Please pass this important bill

Good morning, Thank you for considering these comments. I write today in favor of HB 595 (amended from HB 132). I am the IB Diploma Programme Coordinator at Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington, Virginia. Each year I field inquires from 20-30 families who are planning to move to Arington, VA. The vast majority of these families represent the United States in the military or in the State Department. These families are looking a school that can provide continuity in the education of their children. The IB Diploma Programme provides that continuity as families move from place to place based on their orders. It allows students, who move so often during their early education, to have some common ground when entering a new school. The challenge arises with the Virginia graduation requirements. Again, the majority of these families are either moving from overseas postings or from other locations outside Virginia. Their children are often deficient in multiple Virginia graduation requirements (i.e. USVA history; USVA government; Economics & Personal Finance, etc.). As a public school in the Commonwealth of Virginia, our first responsibility is to graduate these young people with a diploma from the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, for so many of these students, they need to give up their pursuit of the IB diploma which represents continuity in their education. It is discouraging for a young person, who is not the one to make the decision to move schools, to have to give up on a path of education that they have put so much into. These students must fulfill the Virginia graduation requirements and give up the pursuit of the IB diploma which causes their education to be disjointed. I write today in favor of HB 595 (amended from HB 132) to support the children and their families who serve the United States via the military or the State Department. Thank you for your consideration, Julie Cantor IB Diploma Coordinator Washington-Liberty High School Arlington, VA

The American public education system has been disrupted for decades. The inconsistent system of lower standards and expectations for students is not working. Same with the constant lack of accountability for students’ behavior in classrooms. Now Harvard is teaching remedial classes. Family must be responsible for their children’s education.

A high school diploma should represent readiness for life beyond the classroom, not just academic completion. For that reason, Economics and Personal Finance (EPF) should remain a required course for all students, not an elective, not a substitute, and not something assumed to be “covered elsewhere.” EPF provides practical, lifelong skills students use immediately; managing money, understanding credit, weighing financial tradeoffs, paying taxes, planning for college or careers, and recognizing how economic forces affect everyday decisions. These skills are essential to helping students avoid debt, build stability, and make informed choices as workers, consumers, and citizens. While IB Government courses are critically important, they are not a replacement for EPF. These courses focus on civic knowledge. They do not offer the depth or application needed to manage a paycheck, compare student loans, read a credit report, or budget for independent living. Allowing IB history or government courses to replace EPF is often driven by well-intentioned efforts to help students boost weighted GPAs or earn college credit. However, replacing EPF with an additional AP course can increase academic pressure and stress for teenagers already balancing rigorous coursework, extracurriculars, jobs, and mental health challenges. During my 15 years as a high school teacher, 5 of which were at an IB school, I saw firsthand the impact that increasingly demanding schedules can have on students. Making EPF universal is also an issue of equity. Not every student has access to financial guidance at home, and relying on chance learning widens opportunity gaps, even among high-achieving students. A required EPF course ensures every student receives a consistent foundation in financial capability. If our goal is to graduate students truly prepared for life after high school, Economics and Personal Finance cannot be optional, and it cannot be replaced. It must remain a guaranteed part of every student’s education. Thank you.

Thank you, Delegate Simon for patroning HB 132, and Delegate Simonds, for patroning HB 595, and to the Delegates of this committee for considering these bills which would recognize the rigor and alignment of Virginia's standards with the International Baccalaureate (IB) and reduce burdens for IB students and their families. While HB 132 is beneficial for all of the roughly 7,000 IB Diploma candidates across the Commonwealth, in providing that any student eligible for the receipt of the IB Diploma be awarded VA's Advanced Studies diploma, HB 595 has the potential for tremendous impact on the dozens of students who transfer into Virginia's schools in the last few years of high school. Many of these students become enrolled in one of Virginia's 42 IB World Schools to provide them and their family with a continuity of education that a career of service to our country in the armed services or state department doesn't otherwise allow. Both the Virginia Profile of a Graduate and the IB Learner Profile share aspirations to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and attributes essential for success in the modern world. The Commonwealth’s Profile of a Graduate is a phenomenal framework for our public schools. It raises the bar for our young people and ensures students are ready to be productive members of our 21st-century society. Similarly, the IB Learner Profile identifies ten core traits, including knowledgeable, communicators, inquirers, and principled. These traits are central to all IB programs in reaching their goal of developing young people into responsible members of local and national communities. This alignment makes the these bills recognition of IB Diploma candidates welcomed. Virginia’s IB Diploma candidates meet rigorous academic requirements and are some of the most academically prepared and challenged high school students in the world. Based on data, IB students are admitted to prestigious universities at greater rates, and IB students are more likely to persevere through on-time graduation than their non-IB peers. For their efforts, they are well-deserving of qualifying for the Virginia Advanced Studies Diploma. Yet, one of the more significant challenges students face has nothing to do with the rigors of the IB diploma; it is ensuring that students' schedules meet the requirements for a Virginia Advanced studies diploma and the IB Diploma. Frequently, IB students must take additional coursework online or in the summer to meet both sets of requirements. Most impacted by the existing Virginia requirements are the students of those families who serve our country honorably in our Armed Services or State Department. Their children take IB coursework while attending IB Schools around the world and then move to the Commonwealth and have to complete up to four additional classes on top of their diploma courses. Regardless of circumstance, the existing system places undue burdens on students and their families, forcing them into difficult and sometimes financially strenuous situations. In updating graduation requirements, the House would take the necessary steps to recognize the academic achievement of an IB Diploma and remove superfluous regulations for students. Please support HB 132 and HB 595.

As the IB Diploma Program Coordinator at Midlothian High School, I fully support this legislation as written. The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is the most rigorous curriculum currently offered to high school students in the state of Virginia. As a general, liberal-arts, college preparatory program the IB requires students to take two-year courses across six subjects, along with a two-year course specific to the IB program called Theory of Knowledge. As such, the program puts significant scheduling pressures on students during their junior and senior years. Given other, non-IB requirements required by the state of Virginia to earn an Advanced Studies Diploma, students are often required to take courses during the summer in order to fulfill those requirements. Specifically, regarding the social studies requirements, I encourage the committee to follow a model currently followed for the Virginia state science requirements. In that subject, students are deemed to have met the requirements for an Advanced Studies Diploma provided that graduate as an IB Diploma candidate in good standing regardless of whether or not they met the three science requirements. Within social studies, dropping the requirements of completing various types of social studies classes would allow greater flexibility for scheduling IB students. The IB Diploma Program is a unique, rigorous academic program, and graduates of the program are prepared to be fully engaged citizens in the US and global community. They are knowledgeable about state, national, and global issues. Placing another layer of requirements (beyond the IB Diploma Requirements) does not serve an educational need for these students. I encourage you to pass this bill, allowing graduating from high school as an IB Diploma candidate in good standing to fulfill the Virginia Advances Studies requirements. I encourage you to speak to graduates of IB programs to fully understand the quality of education they have received. I also encourage you to speak to IB educators. I have served as an educator in Virginia for 26 years. Twenty-one of those years have been at an IB World School. I've served as an IB Diploma Program coordinator for seven years, and I am a past-president for the Mid-Atlantic Association of IB World Schools. I would gladly speak to any legislator in more detail regarding the merits of this bill.

Please support this bill. My daughter attends Midlothian High School in the International Baccalaureate program. She will be graduating this year and earning the IB Diploma. She is our 5th child to graduate from Chesterfield high schools, and I can unequivocally say her course of study has been the most challenging by far. These requirements - especially personal finance and AED, forced her to take classes over the summer in order to obtain an "advanced studies" diploma. Given that she has taken all college-level courses her junior and senior years, having the state mandate specific topics to qualify as "advanced" seems arbitrary bordering on absurd. IB students moving forward will also have to take AP Government in 9th or 10th grade, when it won't be salient. There is nothing more advanced than the IB Diploma, so please support this bill to allow those kids to graduate with an advanced studies diploma regardless of other coursework.