Hashmi Tries to Forget Her Role in Education Decline

By Chris Braunlich

State Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Powhatan) has written a? Richmond Times-Dispatch commentary proclaiming Governor Glenn Youngkin responsible for Virginia’s education declines, a commentary astonishing for the breadth of its amnestic qualities.??

Senator Hashmi, who seeks the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor, correctly notes “Virginia’s fourth-grade math scores have plummeted, dropping us from fifth place in 2019 to 22nd today.? Students with disabilities and Black students have suffered some of the worst declines nationwide.?And in reading, Virginia’s fourth-grade recovery is the third worst in the country.”

And then she gets political, blaming Youngkin for the decline.? But that’s a little like blaming the farmer who buys acreage his predecessor planted with bad seed.? The “seeds” of Virginia’s education decline were planted by previous administrations with ineffective policies, Senator Hashmi was quick to support.

In fact, one of Youngkin’s first actions was to produce a 2022 report to determine where Virginia stood and to make it clear that Black, Hispanic, and low-income students were suffering most under the existing system.? For his honesty, the teachers union called it a “blatant manipulation of data” and the Senate Democratic leader called it a “joke,” “dog-whistle talking points”, “outright lie, supported by cherry-picked data and warped perspective.”??

After two years of resisting or voting down Youngkin’s reform proposals, this supposed “lie” is now substantiated by the Education Recovery Scorecard developed by experts from Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth.? School divisions with high concentrations of at-risk students, like Petersburg and Richmond have suffered the worst losses, as the Youngkin report said.

One reason Virginia performs so poorly was the amount of time students were out of class during the Covid shutdowns.? According to the independent firm Burbio, which tracked school re-openings during and after Covid (you can find their methodology here), by June of 2021, 43 other states had returned a higher percentage of students to the classroom than Virginia.? This was 15 months after the start of Covid – making Virginia’s students some of the last in the nation to return to in-school instruction.

While legislation was introduced to make in-classroom instruction available earlier, Senator Hashmi was one of only 13 Senators voting “No.”? Perhaps this is something the Senator would rather forget.

Can we stipulate that the longer students are out of the classroom, the longer it will take to recover?? And that those who wanted them kept them out even longer are in no position to pontificate on learning loss?

But the larger reason for the decline is likely the weaker standards and accountability measures under which students were learning.? If Virginia students were performing worse in Math in 2024, it is more likely because they were learning under standards approved nine years earlier by Governor Terry McAuliffe’s Board of Education.? Even The Washington Post noted that “Virginia Made a Mistake by easing its academic standards.”?

And as the Ralph Northam State Board voted to determine passing scores on the state literacy exams, Northam’s own Superintendent noted “setting the (passing) scores too low would mask the needs that many students have in our schools.” The Northam Board voted to reduce the scores anyway, with the effect that parents were told their students were doing fine and what teachers were told their students needed to know to be proficient was bluntly not true.

And when Youngkin’s Board of Education reversed the trajectory of policies implemented by the previous Board, Hashmi introduced legislation to delay the stronger new accountability system by another year.

This is all Youngkin’s fault?

One major goal in this ought to be not only to raise the academic accomplishment of all students but also to reduce the achievement gaps so badly impacting educationally at-risk students.??

For many on the Left, especially the teachers union, the primary answer seems to reside in spending more money, with little emphasis on the policies they fund.? More money is thrown at the problem without analyzing causes or changing policies to improve results.? But the evidence in Florida seems to suggest the answer lies in how money is spent, not in how much.

In Florida, which spends $12,415 per pupil vs. Virginia’s $16,445, at risk students are performing better (as are almost every other demographic).? As this chart makes clear:? Whether measuring 4th or 8th grade math or reading, Florida’s low income, black and Hispanic achievement gaps are narrower than Virginia’s – in some cases less than half of those in the Commonwealth.

For example, whereas Florida’s 4th grade math Black-White and Hispanic-White gaps are 11 points, in Virginia they are 25 points and 22 points, respectively.? The 8th grade reading achievement gap for economically disadvantaged students is 18 points in Florida; 30 points in Virginia.? Of 12 major gap measures on the chart, Florida outpaces Virginia in every one.

What has Florida been doing right?

While the Sunshine State has had multiple components in a coherent education strategy for more than a quarter century (all of which candidates should be looking at this year), much of the Florida program centers around improving student access: Today, Florida students can choose from more than 700 public charter schools (Virginia has seven).? More than 154,000 Florida students learn on one of the nation’s most robust online learning programs (13,000 Virginia students are in such programs).? And Florida students can choose from any public school with space in any school district (Virginia does not offer inter-district choice).

But its key revolution was providing tax credits to donors underwriting scholarships, starting with low-income students eligible for free and reduced meals at school ($59,477 for a family of four).? Today, more than 106,000 such students receive an average $8,100 tax credit scholarship to attend a school that better meets their individual needs.? Another 221,000 receive those funds directly from the state.

In the veto session “last dance” of the legislative season, Youngkin could do worse than trying to restore funding for college partnership lab schools (which Hashmi and Senate Democrats seem determined to kill in their infancy).??

Or he might attempt to restore his Opportunity Scholarship proposal, modeled along Florida’s lines, providing $5,000 scholarships for students seeking alternative education.? Limiting such scholarships to students receiving Free and Reduced Meals would have the added benefit of making clear the goal of helping those who need it most.

By building multiple ways to access education, Florida created a competitive education system in which students and parents could find the program that works best for them … thereby increasing success for students, teachers and schools and proving that neither demography nor poverty need equal a child’s destiny.

Virginia can do it too.

Chris Braunlich is Senior Advisor and former President of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, having previously served as President of the Virginia State Board of Education.? He may be reached at [email protected].?