Virginia Governor's Schools for the Gifted by Louise Epstein
Many states have at least one selective public high school. Virginia is unusual, and provides funding to nineteen academic-year Governors Schools. According to the Virginia Department of Education web site:
The Academic-Year Governor's Schools are established as "joint schools" by Virginia school law. As such, they are typically managed by a regional governing board of representatives from the school boards of each participating division. The regional governing board is charged with developing policies for the school including the school's admissions process.
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/governors_school_programs/acade…
This state statute appears to allow a Governor's School to exist with only two participating school districts. However, the application for new Governor's Schools requires three school districts:
A Governor's School community of learners is created by bringing together gifted students, from three or more adjoining school divisions, to interact with and provide mutual support for their intellectual peers in the pursuit of academic and/or artistic growth and development commensurate with their needs and abilities.
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/governors_school_programs/acade…
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology (TJ), which currently enrolls students who live in five Northern Virginia school districts, is one of those 19 academic-year Governor's Schools. Thanks to this Governor's School designation, TJ received over $2.4 million in state funding during 2012-13, and is projected to receive about $2.5 million from the state during 2013-14. However - the extra state funding will be provided only if TJ continues to qualify as a Governor's School.
Thus far, TJ has in effect been exempted from normal state requirements for Governor's Schools. TJ lacks a formal regional governing board and 100% of the school facility is owned by one school district, FCPS, which is contrary to the state statute on "joint schools."
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+22.1-26
However, TJ does have multiple participating school districts, so that even if it does not satisfy all the technical requirements to be a "joint school," it shares one essential characteristic with joint schools.
Consistent with that ownership structure, the FCPS tuition charge for out-of-county students attending TJ is limited to a student's share of the school's annual operating costs less the applicable Governor's School supplement for that student.
http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/8YCNRA6126E8/$fil…
Why does this matter?
TJ is being renovated and the full estimated cost of its renovation was included on the school bond that Fairfax County voters approved in November 2011.
http://www.fcps.edu/news/bond11.shtml
In January 2013, however, the FCPS School Board voted to ask other school districts to pay for part of the TJ renovation after FCPS Superintendent Dale told them at a work session that this was the normal arrangement.
The School Board's discussion and vote demonstrate why the state legislators were right to require Governor's Schools to have regional governing boards.
When the School Board briefly discussed whether to ask other school districts to contribute money towards TJ's renovation, Superintendent Dale failed to tell them about the state laws that give participating school districts ownership rights in other Governor's Schools and control over the management of the school through a regional governing board. He also failed to tell them that other Governor's Schools all had at least two participating school districts, and that TJ might lose its Governor's School designation - and the related $2.4 million/year state supplement - if all the other school districts decided to cease sending students to TJ.
Without that information, of course the Fairfax County School Board voted to ask the adjoining school districts to pay for part of TJ's renovation. There seemed to be no downside and substantial upside to Fairfax County residents, based on the incomplete information provided by the Superintendent.
A regional governing board that focused solely on TJ presumably would be aware of state requirements for Governor's Schools. It would have considered the interests of families in Arlington, City of Falls Church, Loudoun and Prince William counties. It would have obtained "buy in" from these districts regarding the proposed design. And, it probably would have made different decisions than FCPS about admissions, TJ curriculum requirements and weighting of TJ courses on transcripts.
Last May, one of TJ's physics teachers published an editorial in the Washington Post explaining how the FCPS-designed admissions process was destroying the "old TJ." Dr. Dell pointed out that "[s]ome members of the local educational establish and media have celebrated the passing of the old Jefferson."
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-25/opinions/35458412_1_jeffe…
A few days later, the Washington Post editorial board chimed in, and recommended that Fairfax school officials reconsider the admissions policy.
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-29/opinions/35456202_1_selec…
Maybe it's not too late to bring back the "old Jefferson." Turn TJ into a "joint school" under state law, with its own regional governing board, and give all the participating school districts an ownership interest in the land and building in exchange for their contributions to the cost of the TJ renovation. With those changes, perhaps the "old Jefferson" will return.