Senator Warner spoke to almost 7,500 school teachers from across the Commonwealth during an hour-long telephone town hall on Monday night.

The conversation ranged from proposed changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to the impact of deficit reduction on federal education funding. Senator Warner reassured the teachers that he will continue to work to ensure educators are adequately supported in their mission to prepare students to compete in tomorrow’s knowledge-driven economy.

Staffers in our DC office helped to monitor the calls coming in from across the Commonwealth.

As Governor, Senator Warner oversaw one of the largest investments in K-12 education funding in Virginia history, and the Warner Administration launched a series of innovative pilot programs to maximize efforts to support teachers and target more funding to the classroom.

During the town hall call, one teacher expressed frustration over ESEA’s adequate yearly process (AYP), a burdensome requirement which often unfairly labels schools and students as failing due to an overemphasis on standardized test scores.  He discussed the opportunity for relief from either the Administration’s waiver proposals, and the proposed legislation which was recently passed out of the Senate Education Committee.

While agreeing that something should  be done to address some of the unintended consequences of current accountability structures, the Senator made clear that AYP must be replaced with other performance measures that incentivize schools, districts, and states to improve outcomes for all students. And he mentioned his eagerness for the Senate legislation to come to the floor to get his “bite at the apple” and represent the Commonwealth’s priorities. 

Concerns over the digital divide, especially in rural areas of the state, were also raised by some teachers. The Senator highlighted his work as a member the Commerce Committee to help expand broadband access across the country, and how making improvements our national broadband program, and supporting programs at Universal Service Fund like the Schools and Libraries program would help schools become better connected. 

Senator Warner also talked about how finding a comprehensive solution to our national debt which is balanced, and includes both budget savings and increased revenues is important to allowing us to continue to make critical investments in programs like education.

Senator Warner concluded the call talking about how the success of our country is tied to how well we prepare our students to enter the 21^st century economy where approximately 2/3 of future careers will require a quality education.