Although Virginia was the first English colony to found a free school (1634), the state's public school system developed very slowly. Thomas Jefferson proposed a system of free public schools as early as 1779, but it was not until 1851 that such a system was established—for whites only. Free schools for blacks were founded after the Civil War, but they were poorly funded. Opposition by white Virginians to the US Supreme Court's desegregation order in 1954 was marked in certain communities by public school closings and the establishment of all-white private schools. In Prince Edward County, the most extreme case, the school board abandoned public education and left black children without schools from 1959 to 1963. By the 1970s, however, school integration was an accomplished fact throughout the commonwealth.
Under a Literacy Passport program adopted in 1990, students must pass writing tests in reading, writing, and math in order to enter high school. In 2000, 81.5% of all state residents 25 years of age or older were high school graduates, and 29.5% had four or more years of college.
The total enrollment for fall 1999 in Virginia's public schools stood at 1,133,994. Of these, 817,143 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 316,851 attended high school. Minority students made up approximately 37% of the total enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools in 2001. Total enrollment was estimated at 1,144,054 in fall 2000 and is expected to reach 1,162,000 by fall 2005. Expenditures for public education in 2000/01 were estimated at $7,721,950. Enrollment in nonpublic schools in fall 2001 was 100,171.
As of fall 2000, there were 450,800 students enrolled in college or graduate school. In the same year Virginia had 96 degree-granting institutions. Virginia has had a distinguished record in higher education since the College of William and Mary was founded at Williamsburg (then called Middle Plantation) in 1693, especially after Thomas Jefferson established the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1819. There are 74 colleges and universities in the state, almost three-fifths of them full-time, and 24 community colleges. In addition to the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary, public state-supported institutions include Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg; Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond; Virginia Military Institute, Lexington; Old Dominion University, Norfolk; and George Mason University, Fairfax. Well-known private institutions include the Hampton Institute, Hampton; Randolph-Macon College, Ashland; University of Richmond; Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar; and Washington and Lee University, Lexington. In 1997, minority students comprised 25.6% of total postsecondary enrollment. Tuition assistance grants and scholarships are provided through the State Council of Higher Education, while the Virginia Student Assistance Authority provides guaranteed student loans.