VPOST Updates

• Advocacy and Funding: VPOST has been working with Commonwealth Strategies on funding strategies for afterschool funding in the Virginia Budget. The General Assembly went into session on January 12th. Currently Senator. McClellan (D) and Delegate Roxann Robinson (R) have agreed to patron a budget amendment, which contains approximately 4 million for OST specifically earmarked for Community Based Organizations.

• Youth Entrepreneur Strategies (YES) Grant Lead: VPOST was recently awarded a grant to promote, coordinate, and develop a strategic approach to high school youth entrepreneurship experiences in Virginia. In support of this work, VPOST will be working with Kaitlin IInitzki, Assistant Director of Virginia + DC FIRST LEGO League (James Madison University).

• VPOST Hiring: VPOST is in search of Administrative Assistant to support day-to-day administrative tasks. A detailed job description, which includes pay-rate can be viewed here. This is a fully-remote, part-time position, with our sponsoring organization James Madison University. If you have any recommendations please let us know and any assistance spreading the word is appreciated!

• Conference: VPOST hosted our annual conference in November 2021. Due to the prolonged pandemic, in lieu of another virtual event, our 13th annual conference will be held in the Spring of 2023.

  • The 12th Annual Conference received positive survey feedback. We had 144 unique registrations, 16 of which were referrals from MENTOR Virginia.

Virginia News Highlights

• Change of Leadership at the Virginia Department of Education:

Dr. James Lane, the Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction is stepping down. Dr. Lane spoke at VPOST 2019 conference and worked with VPOST and the Richmond OST Alliance to host an OST Town Hall at the height of the pandemic. In the interim, Governor Ralph Northam has named Dr. Rosa Atkins as Acting Superintendent of Public Instruction. Dr. Atkins was the first Assistant Superintendent for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at VDOE.

• View American Rescue Plan Allocations by School District: In October 2021, the U.S. Department of Education Approved Virginia’s Plan for Use of American Rescue Plan Funds. The amounts include: 

  • Total ARP ESSER allocation for Virginia: $2,110,988,891

  • ARP ESSER funding released to Virginia on March 24, 2021: $1,406,327,167

  • ARP ESSER funding released to Virginia on October 14, 2021: $704,661,724

  • 2020-2021 Preliminary Statewide Enrollment: 1,250,713
    

  • One of the priorities of Virginia's plan is Investing in Expanded Afterschool Programs. VDOE will provide competitive grants to school districts to fund afterschool programming, engage community partners, provide acceleration services, reduce class/tutoring ratios, hire staff (including support staff), provide technology, fund subscriptions to virtual course options, and support student transportation. You may view on this spreadsheet a link to the most current publicly-available plans for each district.