Today, the Virginia Senate passed legislation to change the charter school application process in Virginia but preserve the authority of local school boards to approve or reject charter school applications. The bill passed today makes no changes to the charter school approval process, and only small changes to the charter school application process. No school board will be compelled to approve new charter schools under this legislation

For six consecutive years, T. C. Williams High School has failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The school must now be restructured under the supervision of the Virginia Department of Education.

The U. S. Department of Education just released school report cards for the 2009-10 school year. T. C. is one of six Virginia high schools to be categorized as Persistently Lowest Achieving schools based on the academic achievement of all students in reading/language arts and mathematics. The Virginia Department of education defines Persistently Lowest Achieving schools as:

Last night, the Alexandria School Board adopted a fiscal year 2011 operating budget of $201,137,753, an increase of $3.5 million or 1.8% over the current budget. The Board is requesting $167,886,567 from the City, an increase of two percent, which aligns with the City Manager’s proposed school transfer.

Happy Birthday to…The ACPS Daily Digest, turning one year old today!! Thanks to our loyal subscribers for your many kind and helpful comments. Keep reading, and remember, in the words of legendary Notre Dame Coach Knute Rockne (born on this date in 1888), “One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it.”

The TC Williams Science Bowl club competed this past weekend at the Virginia Regional High School Science Bowl event. The annual challenge is sponsored by the US Department of Energy and is held at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News.

Tonight, the Alexandria School Board will hold their final work session before they adopt the fiscal year 2011 budget. Board Members have submitted additions totaling $6,091,836 and deletions of $203,500, for a net proposed increase of $5,888,336.

March is here! Can spring be far behind? In the words of outdoor writer Hal Borland, “March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice.”

The Alexandria School Board voted 8-1 to add 10 minutes to the beginning and 20 minutes to the end of each school day to make up lost instructional time missed because of snow. Elementary schools will open at 7:50 a.m. and dismiss students at 2:55 p.m.; middle school students will begin their day at 8:20 a.m. and finish at 3:30 p.m. and high school students will start at 8:25 a.m. and be dismissed at 3:35 p.m. The new schedule will begin on March 8, continuing until June 4.

With only two-and-a-half weeks remaining in the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session, the focus is on the proposed State budget.

The House and Senate are proposing radically different ways to close a $4 billion State budget gap. The House proposes slashing K-12 school funding and both houses are considering deferring payments to the Virginia Retirement System, which would save hundreds of millions of dollars temporarily.

“Children learn more from what you are than what you teach,” said African-American educator, author and civil rights leader William Edward Burghardt “W.E.B.” DuBois, born on this date in 1868. DuBois, who helped found the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) in 1909, died the night before Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, D.C., in 1963. Read more about DuBois and other famous Americans at http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/dubois/aa_dubois_subj.html .