5/16/2011 – Is Florida an educational wasteland? It’s an important question because some members of the Virginia General Assembly seem to think so and base their decisions on that assumption. More than 33,000 low-income Florida students currently use privately-funded scholarships to attend the private school of their choice. But when a bill...
Should Virginia teachers have equal access to any legitimate employee association offering professional support, insurance and other benefits, so they can find the best deal for their money? Legislation introduced by Senator William DeSteph, SB1236, would give non-profit Virginia teacher associations an equal opportunity to make their pitch to teachers in every school division....
1/21/2011 – Ask Virginians if they support financially rewarding teachers whose students make more academic progress than similar students taught by other teachers, and more than 60 percent say “Yes.” Ask those same Virginians if they support giving businesses tax credits to provide nonpublic school scholarships to low-income students, and 65...
8/16/20113 – Read Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s plans for pre-K through 12 education, and you’ll find a lot in common: Both want a new emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) curricula, to reform the state Standards of Learning to incorporate more problem solving and critical thinking, and...
When William Levitt first proposed building 17,000 homes on Long Island, he ran into a problem. Existing building codes, first developed in an age of horse-drawn buggies and gas lamps, prohibited the kind of mass production and basement-less homes that could be afforded by the returning GIs they were designed for. Not...
First the one-two punch of Harvey and Irma, now DACA: The economy took some hits in the last couple of weeks. The damage from the dual hurricanes, of course, is already visible and the cost to the economy is estimated to be as high as $290 billion. But ending DACA...
1/29/2010 – Charter school advocates – myself included – are often critical of the resistance local School Boards offer these independent public schools designed to serve often under-educated student populations in systems trying to educate a broad range of children. And because local school boards are the only entity empowered to...
In the film adaption of Joseph Heller’s anti-war novel, Captain John Yossarian defines the phrase “Catch-22” this way: “In order to be grounded, I’ve got to be crazy and I must be crazy to keep flying. But if I ask to be grounded, that means I’m not crazy any more...
6/10/2014 — On May 17, Virginia and the nation recognized the 60 Anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board decision declaring state laws establishing separate schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The anniversary was accompanied by commentaries recognizing the importance of the case – but few also recognized the pivotal role Virginia...
Which statement does not belong with the others? A. “One of the places where much of that innovation occurs is in our most effective charter schools.” – President Barack Obama B. “High-performing urban charter schools such as the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools are showing that minority students can close the...
