Author: sherlockj
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“A Right Wing Group that Despises Public Education”
by James C. Sherlock A commenter hiding behind the screen name “democracy” crawled out from under some rock to excoriate distinguished public servants and a philanthropic organization as “a right wing group that despises public education.” That comment is now removed. I expect Jim Bacon did it. But it was there too long to let…
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What does debt cost?
By James C. Sherlock As part of its constant work to refinance the federal debt, the Treasury sold inflation-adjusted bonds today that earn a 9.62% interest rate. Be very afraid.
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The Size of the VDOE Rock
by James C. Sherlock We postulate that elections have consequences. And they do. Mostly. But Sisyphus, sentenced by Hades to try and fail for eternity, never got the rock to the top of the mountain. Yesterday Dick Hall-Sizemore provided an excellent deep dive into the last couple of months of Board of Education meetings. He…
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Consider Wisconsin’s Successful and Popular Parental Choice Options For Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Heard enough about the decline of Virginia public schools to want to examine options? Wisconsin is decades ahead of Virginia in parental choice. Their first law on public school open enrollment dates to 1975. In 1993, Wisconsin completely overhauled its public school system to provide broad choices for those parents whose…
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Out-of-State Money Floods to Incumbent Democrats in Virginia’s Competitive Congressional Races
by James C. Sherlock I have the utmost respect for political candidates as a class. They are people who put themselves in the arena while most are spectators. The American people I think agree. But by huge margins we decry the amount of money in political campaigns. We deplore the fact that the money required…
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VDOE Foray into Full-Time Virtual Education During COVID — Well Intentioned Sabotage?
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin called out remote learning as a culprit in the dreadful SOL results released this summer. He had a point. He did not note that the remote learning in question was actively led, not just overseen, by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) he inherited. Let’s call that VDOE program…
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Britain Makes Major Changes to Treatment of Minors with Gender Incongruence
by James C. Sherlock Reuters led off a progressive-leaning but unusually balanced and in-depth report on transgender children with the words: Across the United States, thousands of youths are lining up for gender-affirming care. But when families decide to take the medical route, they must make decisions about life-altering treatments that have little scientific evidence…
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All but Two Virginia Hospitals Financially Secure after 2020 Encounter with Covid
by James C. Sherlock It was widely reported after March 2020 that hospitals had seen steep declines in revenue due to delayed or canceled elective medical procedures and treatments. That did not translate to the 2020 bottom lines of Virginia hospitals as a group. Net patient revenues dipped, but were made up for by COVID…
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To Retard in Fairfax County
by James C. Sherlock Asra Nomani, the ex-Wall Street Journal reporter now a mom in Fairfax County, has been a keen observer of the Fairfax County School Board, much to the dismay of its members. She reported yesterday that Not long after the Fairfax County school board passed a resolution for “inclusive” learning at its…
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Time for a Public Debate among Medical Experts on Treatment of Gender Incongruent Minors
by James C. Sherlock When there is significant public interest in complex and controversial topics, it is best to let experts debate in public. Such a topic is why Virginia children’s hospitals and clinics treat gender dysphoric children and adolescents with puberty blockers and cross-gender hormones as a standard practice. And whether Virginia should permit…
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Independent Journalism – The Special Case of the Virginia Mercury
by James C. Sherlock I look every day to the Virginia Public Access Project’s (VPAP) VaNews. I am a donor. It proclaims: VaNews will consider ‘original news reporting’ that is published online by print newspapers, broadcast radio and TV stations and outlets that meet our standards as ‘online news providers.’ On that same page VaNews…
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Some Pretty Good Clues to the EnRichmond Saga
by James C. Sherlock Jon Baliles wrote an article about the EnRichmond Foundation. Seems everyone is in the dark. To throw some light, I offer the last Form 990 from EnRichmond that is available online. It was filed October 20, 2020. It offers some clues, such as … the name of the Executive Director; the…
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The Petersburg – VDOE MOU, a New Petersburg Superintendent and the Limits of State Oversight of Failing Schools
by James C. Sherlock Petersburg City Public Schools (PCPS) has hired Dr. Tamara Sterling as its new superintendent. She signed her contract in a September 28 ceremony and will start Dec. 1. Progress-Index reporting brings us the story. The School Board voted 6-0 to hire her with Virginia Department of Education support because Dr. Sterling: turn(ed)…
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Predicting State Revenue in the Face of Inflation and Recession – Bipartisan Issues, Bipartisan Approach, Damnably Difficult
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin on Wednesday spoke to the Joint Advisory Board of Economists (the Board), part of a genuinely bipartisan structure established under Virginia law to support revenue assessments. Which in turn must be used to support budgets. Which are, at least in Virginia, far more political than the revenue estimates. The…
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Parents Taking Their Children Out of Poor Performing Virginia Public Schools by the Tens of Thousands
by James C. Sherlock Would you send your kid to this school? No? Someone else’s kid is attending it — or skipping school. Virginia public sch0ols lost 4% of their fall student memberships, a total of 46,165 students, between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2021, while their budgets from the state went…