Virginia Dept. of Ed removes private university’s lab school application before committee review

Virginia education board approves six more lab schools to aid students; is the process too quick?

The Virginia Department Of Education on Monday removed from committee review a lab school application from Ferrum College, a religious and private university, asking the commonwealth to pay $10.6 million for the initial four years of its initiative.

The committee did recommend three lab school applications to the Board of Education for final approval: Richard Bland College in Petersburg; Old Dominion University in Norfolk; and George Mason University in Fairfax. 

“The lab school committee had several questions regarding the [Ferrum College lab school] application,” said Todd Reid, a spokesperson for VDOE, adding that State Board President Grace Creasey wanted to ensure the school had more time to prepare responses and clarifications to those questions. 

Reid did not provide a date for when the application would be back for the committee’s review. The next meeting is expected in June.

The attention on lab school applications comes after state Democrats opposed supporting private universities seeking to create lab schools with state funding, concerned that doing so would take away resources from public institutions.

Ferrum’s lab school application

Laboratory schools, which operate like charter schools, offer students tuition-free specialized instruction for high-demand careers like teaching, computer science and technology. Higher education institutions create their own curriculum for the programs, which is reviewed by the state, in partnership with local employers and community organizations. Students are accepted through a lottery system.

According to documents published on the department’s website, the department first received Ferrum College’s application to create the Ferrum College Academy for Opportunity and Innovation on Feb. 1. 

The academy’s focus will be to provide high school students interested in employment in public service and health-related fields with dual enrollment options and industry credentials to get jobs and fast-track their careers by giving them the confidence and opportunity to seek early advancement.

Franklin, Henry and Patrick counties expressed interest in partnering with the Ferrum Academy. According to the documents, Virginia Western Community College declined to participate, due to overlaps in programming with their own laboratory school grant applications, resulting in public school systems in Roanoke County and Roanoke City Public Schools declining to participate in the academy. Martinsville schools also declined to participate. 

Ferrum’s application also stated that its academy would be an opportunity to involve homeschooled students, which would be allowed by state law.

“The stipulation that enrollment in the college partnership laboratory school ‘shall be open through a lottery process on a space-available basis to any student who is deemed to reside within the commonwealth’ … further underscores the opportunity to serve homeschooled students within the region,” Ferrum’s application read.

According to Ferrum’s application, tuition would be the largest non-personnel annual cost for the academy at $4,530 per pupil.

On Monday, the five-member committee did not comment on the application in an amended meeting agenda. Instead, the department removed the application documents before the committee meeting.

Lab school applications like Ferrum College’s are receiving more attention after the board approved and awarded funding for two private higher education institutions last month: Emory and Henry received $3.8 million, and Roanoke College received $2.3 million. 

It’s unclear whether contracts for those applications have been signed.

In 2022, the General Assembly adopted Chapter 2 of the 2022 Appropriation Act, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed, stipulating that a “college partnership laboratory school” means a public, nonsectarian, nonreligious school in the commonwealth established by a baccalaureate public institution of higher education.

Democrats said the language was created to keep funding focused on public four-year institutions before expanding to private or religious schools.

However, the Youngkin administration, with support from the attorney’s general office, says that definition in state law does not prohibit the committee from accepting applications from all institutions.

The committee recommended lab school applications from Richard Bland College, ODU, and GMU be approved by the board. The board has already approved 12 lab school applications, including one for VCU, the first university to launch a lab school earlier this year.

Virginia’s lab school landscape

In 2022, lawmakers passed legislation establishing laboratory schools. They appropriated $100 million to support the Virginia College Partnership Laboratory fund, established 12 years before for colleges and universities with teacher education programs. 

Out of the $100 million, $5 million was earmarked for planning grants to support eligible entities in the design of lab schools and to assist in drafting and submitting lab school applications to the board. A total of $20 million was designated for initial start-up grants for approved lab schools to make one-time purchases and $75 million for per-pupil operating grants to support ongoing expenses for lab school operation and maintenance.

Richard Bland College’s Globe Academy proposes creating engineer career pathways in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, using art for student vision planning. The academy’s enrollment will be focused on high school students at Petersburg City, Dinwiddie County, Sussex County and Prince George County Public Schools.

Richard Bland’s application estimates first-year expenses will total $1.28 million.

In Suffolk, Old Dominion University’s STEM Academy at Booker T. Washington Elementary School proposes offering hands-on experiences with science, technology, engineering and math to develop proficiency and promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills, prompting a deeper understanding of core subjects.

The academy will be focused on serving elementary school students at Suffolk County Public Schools and will cost $1 million in the first year.

In the northernmost part of Virginia, George Mason University and Frederick County are partnering to develop The Shenandoah Valley Rural Regional College Partnership Laboratory School for Data Science, Computing and Applications.

The school, which will cost $1 million in its first year, will start with high school students enrolled at Frederick County Public Schools before expanding to other school divisions. In partnership with Laurel Ridge Community College, the lab school will focus on advancing data science, computing and applications for students and teachers through innovative research, education and community engagement.

Additional funding for Virginia lab schools is still uncertain.

Youngkin proposed $60 million for lab schools in his budget presented late last year, but lawmakers offered no investments in their budget presented at the close of the legislative session in March. Both sides have traded exchanges over whether to include funding for lab schools in the two-year budget that is expected to be finalized next week, ahead of the current budget’s expiration on July 1.