The Virginian-Pilot: Federal Scholarship Tax Credits Should be a No-Brainer for Virginia
In today’s The Virginian-Pilot, Thomas Jefferson Institute Senior Advisor and Former President Chris Braunlich discusses Virginia’s participation in the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC) for K-12 students which, starting in 2027, will give taxpayers a dollar for dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to scholarship programs offering students in public […]
Union Rules: Welcome to the Hotel California
One of the most treasured rights in America is the right to a secret ballot – the opportunity to vote in privacy, free from harassment. It’s what separates democratic societies and is a right that filters down to even our local Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce. It is a right that should be guaranteed for […]
Closing the Gap: A Blueprint for Funding Success and Empowering Parents
It shouldn’t be hard for both political parties to agree that among those who suffered most from covid school shut-downs were low-income children. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the assessment against which all states judge their progress, the percentage of Virginia students scoring at proficient or above in the 2024 NAEP exams demonstrate a huge […]
Time for Next Steps After Brown
May 17 marked the 71st anniversary of the 1954 court decision called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS — but the case began here, in Virginia. In 1951 Virginia public education operated under the doctrine of “separate but equal,” but the definition of “equal” left much to be desired. In Farmville’s high school […]
Senator Lucas: Our Neediest Students Deserve an Opportunity Now!
To say that there is a crisis in Virginia’s education system would be a gross understatement. As the Thomas Jefferson Institute’s Hannah Schmid recently wrote: “The 2024 Nation’s Report Card revealed 42% of Virginia fourth graders and 34% of eighth graders were reading at a below basic level on the national assessment. That means more than one-in-three […]
Virginia is Ready to Take Full Control of Education
Last night, as promised repeatedly during the campaign, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education (the Department). The order also ensures the continued delivery of essential services such as federal student aid and funding for students with disabilities. This historic move will […]
Senator Roem’s “Free School Meals” Campaign is Bad for Students and Creates Food Deserts
After failing to pass legislation last year that would have made breakfast and lunch free for all public school students regardless of income (at a staggering cost of $201.5 million), Senator Danika Roem (D-Manassas) pared down that bill to focus solely on funding a universal free school breakfast program this session. Fortunately, the pared down bill also failed in the final […]
Hashmi Tries to Forget Her Role in Education Decline
State Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Powhatan) has written a Richmond Times-Dispatch commentary proclaiming Governor Glenn Youngkin responsible for Virginia’s education declines, a commentary astonishing for the breadth of its amnestic qualities. Senator Hashmi, who seeks the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor, correctly notes “Virginia’s fourth-grade math scores have plummeted, dropping us from fifth place in 2019 […]
Virginia’s Low Education Standards Continue to Hide Low Student Mastery
Virginia students continued to struggle to meet national proficiency standards based on results in the recently released 2024 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Reading scores remained stagnant among Virginia’s fourth graders while math scores slightly increased. Among Virginia’s eighth graders, scores in both reading and math declined. Every two years, NAEP […]
Nobody Pays Retail Anymore!
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed an Education Opportunity Scholarship Grant — similar to what exists in 27 other states — providing $5,000 private school scholarships to each of 10,000 low-to-moderate-income public school K-12 students. Regardless of outcome, the debate over empowering low-income parents to seek better education for their children is an annual event. In this year’s […]