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Commission votes to pursue an independent civic-education website; subcommittee to refine hosting and funding
Summary
The commission voted to move forward with creating a civic-education website and tasked its subcommittee to recommend where it should be hosted and whether an RFP is required; the motion passed with eight yes votes and one abstention.
The Virginia Commission on Civic Education voted to pursue development of an independent civic-education website and charged its subcommittee with returning recommendations on hosting, procurement and funding.
Commission members discussed options including having VPAP (Virginia Public Access Project) develop and host a site, partnering with public media or university centers, and using the remaining Dominion grant funds (approximately $15,464) toward development. Commission staff clarified that the Dominion money is a separate, nonrecurring grant and that the commission also receives a recurring, formula-based appropriation from the General Assembly that covers meeting costs; staff did not confirm whether those recurring funds may be used for the summit or site until follow-up with the House Clerk’s fiscal office.
Commissioner Lucille Miller presented a subcommittee recommendation favoring creation of a standalone site and said her subcommittee recommended VPAP as a developer. VPAP representative Aaron (last name not specified in transcript) described services VPAP could provide: hosting summit materials, search-engine optimization to make materials findable, searchable resource indexes by grade and topic, and cross-linking with VDOE resources and VPAP’s Civics Navigator.
Legal counsel Ryan Brimmer told the commission there is a Procurement Act exemption for legislative agencies that can be invoked by written exemption from the chair of the House Rules Committee or the chair of the Senate Rules Committee when extenuating circumstances apply. Brimmer offered to draft a request if the commission chooses to contract directly with VPAP.
The commission moved and approved a motion that “the committee would like to move forward with the website” and avoid vendor naming in the motion to allow the subcommittee to consider procurement questions. The clerk called the roll: eight yes votes, zero no votes and one abstention. The chair directed the subcommittee to prepare a recommendation at the next meeting addressing: (1) whether VPAP should host the site or an alternative, (2) whether a procurement exemption is needed, and (3) the budget amount for a formal budget amendment.
Members emphasized several practical points for the site: vetting and categorizing teacher resources by grade level, hosting teacher-summit materials before and during the summit, maintaining an editorial contact for content decisions, integrating with VDOE’s ‘Everyday Civics’ listings to avoid unnecessary duplication, and including a mechanism for teachers to rate or “like” resources.
The commission recorded the Dominion grant and recurring General Assembly appropriation as possible funding sources and asked staff to confirm allowable uses and remaining balances.
