On Friday, the National Assessment Governing Board voted to expand the number of courses it administers through NAEP, which measures academic performance across grades 4, 8, and 12, using a randomly selected sample designed to reflect student diversity across factors like gender, economic background, ethnicity and school size.

Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger said on Monday she and her administration will look further into the changes before committing to utilizing them. She spoke on Monday at Highland Springs High School in Central Virginia, after signing a package of bipartisan legislation focused on strengthening the state’s education system for students and teachers.

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But as schools adopt AI and students spend more time on screens, state lawmakers have questions about the technology’s impact on students’ safety, critical thinking and learning skills.

Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, said due to these concerns, lawmakers and educators are now trying to keep pace with rapid AI advancements.

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Two school divisions—in Loudoun and Fairfax, the state’s largest school district—submitted alternative documents that they say signify the same commitment, flouting the certification form created by the U.S. Department of Education. Norfolk signed a modified certification form.

Schools could lose federal funding and face further investigation if they don’t comply with the certification, federal leaders have said.

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Virginia recorded 21,881 drug overdose emergency department visits in 2023, a 2% decrease from 2022, according to recent data by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). Despite the slight decline, fentanyl overdoses remain a major concern, prompting legislative action.

Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, who sponsored Senate Bill 1240, supports a House amendment expanding the reporting requirement to include colleges and universities. His bill cleared the House Education Committee on Monday, but now faces further scrutiny in the full House. This comes after a similar proposal by Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, failed in the Democratic-controlled House by 42-57 last session.

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Research shows that some students use cell phones to message people and browse the internet and social media apps during instructional time.

Others use them to record events in school and post them on various platforms. The resulting videos aren’t always positive: Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania school district acknowledged that several middle school students had made fake TikTok accounts impersonating their teachers, “and apparently made some posts using racist, homophobic and sexually explicit language� according to NPR.

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On Tuesday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued Executive Order 33, which directs his administration to “heed the call� of parents, public health professionals, educators and others by establishing cell phone-free policies and procedures for school divisions, in light of growing concerns over children’s health and declines in academic performance.

The Virginia Department of Education, in collaboration with the Departments of Health and Health and Human Services, must clearly define what “cell phone-free education� means, and publish model plans and draft guidance on implementing cell phone-free education in Virginia’s K-12 schools on its website by Aug. 15, according to the governor’s directive.

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The lawsuit alleges that the school board violated the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act. The plaintiffs seek to remove the Confederate names, mascots and vestiges, and to prevent any future school naming involving Confederate leaders or references to the Confederacy.

On May 10, the Shenandoah County School Board reversed a 2020 decision by a previous board to rename two schools after Confederate Generals Turner Ashby, Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall� Jackson. In 2021, the schools on the division’s southern campus, which included North Fork Middle, were renamed from Stonewall Jackson High School to Mountain View, and Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run.

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In court filings, Bedford resident David Rife insists he’s the one being intimidated, noting that the county school board sued him shortly after he filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Education saying local school officials weren’t following the individualized education program, or IEP, designed to accommodate his son’s learning disability and improve his reading skills. When he filed the complaint, Rife told state officials he feared he would face retaliation locally, according to court documents.

The school board filed its lawsuit against Rife on March 26, roughly a month after Rife sent his complaint to state education officials.

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Since 2019, Virginia has been under ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Education, which previously determined that the state repeatedly failed to resolve complaints filed by parents and did not have “reasonably designed� procedures and practices to ensure a timely resolution process for those complaints.

The regulatory changes, which would align Virginia with federal regulations, replace standards that had not been updated since July 29, 2015.

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