Author: sherlockj
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The Registered Nurse Shortage
by James C. Sherlock I have reported often about the severe and increasing shortages of nurses both in Virginia and nationally. At some point in nearly everyone’s life, we literally will not be able to live without the help of a nurse, whether for injury or illness or just declining overall health. We need both…
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Rosalyn Dance Can Help Interpret Democratic Election Laws
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin has appointed former state Senator Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, as vice chairman of the state Board of Elections. As vice-chair, she is the highest ranking Democrat on the board. She will perform an absolutely vital role. She will be asked to help interpret the complete overhaul of Virginia’s election laws conducted…
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Virginia Republicans Should Run in the Fall on the Virginia Senate Silencing of Suparna Dutta
by James C. Sherlock Virginia Republicans, not noted for organization, common approaches or dexterity, have been granted a gift by Democrats if they will accept it. The Democratic majority in the General Assembly rejected the appointment of Suparna Dutta, a mother, engineer and an immigrant from India, to the Board of Education. This happened because Senate…
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Public School Climate Lessons Terrorize Virginia’s Children
by James C. Sherlock A headline from the home page of Save the Children: “Climate Change Is a Grave Threat to Children’s Survival.” Climate change is thus not a “challenge.” Not a threat to children’s happiness. But rather a threat to their “survival.” That is what children are being taught in many Virginia public school…
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Virginia Hospitals Under Pressure on Finances and Personnel
By James C. Sherlock I have written for years about Virginia hospitals and their state oversight, including Virginia’s monopolistic Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law and its administration by the Department of Health. Virginia hospitals, and indeed those across the nation, are now under more stress than in generations. Hospitals nationally are under financial pressures…
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Virginia’s Best-Attended School Divisions 2021-22 – It’s Not About Money
by James C. Sherlock We often, because it is important, concentrate on what is not working in Virginia’s state and local governments. Occasionally it is equally important to congratulate the winners. In this report I will list Virginia’s best-attended school divisions in 2021-21, both by all students and by sub-groups. You will be surprised by some…
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Is a Reckoning Coming for the Management and Administrative Costs at Virginia’s State Colleges and Universities?
by James C. Sherlock In 2015, Professor Paul Campos of the University of Colorado at Boulder wrote an op-ed for The New York Times that clarified for many a major issue in the rising costs of a college education — the exponential growth of the number and costs of administrators. According to the Department of Education…
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Private Hospitals show Virginia’s State Hospitals, Colleges and Universities the Way to Efficiency
by James C. Sherlock We read far too often about funding “crises” in government institutions and programs. The general public, me included, would be far more attentive and sometimes supportive if government would follow the lead of private companies and continually right-size itself and emphasize customer-facing services. The health care industry — or rather the…
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Black Students Disappearing from Classrooms Disproportionately in Ten of our Largest School Divisions
by James C. Sherlock For those who support local control of schools no matter what, I will offer you a “what” to consider. For those who are nervous about even discussing why some jurisdictions in Virginia have failed to ensure “an educational program of high quality is established and continually maintained” for Black children, that works…
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Dems Block Bill to Maintain Safe and Effective Classrooms
by James C. Sherlock I have written earlier about a Democratic bill in this recent General Assembly with broad Democratic support that did not pass. Let’s look at another bill that did not pass, this one from a Republican, and with broad Republican support. Article VIII. Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution requires the General…
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Virginia Democrats Want to Deal With Criminals 18-20 in the Juvenile Justice System
by James C. Sherlock I received an update yesterday from the NAACP on legislation that caught their interest in the 2023 General Assembly. One bill that did not pass, but got party line Democratic support in the Senate Judiciary Committee, in turn caught my eye. It was SB 1080 Juvenile and domestic relations district courts;…
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Virginia, School Choice and Charter Schools – The National Map
by James C. Sherlock One of the most curious aspects of discussions about Virginia, school choice, and charter schools is that Virginia progressives attack both as a conservative plot. And mostly get away with it. The claim is demonstrably preposterous, but effective so far because Republicans don’t offer an organized response. I offer a map…
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Virginia Republicans, in Need of a Public Education Strategy for the Fall Elections, Should look to Florida
by James C. Sherlock Virginia still supports in law the pillars of the progressive takeover of public K-12 and higher education. Our elected Democrats, having made those laws even crazier in 2020 and 2021, resist any efforts to change them even at the margins. Mystifyingly, Virginia Republicans seem not to have a public education strategy…
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Feeding Petersburg
by James C. Sherlock I have written in this space many times about the struggles of Petersburg. Petersburg is blessed in one way. The Progress-Index’s Bill Atkinson and Joyce Chu may be the best pair of local news reporters working in Virginia. Mr. Atkinson, in a series of reports, has detailed the continuing struggles of…
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New Yorkers, Virginians Will See Your Political Campaign Contributions and Raise You Dick Saslaw
by James C. Sherlock The New York Post was scandalized. In a stunning display of how New York politics work, two of the state Legislature’s most outspoken opponents of charter schools are also among the biggest recipients of campaign cash from New York’s teachers’ union and its political action committee. State Sen. John Liu (D-Queens),…