A new governor’s school is coming to the New River Valley.
The Virginia Board of Education approved the New River Valley Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities on Thursday after hearing a presentation on the proposed school a day prior. The board waived its typical second review of the proposal and voted unanimously in favor of establishing the new school.
Radford University will operate the program, focusing on arts and humanities, beginning in fall 2026. Students from nine public high schools in Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski County and the city of Radford will be eligible to apply.
There will be no cost to students. Radford University will cover much of the cost of setting up and operating the school, President Bret Danilowicz told the Virginia Board of Education during a presentation on Wednesday. Continuing funding will come from the state and participating school divisions.
The initial enrollment will include up to 40 students from across the five school divisions. Ninth graders will apply to begin attending some of their daily classes at Radford in 10th grade.
Danilowicz told the state board that Southwest Virginia is underrepresented among the state’s advanced education initiatives. “Establishing the school sends a clear message that artistic and intellectual excellence is not limited by geography or ZIP codes,” he said.
He said an investment in arts and humanities education in the region could improve talent retention. “When we show our most promising students that their gifts are recognized and nurtured here, we increase the chances they will stay, contribute and lead here in our communities, our local economies, [and] our civic institutions.”
The proposal included letters of support from more than a dozen arts and culture organizations, including the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, the Montgomery Museum of Art and History, the Floyd County Historical Society, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech.
Governor’s school students will attend college-level arts and humanities classes in the morning on campus at Radford before returning to their home high schools for afternoon classes and extracurricular activities. The students will earn up to 30 dual-enrollment credits that could be used to accelerate their undergraduate studies after finishing high school.
Those credits could be used at Radford, Danilowicz said, but would also be transferable to many other colleges and universities, including New River Community College, which is partnering with Radford and the school divisions on the new school.
Danilowicz was involved with a similar project at Florida Atlantic University, where he worked as provost and vice president for academic affairs prior to becoming president at Radford. The new governor’s school is modeled after the laboratory school that launched at FAU, he said.
Radford opened a new facility for its College of Visual and Performing Arts in September 2024. That building, known as the Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity, is the largest academic building on campus and includes four performance spaces and an art gallery.
The governor’s school is anticipated to cost about $300,000 in its first year and increase to about $750,000 per year once 10th, 11th and 12th graders are enrolled, according to financial plans included in the proposal. After some up-front costs of launching, Danilowicz said the school should be cost-neutral by the 2028-2029 school year.
Virginia has 19 academic-year governor’s schools providing high school students with advanced studies in a variety of academic specializations.
The New River Valley school will be the first governor’s school to open in more than 15 years. The nearest governor’s school for students in the New River Valley is the Southwest Virginia Governor’s School for Science, Mathematics & Technology. That school is located on the campus of New River Community College in Dublin.
Roxanne Souma, assistant principal of Pulaski County High School, spoke during the presentation to share her perspective as a parent.
Souma explained that one of her children is passionate about science and has a clear pathway to attending the region’s existing STEM-focused governor’s school. For her daughter, who loves fine art, dance and theater, there isn’t currently a comparable opportunity.
“For too long, accelerated learning has centered almost entirely on STEM,” Souma said. “Students like my daughter haven’t had the chance to grow and shine in their areas of strength.”
Though there was widespread interest among school divisions in the wider Southwest Virginia region, the initial proposal was limited to five school divisions to keep student travel time within one hour, Danilowicz said. The school may look for opportunities to expand its service area after it opens, he said.
Radford University plans to pay for student transportation to be conducted by each school division.
Pulaski County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Graham, who represented the school divisions included in the proposal, told the state education board that the divisions would collaborate to figure out a “robust” transportation system for the students.
Graham said in an interview Tuesday ahead of the presentation that the new school would expose students interested in the arts and humanities to elements of college life. That access to a college campus could be life-changing for a student who may not have previously left their county, he said.
