"Virginia allotted $100 million earlier this year to launch college partnership laboratory schools throughout the state. While the budget language limits recipients of the funds to public colleges, Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera wants to offer the money to private schools, too.

Democratic members of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee pushed back Wednesday against the idea of opening the funds to private colleges, saying the law doesn’t allow for that.

Some private schools, including Virginia Union University and Liberty University, have expressed interest in opening lab schools, and the future of their efforts may hang in the balance," reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Photo: ALEXA WELCH EDLUND/TIMES-DISPATCH