- U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited a Portsmouth elementary school with Senator Tim Kaine and U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott to highlight new federal infrastructure dollars for Virginia schools.
Virginia is one of eight states receiving money from the Supporting America's School Infrastructure grant program. It'll receive $5 million over five years.
Cardona said at a roundtable in Portsmouth that it was a chance for schools to tell the state and federal governments what they really need.
"It's really important to hear from them directly on the challenges that they're having and what they're thinking about in terms of what they need to make sure their schools are succeeding," Cardona said.
After visiting classrooms at Victory Elementary in Portsmouth, Cordona and the lawmakers sat down with school leaders from all over Hampton Roads.
Local educators brought up the need for working HVAC systems, funding to bring their buildings into compliance with new codes and security measures like cameras and entry vestibules.
Cardona stressed that "infrastructure is safety."
"It's on everyone's mind, every educator's mind, every parent's mind… we need to come together on this,” he said.
Cardona's visit to Portsmouth comes almost exactly a year after a 6-year-old took a gun to his Newport News school and shot his teacher.
