top of page

EDUCATION POLICY

Policy Directors: Catherine Kane and Valeria Orozco

Advocacy Director: Miya Libman

 

The Education Policy sector focuses on specific law and curriculum regarding youth from K-12 to higher education. Especially as education is a universal right, the Education Policy sector actively works to broaden accessibility and meaningful change for youth, by youth. 

1. D.C.p.S. COVID-19 preparedness, protection, and recovery (PPR) plan

May 2020

This policy response is a series of sanitary and protective measures designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within schools and the communities of students and faculty throughout the D.C. Public Schools system. Such sanitation practices include: mandating sanitation periods, incorporating masks as a mandatory part of the dress code, improving hygiene in bathrooms and school classrooms, installing sanitation stations outside of the school for students to use before entering​, recommending the creation of an educational program to teach children, teachers, and other faculty how to limit the spread of COVID-19, and more.

 

​

2. The Broadband Access for Rural Students (BARS) Policy Plan Analysis

July 2020

Internet access has become a vital part of modern-day education, but many of Virginia’s rural students lack access due to underdeveloped infrastructure and high costs of internet. Our policy seeks to fix this, firstly by amending four parts of the Virginia state code to eliminate barriers for localities to provide low cost internet to their residents. The second part of our policy is a tax incentive that will be awarded to internet service providers  that take on the financial risk of broadband access projects, with an annual report and a sunset date of five years.

3. Sexual Harassment Action and Reporting in Education (share) Plan

October 2020

It is estimated that the majority of students will experience some form of sexual harassment between kindergarten and high school graduation, a problem that is often overlooked in K-12 schools. The SHARE Recommendations aim to improve Fairfax County Public School's response to sexual harassment amidst distance learning and new federal Title IX guidelines. Through changes to use survivor oriented language in current policy, the explicit inclusion of virtual programs, and a widely accessible online reporting system, FCPS can increase the accessibility of their reporting and investigative procedures for all members of the school community.

4. The Advisory Committee Representation Enhancement (ACRE) Act

February 2021

The long term issue this proposal seeks to address the underrepresentation of people with disabilities in elected office. 10.3% of elected leaders at the state, local, and federal level are people with disabilities, compared to the total US population, in which 26% of the population lives with a disability. To tackle the long term gaps in representation, efforts to create pipelines for students with disabilities to be involved in student government and district policy are needed. This proposal seeks to contribute to one facet in which the Commonwealth of Virginia can contribute to a short term step to increase representation for students with disabilities.

bottom of page