karol Kain Gray, the university's senior vice president and CFO of finance and budget. But it does not have enough incoming money that can be spent on general education funds.
"There is a misconception unfortunately among our academic community that we have [500] million dollars of money sitting in the bank that we can use in support of these budget cuts and faculty salaries," Gray said. "And we don't."
VCU actually has a bigger reserve of almost $650 million, from gifts, federal money and investments. But "well over half" of the funds have specific designations and use limits, according to Gray.
"We don't have enough state support," Gray said. "We don't have enough income coming in from our investments and we don't have enough funds coming in from our philanthropic area."
The budget pressure has led to a proposed elimination of 10-12 faculty positions in the Department of Focused Inquiry that could start as soon as the fall, and would apply to future contracts that would not be renewed.
In addition, VCU will defer the issuance of any new three-year contracts for any university term faculty, until there is less budget uncertainty, according to William Nelson, senior vice provost for academic administration and operations. Term faculty do not have tenure, and longer contracts can provide a sense of more job security.
Current three-year contracts will be honored. Nelson also said that many focused inquiry faculty will have "at least a year's notice, some of them more" if their contract is not renewed.
"We will resume offering three-year contracts where it makes sense to do so," Nelson said. "We're not abandoning three-year contracts."
Gray has to present a budget to the VCU Board of Visitors in June.
"And the only way I can balance the budget is by putting cuts on every unit and holding them responsible for meeting their budget," Gray said. "Every unit at VCU has received about a 5% cut."
Some departments are able to hit the 5% cuts by keeping positions vacant, or because teachers are retiring.
The Department of Focused Inquiry currently has 64 faculty and staff, according to its website.
Focused inquiry classes are required for all students on campus and are typically taken in a student's freshman year. There are 1-3 sequential courses, with at least the first one required for most students. The fundamental premise behind the starter courses is to introduce and develop student reasoning, communication, literacy and communication skills.
The department will need to adapt to the upcoming budget cuts, Nelson said. There are options on the table such as shifting to a two-course model and dropping the third option, which could keep more classes open, he said.
"I think there's several options on the table that we can consider to make sure that we stay committed to focused inquiry and to our students," Nelson said.
He noted that the department has made significant contributions to the university.
"But the contributions of the past don't make you immune to evolving and budget pressures of today," Nelson said.
Assistant professor Emily Williams has been at VCU over a decade and she currently teaches focused inquiry.
The courses have aided in retention rates among students of color and first-generation students, Williams said.
"The sequence has always been crafted in order to have a whole structure of support for students and we have made a difference in student retention rates, particularly with underrepresented minority students," Williams said.
The focused inquiry department completes much of the work and student support that VCU prides itself on, according to Williams.
"They hire people in those administrative categories, framing that as a form of support for students while trying to fire the people who are more directly connected to students and supporting them face to face," Williams said.
Class capacity for the focused inquiry courses is around 21 students, according to Williams. The number of students per course section will increase if the department loses faculty.
VCU promotes the "small, seminar style" classes as an important part of ensuring first-year success. Larger class sizes will limit important feedback and support for freshmen, Williams said.
"Those kinds of things can really shift and give students the sense that they are less individually supported," she said.
VCU has offered over 100 of the classes, listed under UNIV, each semester since at least 2013, according to a review of the VCU Bulletin — used by students to register for classes. Almost all of the classes were full in the most recent spring semester, and many had waitlists.
Psychology major and rising sophomore Kennedy Ogden was enrolled in focused inquiry courses both semesters of her first year and found them helpful.
"I got to be more of an individual than when it comes to other class assignments because previously everything else has a very strict rubric, but this one it's like you're graded based on your performance and how you're going to interpret the instructions," Ogden said.
The course helped Ogden find community and adjust socially as a first-generation college student, she said.
The Faculty Senate, a body of university-wide elected representatives, recently voted 95% in favor of a resolution that supports keeping focused inquiry faculty. The resolution asked VCU not to reduce the number of full-time faculty. It was sent to President Michael Rao, Provost Fotis Sotiropoulos and the Board of Visitors, according to a review of the resolution provided by Williams.
VCU Workers is the university chapter of the labor union United Campus Workers of Virginia. In reaction to the budget cuts, the group has held protests, social media information campaigns and a recent meeting.
The chapter hosted a town hall on May 3. They maintain that the university does not have a financial crisis. A UCW lead researcher pointed to at least $500 million in reserves. It is the money Gray said is designated for specific purposes and not general education.
The union said that VCU could have better anticipated the dip in funding. UCW called on the university to resolve the budget gap through reserve funds, credit use and cuts to planned construction.
The VCU UCW Instagram is a platform for faculty to voice their concerns, and to help to connect students and faculty, Williams said. The UCW Virginia union launched a petition to keep the focused inquiry positions. It has over 1,400 signatures.
"We believe in a unified vision of what VCU should be and that we're working towards that," Williams said.
RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia will recognize Jewish American Heritage Month this May, and each succeeding year, after the state legislature recently passed a resolution.
This recognition will allow Virginia Jewish citizens to celebrate their heritage, especially during a time with increased antisemitism and hate crimes against Jewish people, according to Basya Gartenstein, the director of Jewish community relations and government affairs for the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.
The measure is "very exciting and encouraging," Gartenstein said.
The Jewish Community Federation of Richmond is a community and advocacy organization. It also offers a hotline to provide support to people experiencing financial stress, relationship stress, or food insecurity.
"It feels like a relief for the community to be able to take a moment and celebrate something happy and something different than the difficulty and the adversity experienced in recent years," Gartenstein said.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order on his first day in office to establish a commission to combat antisemitism. The commission is part of Youngkin's effort to ensure "religious freedom and equality for all citizens."
The commission released its data on antisemitic hate crimes and incidents in December 2022.
The report shows that 411 antisemitic incidents occurred in Virginia in 2021, a 71% increase from 2020 to 2021. Many of these incidents occurred in areas with larger population size, such as Richmond, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. These incidents also involved propaganda, such as white supremacist groups passing out flyers and vandalizing buildings with antisemitic graffiti, according to the report.
Gaps in Virginia law can make it difficult to label or prosecute antisemitic crime, and why so many examples of violence against Jewish people are categorized as "incidents."
State lawmakers unsuccessfully attempted to pass legislation this recent General Assembly to classify antisemitic crimes as hate crime. Lawmakers did pass a bill introduced by Del. Anne Ferrell Tata, R-Virginia Beach, to adopt a working definition of antisemitism.
Antisemitic hate crimes are on the rise in the U.S., according to a study by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Antisemitic incidents and hate crimes against Jewish institutions such as synagogues and community centers have risen 124% in the U.S. since 2019, according to the report by the Commission to Combat Antisemitism.
"Just given the historical trauma that the Jewish community has experienced, those crimes really resonate on deep and profoundly scary levels," Gartenstein said.
Antisemitic hate crimes accounted for over half of all religiously-motivated hate crimes in 2021, according to FBI hate crime statistics from March. Over 800 of the 1,590 religiously-motivated incidents were directed toward Jewish Americans.
Cities around Virginia will host Jewish American Heritage Month events throughout May.
The Virginia Holocaust Museum is located at 2000 E. Cary St. in Richmond. The museum, which is wrapping up construction, has reopened and returned to its weekly hours, seven days a week. The featured exhibit on display through June 9 is "Halt! Remembering the Holocaust," which showcases artwork by G. Roy Levin. The museum also will host virtual tours.
The Norfolk Public Library will host Michael Panitz, rabbi of Temple Israel, for an open dialogue that includes the Holocaust, according to the library's website.
The new Capital Jewish Museum will not open until next month, but the museum's cultural associate will host a virtual exploration of the history of Jewish settlement in Washington, D.C. The event is May 11, and for registered members of Arlington's 55+ Pass community.
Several presidents have previously recognized Jewish Heritage Week, according to the Library of Congress. Congress issued a resolution in 2006 that urged the president to proclaim annually that state and local governments observe an American Jewish History Month. All presidents since have done so.
President Joe Biden issued the proclamation in late April, which urged "Americans to learn more about the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies."
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia students are returning to K-12 public schools — although enrollment has not returned to pre-pandemic levels — but there are fewer teachers due to an increase in teacher vacancies.
The rebound comes after an enrollment decline the previous two years.
FALL MEMBERSHIP DATA
Enrollment numbers increased by more than 11,300 students from fall 2021 to fall 2022, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education.
VDOE annually collects statistics on the number of students enrolled in public school on Sept. 30. This report, known as "Fall Membership," is submitted by each school in Virginia that officially enrolls students.
Virginia K-12 enrollment sits just over 1.26 million full and part-time students combined. Part-time students are nonpublic school students who take one or more classes in a public school, according to VDOE.
The numbers show schools haven't reached the 2019-20, pre-pandemic levels of almost 1.3 million students.
The number of current part-time students decreased by over 100 students since the last school year. There was a significant increase of over 500 part-time students in the 2020-21 school year, while numbers fluctuated in prior years with no apparent trend.
The number of home-schooled students, including religious exemptions, decreased for the current school year, down 8% at almost 57,000 students. The previous two school years saw a spike in total home-schooled students, reaching over 65,500 home-schooled students in the 2020-21 school year.
The category with the most home-schooled and religious exempt students is K-5, accounting for almost half of the total.
TEACHER VACANCIES
There was a 25% increase in teacher vacancies throughout Virginia from the 2021 fall report to the 2022 fall VDOE report. The number of vacancies increased from just over 2,800 to over 3,500, according to the data, which does not include personnel or transportation positions. The numbers may have changed, as they pertain to a snapshot of data from fall 2022, because school divisions do not report daily, weekly or monthly data on unfilled positions, according to the VDOE.
There was a 12% increase in teachers leaving the workforce in the 2021-22 school year, when compared to the pre-pandemic yearly average, according to a Nov. 2022 report published by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, or JLARC. At the same time, there was a 15% decrease in newly licensed teachers, according to JLARC.
As more teachers leave the profession, fewer teachers are being licensed, according to the JLARC report. Nearly all divisions surveyed for the report indicated that finding "fully qualified applicants" was among their biggest challenges when it came to staffing.
The Richmond Education Association and other organizations have lobbied for better education funding and met with state lawmakers to provide support for educators, according to REA president Katina Harris.
There are a few changes that will help increase enrollment, according to Harris, and lawmakers need to commit necessary funding. Students will receive a better education with smaller classroom sizes, more available counselors and more teacher support for remedial learning programs, Harris said.
"At minimum, $1.3 billion is needed to fully fund our [Richmond City] schools right now," Harris said. "That shouldn't be that hard to ask because the children are literally the future."
Richmond City allotted just over $200 million in general funds for education in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the city's budget. The city has also budgeted $200 million in capital improvement funds for school modernization and improvement for the upcoming 2024 fiscal year.
HOME-SCHOOLER APPEAL
The pandemic contributed to the increase of home-schooled students, according to Yvonne Bunn, the director of homeschool support and government affairs for the Home Educators Association of Virginia.
There was an almost 56% increase in total home-schooled students in the 2020-21 school year. The amount of K-5 home-schooled students doubled that year.
Many parents have chosen to continue home schooling even since schools reopened. Parents can tailor their children's education to their needs, according to Bunn.
The home environment is safer for children who deal with bullying or harassment in public schools, Bunn said.
"It takes them out of that where they can be in their home, they can be more secure in their home," Bunn said.
Home schooling in Virginia allows parents to meet their children where they are, rather than children struggling to keep up in schools, according to Bunn.
"If they got average or below average, we'd go back over it to see how they could understand the material better," Bunn said. "So that's the key to home schooling, one-on-one tutoring, that's really the key."
Virginia Commonwealth University student Celia Donnelly is a senior studying graphic design. Home schooling allowed her time to pursue her interests, which eventually led to her current studies, she said. Donnelly was home-schooled from K-12 in North Carolina, she said.
Parents can provide resources, such as curriculums that adapt to specific learning styles, that are not readily available in public school, or are not as standardized, according to Donnelly.
"It's all standardized, you have a lot of people who need a lot of things, so just inherently there's going to be a lot of gaps ... and home schooling can help with that," she said.
Donnelly's mother valued and through home-school taught her the ability to "question everything and stay curious" about the world around her, she said.
LEGISLATION AND FUNDING
Virginia lawmakers allotted $3.2 billion in direct aid for state education in the 2022-24 biennium budget. The budget also included reforms for a 10% teacher pay raise split over two years. Funds from the American Rescue Plan act directed $125 million to fund a one-time, $1,000 bonus to educators last December.
Lawmakers have introduced proposals during the current General Assembly session to tackle the deficit of teachers, as well as the increasing number of home-schooled students.
Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, introduced House Bill 1566, which would require the state to pay educators a rate equal to or above the national average salary for teachers. The bill reported from a House committee but did not advance from the Appropriations committee.
Del. John McGuire III, R-Goochland, proposed HB 1454. The bill would have eliminated the four criteria needed for parents and guardians to home-school their children.
Virginia laws currently require that homeschooling educators must hold a high school diploma, be qualified by the Board of Education, provide children with a program that can be delivered through distance learning or provide evidence that they have an ability to provide adequate education. A House education subcommittee killed the measure.
Del. Marie March, R-Floyd, proposed HB 1475, which would prohibit schools from joining interscholastic organizations that would not allow home-schooled students. Similar versions of the bill to allow home-schooled students to play sports have been introduced for years. The bill passed an education subcommittee but was defeated in committee.
State budget amendments currently under debate by lawmakers also proposed an increase in education spending, according to a report by VPM. Additionally, House and Senate versions include a 2% salary increase that would extend to K-12 educators.
