Category: Uncategorized
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Who Holds the UVa Alumni Association Accountable?
by Walter Smith Who owns the University of Virginia? The answer is clear: as an agency of the state government, UVa is owned by the citizens of Virginia. The governor appoints the members of its governing board, the General Assembly allots a significant percentage of its budget, and, although it has been granted considerable autonomy,…
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Where “Equity” Means Failing Equally
by James A. Bacon State Senator Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, doesn’t just take issue with the Youngkin administration’s interpretation of the data regarding the deteriorating quality of education in Virginia public schools, she finds Governor Glenn Youngkin’s position to be morally reprehensible. Here’s what she said in response to the release of his report, “Our Commitment…
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The “Honesty Gap” Is Dishonest
by David Wojick Loyal Baconeers know what the so-called “Honesty Gap” is, as we have been discussing it at length. It is heavily featured in a recent report from the Virginia Department of Education. The gap itself is the big difference between the numerical thresholds of “proficiency” used by Virginia versus the National Assessment of…
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The Grift Behind Grades and Growth
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s public school officials rely upon a wide array of metrics to determine if schools are doing a good job of educating their students. Trusting in the integrity of the statistics, our political leaders use them to guide education policy and decision-making — as recently highlighted by the data-heavy critique of…
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Virginia Absentee Ballots: Absent from the State?
by Lindsey Zea For election accountability purposes, chain of custody for ballots should be observable and publicly verifiable. So, why are two of the largest counties in Virginia, as well as other localities, planning to expand the chain of custody to include a third-party absentee-ballot processing company from Washington state that was caught red-handed ignoring…
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The Empire Strikes Back
by James A. Bacon That didn’t take long. Yesterday the Youngkin administration issued its report detailing the perilous condition of Virginia’s public schools. Today the progressive educational establishment struck back, thoroughly rejecting the administration’s claims that educational performance is heading in the wrong direction. The most forceful denunciations are found in The Washington Post, which…
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Once Upon a Time, Schools Didn’t Need Fancy Buildings, Big Bureaucracies and Trauma Counselors to Teach
by James A. Bacon When Gail Smith talks about growing up in 1950s-era Goochland County, she calls her time attending the Second Union Rosenwald School as “the best years of my life.” The two-room schoolhouse was lacking in what we refer to today as “amenities.” But it was supported by the local African-American community, and…
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Diverse Opinions in Higher Ed
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Those commenters on this blog who are always decrying the dominance of liberal ideas and the quashing of conservative viewpoints in Virginia’s higher ed institutions need to broaden their horizon beyond the University of Virginia. As reported by The Washington Post, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito spoke yesterday to a crowd…
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De Facto Secretary?
On April 15, Governor Youngkin issued a press release announcing “additional key administration appointments”. Several of those appointments were duly noted by various newspapers and other media outlets. Others were not, although they are interesting in their own right, raising some issues and shedding light on the administration. Because different issues are raised with different…
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Some Basic Transparency Education Needed
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of Governor Youngkin’s “Day One” actions was the establishment of the Commonwealth Chief Transformation Officer as a member of his cabinet, along with the Office of Transformation within the Office of the Governor. Executive Order Number Five lays out the functions of that official and his office: “The primary responsibilities of…