The Go Virginia State Board’s meeting record shows substantial written support for a CyberBytes Foundation application to fund an AI Mobile Unit that would deliver hands‑on artificial intelligence training to high school students and other learners across participating school divisions and workforce centers.

DHCD staff summarized the competitive application and the work group review: the proposal would offer up to 80 mobile workshops across named school divisions, introduce two CompTIA credentials (AI Essentials and AI Prompting), and aims to train roughly 2,080 people and award about 280 credentials during the grant period. The applicant requested $1.3 million from the Go Virginia competitive fund and sought a partial local match waiver for $92,000.

Work group members and DHCD flagged questions for further detail: whether the CompTIA credentials have sufficient employer adoption to justify the proposed credentialing strategy, how school divisions would sustain programming after the grant period, and how the proposal aligns with an existing Virginia Department of Education RFI on statewide AI literacy. In light of those issues, staff recommended deferral to allow the applicant and school divisions time to address these concerns.

Multiple written commenters (students and industry representatives) urged more AI education in schools and workforce programs; CyberBytes Foundation’s representative Nancy Patillo emphasized the initiative is a workforce training program for students rather than a teacher professional development effort.

What the application proposes

- Mobile AI workshops (4–5 hour sessions) across multiple participating school divisions and workforce centers, targeting students and other learners.
- Two CompTIA credentials (AI Essentials; AI Prompting) offered through the mobile workshops and a goal of 2,080 people trained and 280 credentials awarded during the grant period.
- A $1.3 million Go Virginia request with match and a requested partial waiver of local match requirements.

Work group and staff concerns

- Market adoption: DHCD noted no strong evidence that employers broadly require the specific CompTIA AI credentials yet; clarity on employer demand was requested.
- Sustainability: how school divisions or regional partners would continue the program after grant funding ends needed more detail.
- Alignment with DOE: a DOE RFI on AI literacy exists and staff wanted to ensure the mobile unit would not run at cross purposes with statewide educator initiatives.

Outcome and next steps

Staff recommended deferral; the board followed that recommendation and deferred the application to allow time for the applicant to provide additional detail on credential relevance, sustainability strategies and DOE coordination.

Quote

"The AI Mobile Unit is a workforce program for students, not a teacher training model," said Nancy Patillo of the CyberBytes Foundation in a written comment read by staff.

Provenance

Topic introduced in staff summaries of competitive projects (SEG 1329–SEG 1336) and the work group discussion and staff recommendation for deferral is recorded (SEG 1396–SEG 1400).