This study focuses on the 25 percent of high school graduates required to take remedial courses at Virginia’s public colleges and universities. The author suggests several actions to take and promotes establishing a statewide “Graduate Warranty Program” to obligate local school systems to be more accountable by paying for these...
Individual consumers and businesses all over the country save tens of millions of dollars each year as a direct consequence of airline deregulation, and Virginians have participated in these savings and continue to do so today. At the time this paper was written, the U.S. Department of Transportation was proposing...
State employees would be more secure if they had the option of investing their retirement funds in more productive ways than is currently available. Retirement funds should be owned and controlled by the employee and not the Virginia Retirement System and, based on investment returns substantially lower than the average...
The goal of this paper is to substantiate the connection between attendance and achievement and to examine some low-cost strategies for raising student attendance. Special attention is given to performance bonus programs for both school divisions and instructional personnel.
... In January 1998, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore proposed a budget amendment that would provide funding for 56 percent of the cost of placing about 2000 additional teachers in public elementary classrooms over a two-year period, beginning with the 1998-99 school year. The Governor’s plan would distribute the additional teachers proportionally...
In this in-depth analysis of salaries and compensation for Virginia’s public college and university instructors, the Thomas Jefferson Institute showed how each institution of higher education compares to it’s peers. This study brought into focus several important issues and has been part of the information available to the Governor’s newly...
Increased cigarette taxes rarely produce the revenue expected and revenues have continued to decline since 2010, according to a new study released by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Fairly consistently, the tax increases produce a decrease in revenue, don’t meet expectations, miss budget projections or simply produce mixed...
Can Virginia’s tax system be adjusted in a way that would be revenue neutral and grow our economy over the next several years? This new study by the Thomas Jefferson Institute says “Yes.” By re-arranging some of our current taxes, Virginia could dramatically improve our economy and provide substantial tax...
We cannot continue to rely on the funding and methodology used in the past to maintain an up-do-date transportation system for the future. Hampton Roads has one of the finest seaports in the world, but no major international airport to complement its services. Northern Virginia has world-class airports, but its...
This Issue Brief promotes a strategy for Virginia’s environmental stewardship focusing on the devolution of environmental federalism, risk analysis, incentive analysis, problem-solving emphasis and property-based solutions. Environmental policy should reflect the diversity of the state while enhancing Virginia’s scenic and natural beauty, and this brief will serve as a foundation...
