FORT MONROE, Va. - Governor Tim Kaine signed legislation March 30 that gives the Virginia Department of Education the go-ahead to invest more time and resources into mobility issues faced by dependents of active duty military members and activated Guardsmen and Reservists.
As a result of the legislation, Virginia will join the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children. The group studies the key challenges faced by military families in the areas of student eligibility, enrollment, placement and graduation.
"The frequent relocation of military children, punctuated by the stress of separations from a deployed parent, can culminate in difficult challenges and a confusing range of opportunities," said veteran School Liaison Officer, Charles French, representing Fort Monroe and the Joint Military Services School Liaison Committee of Hampton Roads (JMSSLC).
"The inconsistencies in state standards and assessments, requirements to access programs, extracurricular activities, program accessibility, and social emotional factors, can make a military child's path to college and work readiness difficult."
Many educational issues adversely impacting mobile military children have developed as a result of the No Child Left Behind law, which requires every state to develop its own measurement and testing standards to ensure adequate yearly progress is being achieved, French noted. In Virginia, the yardstick is the SOLs or standards of learning.
"Most educators and military school liaisons agree that the NCLB requirements have a meaningful purpose; however, with 50 states having 50 different standards, our children who change schools and states six to nine times from kindergarten to 12th grade can suffer significantly," French said.
"The compact will allow for the uniform treatment, at the state and local district level, of military children transferring between school districts and states."
Furthermore, the compact will address the timely sharing of educational records, course/educational program placement, special education services, placement flexibilities, absences related to deployment activities, graduation waiver requirements, exit exams, transfers during senior year, powers of attorney, tuition, non-custodial parents, extracurricular activities, immunization requirements, and more. "Some of those topics are a concern of every military parent, and the compact's enforcement ability to address and correct them should make military family life a lot less stressful and more rewarding," French said.
"Virginia has more school-aged children of active duty military than any state in the nation (76,352), so I believe our voice at the Interstate Compact's table should be prominent and forceful. The 67,000 military connected children living in Hampton Roads are already one step ahead as we are serviced by 12 military friendly school districts, and we have Army, Navy, and Air Force school liaisons working jointly. Most issues brought to their attention can be resolved quickly if the law allows schools the flexibility."
Passage of this significant legislation in Virginia was the result of "considerable cooperation and support" by the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, the Military Officers Association of America, the Joint Leadership Council of Veterans Service Organizations, National Military Family Association, the Association of the U.S. Army, the Virginia American Legion, and the local JMSSLC, according to French.
"In an effort to directly address the challenges faced by military children in Hampton Roads, as well as to increase awareness for our supporting communities, the JMSSLC initiates and implements quality and sustainable programs to meet these challenges," he added. "They connect our schools, communities and the military by providing information, resources, programs and services pertaining to school aged military children."
French said he hopes that Virginia's move to become a member of the Interstate Compact will set a precedence that will be followed by other states like Texas, California, Maryland and Washington that have a large number of military children in their schools as well.
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