Gov. Youngkin announces plan to give parents grant money to combat pandemic learning loss

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — Virginia has a plan to help your students recover from COVID-19 learning loss during the pandemic.

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced plans to give $30 million dollars in Learning Recovery Grants to parents.

The money is for education services intended to address the impact of COVID-19 on your student's education.

There's no question the pandemic has had an impact on education across Virginia classrooms.

"It's proportional, I mean, it's really a large impact on all school districts," Martinsville City Schools Superintendent Dr. Zebedee Talley said.

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"Our students do have gaps in their knowledge, and it's going to take more than one year you know, to get it back," Amherst County Schools Superintendent Dr. William Wells said.

When it comes to Virginia's SOL testing scores for the 2021-2022 school year, there were one-year gains in most subjects.

However, student achievement in all areas remained well below pre-pandemic levels.

Talley said this money for students is great but he thinks it should have been given to school divisions.

"Public education especially, is the great equalizer and you have students, some students who will receive certain amounts and some students who won't receive probably any amounts," Talley said.

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Wells said he doesn't have the details from the state on how this is going to be rolled out yet but thinks it's a positive move.

"Anything that we can provide to our parents and to our students to help overcome some of the gaps in knowledge is going to benefit the students," Wells said.

Both Virginia Senator Mark Peake and Delegate Wendell Walker said they think this is going to help Virginia students get back up to speed.

"We need it. The test scores have shown all across the commonwealth a tremendous amount of learning loss," Peake said.

"Having gone through the pandemic for several years, you know the loss that these young people, the students, have incurred, it's hard to measure and there's a lot of catching up that we need to do," Walker said.

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Qualifying students whose family income does not exceed 300% of the federal poverty level will receive a $3,000 grant.

All other qualifying students will receive a $1,500 grant.

Parents will soon be able to apply for the grants.

When it's up and running you'll be able to access the grant application through a secure online portal.

You can then select a vetted, pre-approved tutoring service or other qualifying service providers for your kids.