Virginia education board approves new rules for local student assessments

Good morning from The Mercury.

By Nathaniel Cline

The Virginia Board of Education has approved new rules for assessing student learning in subjects without statewide Standards of Learning tests, giving schools another way to measure whether students have mastered the required material.

Last year, state lawmakers overhauled the state’s testing system to improve how SOL tests are administered and used to evaluate what students should know at the end of each grade or course, setting the stage for the new guidelines. 

Local Alternative Assessments, or LAAs, give students opportunities to use critical thinking skills instead of rote memorization. Some education leaders have told The Mercury that LAAs need basic standards to ensure they are high-quality and administered properly.

By Shannon Heckt

The State Corporation Commission will hold three in-person hearings to collect public testimony on the proposed $67 billion merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy, in addition to three anticipated days of testimony by phone.

If approved by multiple state and federal agencies, the merger would create the largest regulated utility in the country. 

The dates and locations of the in-person hearings are:

By Jennifer Shutt

The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress. 

The $810 million in the “pocket rescission” would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, a Treasury Department program that provided “debt forgiveness to foreign countries that make climate change-related investments for coral reefs and tropical forests” and a grant program at the Minority Business Development Agency, among several others. 

By Kevin Hardy

WE BUY HOUSES. CASH 4 HOMES. FA$T CA$H.

The signs, text messages and mailers promise cash, quick sales and a seamless means of unloading unwanted homes. 

But advocates say the business of buying homes for cash can confuse vulnerable homeowners and rob them of home equity. And now, many states are cracking down. 

Thanks for reading Virginia Mercury. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.