Weekly Column: Historic Investment In K-12 Education

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of June 7, 2022.

                Last week, I wrote about some of the local effects of the bipartisan budget agreement that we sent to the Governor last week.  This week I will write about some of the broader issues addressed in the budget.

               First, I was not pleased with the tax cuts which I believe are short-sighted.  The budget contains several other priorities I do not support such as a new $100 million “college laboratory school” program and new funds for school resource officers, but bipartisanship requires compromise.   

Weekly Column: State Legislature Must Make Tough Decisions

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of April 5, 2020.

State Legislature Must Make Tough Decisions

Instead of reporting on the accomplishments of the General Assembly’s 2020 session, in recent weeks I have chosen to provide information about the COVID-19 crisis and its impacts.  The worldwide coronavirus pandemic is likely to change much of what state legislators passed earlier this year.  Many measures are in limbo, especially the state’s budget.  The legislature will reconvene on April 22 to consider budget changes and vetoes that Governor Ralph Northam may propose. 

This week, Governor Northam announced that he is putting all new spending in the state’s new two-year budget on hold.  Therefore, it appears that when we reconvene, we will consider proposed amendments to implement his proposals, pending economic analyses, projections and decisions on how the state can use the $3 billion in federal stimulus dollars.

Fairfax County Still Leads in Childcare Waiting Lists

As I wrote last week in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, preschool and affordable childcare are approaching crisis in the 44th District as our schools continue to struggle.  How did we get here?  

The Clinton Administration saw significant reforms to what was then called "Welfare" programs.  Welfare was renamed "Temporary Assistance to Needy Families" or TANF.  One of the major reforms was that parents were expected to work if they wanted to continue to receive TANF benefits.

Given that many parents lacked job skills to earn living wages, the cost of childcare was frequently more than the net income a parent could earn working.  The account for this, the government began paying for childcare subsidies so that parents could work and develop job skills.  The New York Times wrote an excellent summary of the problem here:

NY Times, Aid for Child Care Drops When It Is Needed Most (Dec. 13, 2011)

Weekly Column: Route 1 Version 2.0: Improving Our Schools

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of October 28, 2013.

Route 1 Version 2.0: Improving Our Schools

This is my second article on the U.S. 1 Multimodal Alternative Analysis Study, our transit choices and why extending the Metro subway Yellow Line is the best choice.

There is no question the Yellow Line would bring big changes to our community. The question is whether these changes would be beneficial. Extending the Yellow Line to Fort Belvoir would improve our area schools for two reasons.   First, the redevelopment required to support a Metro extension would alter our housing mix. Second, redevelopment would also generate increased tax revenue and other funds for local infrastructure.   

When the Virginia Board of Education announced accreditation results based on recent student testing two weeks ago, 13 Fairfax County schools received a warning. (One of the schools is designed to help learning disabled children.)  Even though the 44th District has only 7% of the county’s population, half of the county’s warned schools were in the 44th District: Bucknell, Hybla Valley, Mount Vernon Woods and Woodlawn Elementary Schools and Mount Vernon High School.

Weekly Column: Young Leaders Visit, Fighting for Fair Transportation Funding and Improving Access to Childcare

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette and Mount Vernon Voice on February 3, 2011:

The legislative session is now moving at a furious pace. On Monday, I presented one bill at 7:00 a.m., a bill and a budget amendment at 8:30 a.m., another bill at 10:00 a.m., our caucus met at 11:30 a.m., and our floor session ran for two hours at noon. Our committees are all pressing to complete action on bills so that they can be heard before next “Crossover Day” next Tuesday when the House and Senate swap bills.
Also, I was honored by a visit from my Young Leaders this week. Delegate Amundson started the Young Leaders Program and we restarted it this year. I was visited by four students from West Potomac and two from Mount Vernon. The program introduces students to state policy and state government. The students met several policy makers, myself and Senator Puller, attended committee hearings, and watched a floor session. During one committee hearing, they were able to observe debate on repealing the state gay marriage ban, a constitutional limit on state debt, and restoration of felon voting rights. They are now beginning to work on a project as a result of their visit. I appreciate the support of Cox Communications who helped to cover the program’s cost.
My bills are also moving through the system. Although not adopted, several of my bills were referred for study. The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) decides which transportation projects to fund in Virginia. It has ten commissioners representing each transportation district and four at-large members who represent the interests of transit, rail, airports, and ports. The transportation districts are based on the 1930’s congressional district lines, plus a Northern Virginia seat that was added in 1985. Presently, the three urban/suburban districts have 62% of the state’s population and 3 of 10 votes. The rural districts have 38% of the state’s population and 7 of 10 votes.
My legislation requires the commissioners to be appointed based upon congressional districts. It would more than triple Northern Virginia’s current representation plus help Hampton Roads and Richmond. It would give Northern Virginia the seat at the table that it deserves. The Governor’s Office and Transportation Subcommittee agreed this needs to be addressed so it was referred to the Governor McDonnell’s Government Reform Commission for further study.
Senator Puller’s U.S. 1 Transit Study resolution is moving through the Senate and the Secretary of Transportation continues to assure me that my budget amendment to fund it should be included in the final budget. I am hopeful we are finally seeing some progress.
During my campaign, I noted that there were fourteen preschools east of U.S. 1 and not a single preschool or childcare center on the west side of U.S. 1 (Woodlawn, Janna Lee, Hybla Valley & Groveton) in my district. After several meetings of my Preschool and Childcare Working Group, I introduced legislation this year to ask the Department of Social Services to study ways to maximize federal childcare matching funds and increase the availability of subsidized childcare in Virginia. There are 20,000 children on Virginia’s subsidized childcare waiting list and 2,000 in Fairfax County – many of which are in the U.S. 1 Corridor. Making high quality childcare and preschool more affordable and available to families in our community is critical to improving our school performance. My legislation was amended and then tabled this year with a commitment from the Department to further study the measure over the next year and revisit the issue in 2011.
About 100 constituents attended my Town Hall Meeting with Senator Toddy Puller on Saturday, January 29. We had a two-hour discussion on a wide variety of topics ranging from redistricting, retirement benefits, and education funding to the extension of the Yellow Line and transit expansion. It was great to be back home and get some feedback on how we are doing.
Also, nearly 700 households have responded to my constituent survey. Improving the economy, working on transportation and education were the top three issues. A majority of respondents did not favor further cuts to the state budget and said we should consider raising taxes. A majority of respondents also favored some form of modest tax increase for transportation. If you are interested, I will be posting more complete results on my blog, The Dixie Pig at scottsurovell.blogspot.com over the next two weeks. You can also continue to submit feedback online at www.scottsurovell.net/survey.
You can also comment on legislation, set up a meeting or request a Capitol tour at www.scottsurovell.net. Good government requires your involvement so please be in touch or come visit in Richmond so I can best represent you in the General Assembly. It is an honor to serve as your State Delegate.

Assessing Status: 1st Meeting of Preschool Working Group

Tonight, I met with several folks interested in improving access to preschool education in the U.S. 1 Corridor at the Mount Vernon Government Center. I discussed this initiative on my blog and during my campaign:

The Dixie Pig: Time to Invest in Preschool

Surovell for Delegate: Support Strong Schools

The Mount Vernon Community is divided into two communities in many ways. East of U.S. 1 along the Potomac River there are approximately 14 preschools. West of U.S. 1, there are virtually none. Schools that draw diverse student populations from west of U.S. 1 have significant challenges with testing scores bearing out challenges for students from families with lower incomes (Mt. Vernon Gazette, Test Scores: It's Complicated (May 27, 2010)).

One of the biggest problems is a shortage of money. There is more demand for Head Start and subsidized childcare than there are slots. The state budget is severely restricted. Local budgets are very tight due to the recession and limited revenue sources. Full funding could go a long way toward mitigating these problems.


Our group also identified the following problems with access and utilization of preschool, quality childcare and/or early childhood education in the corridor:

• Affordability for Low-Income Families
• Cultural Barriers
• Language Barriers
• Affordable Transportation Options
• Lack of Affordable Space for Operations
• Lack of Affordable Options or Subsidized Slots in Existing Programs
• Lack of Convenient Options (Both in terms of locations and hours of operation)
• Lack of Effective Parent Mentoring Programs
• Lack of Federal, State and Local Funding for Head Start, Early Childhood Education, and Quality Childcare Programs.

We also identified the following areas to focus on in moving forward:

• Identifying obstacles and strategies to achieve full federal Head Start funding
• Determining the long-term status of the old Mt. Vernon High School property and initiating discussions regarding use of the property for pre-K education
• Investigating the feasibility of tax credits for commercial property owners in areas underserved by low-rent facilities such as churches
• Investigating feasibility of government-supported transportation options for childcare
• Reviewing ways to stop proposed state rules to limit state support of subsidized childcare to five years per family.
• Investigating licensed daycare provider rules to ascertain feasibility of setting standards for quality of time children spend in childcare and not just safety metrics.
• Investigating feasibility of developing model curriculum and/or grant programs for parent mentoring.

If you have any ideas about any of these programs as we continue this discussion and look toward solutions, please feel free to post your comments here or email them to my aide, Chris Bea, at DelSSurovell@virginia.house.gov. Also, please contact us if you would like to attend our meetings and participate in the discussions.

Time to Invest in Preschool

This is a column I wrote that appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette on May 20, 2010. If you are interested in participating in this working group, please contact my aide Chris Bea at DelSSurovell@house.virginia.gov.

When the state got into funding secondary education about 90 years ago, it was supposed to be an equal partner. That is not the case today in Northern Virginia and this needs to change. I strongly believe that one of the best ways the state could help us here in Mount Vernon is to invest in preschool education.

Educators widely recognize that early childhood education gives children strong fundamentals for succeeding in school and that children who do not have these programs start kindergarten at a disadvantage. There is not a single preschool on the west side of U.S. 1 in the 44th Delegate District. There are 14 preschools on the east side including the preschool my grandparents helped found in 1941 — Tauxemont Preschool.

Children who attend preschool have a huge advantage over children who do not. We have too many children in Mount Vernon who show up for kindergarten who have never sat in circle, focused on a task or learned how to hold a pencil. Just last week a study was published confirmed that children who lack quality daycare before age four-and-a-half start off behind, frequently stay behind, and are at-risk for all kinds of problems in adolescence and as adults.

Notwithstanding all of this research, one day during the session when we were debating this year’s state budget, two budget negotiators from downstate argued that Fairfax County was a wealthy place that did not have a significant need for state education funding and argued against funding for at-risk children’s programs because they maintained, these programs are not effective. Likewise, the original House Budget made massive cuts to funding for at-risk children's education programs and rolled all programs into one block grant so that localities would have the discretion to make funding decisions on their own.

I took to the floor of the House and argued that if we took every free and reduced lunch child in Fairfax County and put them into their own school district, it would be the eighth largest school system in Virginia out of approximately 120. Our special education population would be 12th and our English-as-a-Second-Language population would be 14th. We have plenty of many compelling needs in Fairfax County and especially right here in Mount Vernon. Also, I pointed out that while sending a block grant might provide "flexibility" to localities, many of us had concerns about how resources were allocated within our counties when "flexibility" was exercised and that we preferred that funds be allocated for specific programs. When it is time for the School Board to vote, we only have two votes out of 12 (Mount Vernon and Lee Districts).

What is happening in Fairfax County today is precisely demonstrating my point. Both sides of the U. S. 1 corridor have some of the steepest education challenges and the greatest needs in the County yet we are seeing major cuts. Parents across Mount Vernon have been contacting me about cuts to Project Excel, elementary school focus funding, and new fees. This is not sustainable. Long-term we have to invest in our children, in programs for at-risk kids, and have preschool programs available for everyone.

I am assembling a working group to make legislative recommendations regarding how the state can encourage the expansion of opportunities for communities that are not currently well-served by preschools. If you would like to participate in this working group, please email my aide, Christopher Bea, at DelSSurovell@house.virginia.gov or call my office at 571.249.44TH (4484).

Invest in Preschool, Invest in the Future

Yesterday, I spent about five hours raking leaves at Tauxemont Cooperative Preschool with a dozen other parents - part of our duties along with our "school job." Tauxemont is a cooperative preschool which means it has significant parent involvement in the operation of the school. Two of my children went through their program, two currently attend, I'm an alumni, along with my brother and sister, and my father, uncle and aunt who attended in the 1940's after my grandparents helped start the school with other families in the mid-1940's.

Saturday morning, there was an interesting article in the Washington Post regarding the importance of preschool and the evolving debate over teaching techniques. During my campaign, I talked a lot about the importance of preschool and the lack of it in parts of my district. One paragraph jumped out at me:

Research has shown that by 23, people who attended play-based preschools were eight times less likely to need treatment for emotional disturbances than those who went to preschools where direct instruction prevailed. Graduates of the play-based preschools were three times less likely to be arrested for committing a felony.

Here's a link to the study. Of course, there is a whole chicken and egg aspect to this - play-based preschools might be more prevalent among certain demographics, regions or areas, children with early emotional disturbances probably could not participate in play-based preschool, and the list goes on. Notwithstanding, it is something to think about.

The broader point is that the ten precincts in the 44th District on the east side of U.S. 1 have over a dozen preschools (Westgate, Whitman, Woodley, Hollin Hall, Fort Hunt Stratford, Waynewood, Sherwood, Belle Haven, & Bucknell). The four precincts on the western side of U.S. 1 have zero (Huntington, Groveton, Fairfield & Woodlawn).

The lack of preschool on the west side of U.S. 1 translates to more children arriving for kindergarten not as prepared as children on the east side and playing catch up from the first day they are in school. With test scores at some of the schools in our community heading in the wrong direction, we need to start looking at solutions immediately.

As with sports, knowing the fundamentals at an early age goes a long way towards being competitive. Preschool teaches important fundamental skills such as problem solving, cooperative play, language development, or things as simple as learning how to hold a pencil.

Virginia spends about 60% of what Maryland per child on preschool. Preschool also typically costs less per child than the $12,000 per child it typically costs to educate kindergartners. Governor Kaine tried to significantly increase Virginia's preschool spending, but was blocked by the House of Delegates.

The expansion of preschool would have meaningful benefits for the Mount Vernon community, especially compared with the rest of the County. I am going to put together a group to recommend solutions for expanding access to preschools in our community. If you are interested, drop me a note at scottsurovell@gmail.com.