Category: Education (K-12)
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Fear and Loathing in Loudoun
by Ian Prior For several years, parents in Loudoun County, Virginia have been clamoring for accountability, transparency, higher standards, and safety in their schools. They haven’t been getting it, and that’s why new leadership is needed. The brunt of the parents’ grievances has been largely directed toward the Loudoun County School Board, which has been…
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JLARC Report: More Than Just “Mo’ Money”
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) released a major report last month on the Commonwealth’s K-12 funding formula. The responses were predictable. On Bacon’s Rebellion, Jim Bacon dismissed the report as a cry for “mo’ money.” Democrats in the General Assembly seized upon the report and its findings as more…
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Details of Newport News School Shooting Make Horrific Case Even Worse
by Kerry Dougherty Just when we thought we knew all of the horrific details of the shooting of Abby Zwerner we get more revelations. Chilling ones. You remember Miss Zwerner. She’s the 25-year-old Newport News first-grade teacher who was almost killed by one of her students in January. She’s suing school officials for $40 million…
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The Democrats Are Coming For Your Children!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Do parents have a RIGHT to be in charge of their children’s education? Should parents be at the head of the table when it comes to what their kids are learning at school? Governor Youngkin’s PAC, Spirit of Virginia recently sent out a fundraising letter headed by these questions. It declared that…
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Virginia Redefines Student Progress in Grades 3-8 for Distributing Federal School Improvement Funds
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) on June 16th notified the federal Department of Education (USDOE) of its updated State Plan. Such updates are required annually to allow the states to receive federal school improvement funds appropriated for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as updated by the Every Student Succeeds…
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SCHEV on the Community College Guaranteed Admission and Credits Programs
by James C. Sherlock I received a note from Peter Blake, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), in reference to my column on that program in early July. He thanked, as do I, readers for their interest and supportive comments. We agree with you that (Community College Guaranteed Admissions and…
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No Boys in Girls Sports. Period.
by Kerry Dougherty Good news for mediocre male athletes in Virginia: tired of getting cut from the boys’ teams? Slap on some lipstick and play with the girls. The governing body of high school sports has your back! Yep, the Virginia High School League this week gave the middle finger to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policy…
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Heat Wave? Here In Southeastern Virginia We Call It July.
by Kerry Dougherty Stop the presses. It’s July 26th. And it’s hot. My trusty iPhone weather app says it will hit 91 today, 94 Thursday and 96 on Friday. Who could have predicted such temperatures? Actually, all of us. It’s called JULY. And yes, much of the country is in a record heat wave with…
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Youngkin Upholds Parents Rights in Transgender Debate
by James A. Bacon With educational outcomes for Virginia public school children collapsing across the board, I’m not sure that the use of pronouns and restrooms for transgender students is the most urgent policy facing our schools today. But both sides of the culture wars are determined to fight this battle, so it continues to…
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Virginia No. 2 in Latest CNBC Ranking, 16th Worst in Real-World Performance
by James A. Bacon Virginia has risen to the No. 2 spot in the CNBC Top States for Business ranking, up from #3 the previous year. The cable business channel gave the Old Dominion high scores for access to capital, business friendliness, workforce, and — No. 1 in the category — education. What a farce.…
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More Money for an “Indecipherable” K-12 Funding Formula?
by James A. Bacon Virginia public schools receive less funding from the state than the 50-state national average, less than the Mid-Atlantic regional average, and less than three of the five bordering states, says a new report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). The state needs to radically update its methodology for…
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Loudoun County Public Schools – Part 2 – Sterling
by James C. Sherlock We are told by the left that more money is the answer to better schools. That is what Virginia Democrats are running on as education policy. I am comparing two high schools in America’s richest county, Loudoun, to control for per pupil expenditures. In Part 1 we looked at Freedom High…
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Anti-Asian Discrimination is Condoned in Fairfax County
by Carl Noller People have been coming to America for centuries, many of them drawn by the opportunities this country offered. It was less who you knew or who you could bribe and more what you knew. Martin Luther King may have put it best when he encouraged us to judge others by the content…
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Loudoun County Public Schools – Part 1 – Chantilly
by James C. Sherlock Part 1 of a series. Sometimes, even at my age and experience, I am legitimately surprised. After writing about the growth of leadership, support and administrative staffs in both institutions of higher learning and the public schools, I thought I had the picture. I did not. Then I looked at Freedom…
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Democrats Tiptoe Towards an Education Platform
By James C. Sherlock Northern Virginia’s morning newspaper, The Washington Post, arrived on lawns and driveways on Monday with cautious suggestions for Democratic education platforms for the 2023 and 2024 elections. Virginia Democrats, having lost the Governorship to education issues, are running in 2023 and have the first shot nationally at trying to find a…