New Poll Shows Near Unanimous Support for Greater School Accountability
While Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly appear unanimous in their opposition to the Governor’s new School Performance and Support Framework, there is near unanimous support among registered voters for enhanced educational standards that measure both growth and accountability by student subgroups according to a new poll. In a survey conducted on behalf of the Thomas Jefferson […]
New Poll Finds Republicans and Independents United in Support of Using Natural Gas for Electricity
Virginia registered voters are strongly in favor of allowing utilities to build new natural gas generation plants, a key issue facing Virginia because current state law mandates the complete elimination of that fuel source for electricity generation in 15 years. On another key energy issue likely to face the 2025 General Assembly starting Wednesday, Virginians […]
Standard Deductions, Opportunity Scholarships and Car Taxes: Gov. Youngkin Proposes Three of TJI’s Key Policy Priorities
Governor Youngkin presented his budget amendments to the Joint Money Committees yesterday. The speech was filled with budget amendments to reduce taxes and fund new or existing programs. These tax cuts and additional spending proposals were made possible by Secretary of Finance Stephen E. Cummings’ report that the Commonwealth was again sitting on massive surpluses. Specifically, Secretary Cummings reported that General Fund revenues have […]
Outside Study Confirms Natural Gas Needed to Run Data Centers
Yet another analysis of the energy dilemma facing Virginia, this one commissioned by a Democrat-controlled legislative panel, has concluded that the use of natural gas to make electricity is going to have to grow over coming decades, not shrink. Virginia’s anti-hydrocarbon energy laws are doomed to fail because of the data center industry. The new 150-page report takes […]
Shine a Light on It
More than 70 years ago, black and white students in Virginia received separate and very unequal educations. In They Closed Their Schools, author Bob Smith writes that in Farmville, a city not unlike the rest of Virginia, the white public school built after a 1939 fire “had a gymnasium, cafeteria, locker rooms, infirmary and an auditorium […]
Don’t Adjust Legislator Pay for Inflation Without Doing the Same on Taxes
The Virginia General Assembly is maneuvering to raise its own pay after decades of inflation. To do so without showing similar considerations for the impact of inflation on Virginia taxpayers should be cause for a voter revolt. No tax code indexing, no pay raise. To its credit, the staff at the Joint Legislative Audit and Review […]
Inspection Without Impact: Why Virginia Should End Mandatory Car Inspections
Virginia’s mandatory vehicle safety inspection program is less than a decade away from its centennial anniversary. Established in 1932, Virginia’s inspection program is the oldest continuous program in the country. In 1975, thirty-one states and the District of Columbia had mandatory safety inspection programs. Today, Virginia is one of just fifteen states that have retained such a […]
Giving Thanks for What Makes America Great
Alexis de Tocqueville never met Nancy Slater White, but he would have liked her. Tocqueville, of course, is the observational author whose 1835 book, Democracy in America, is considered by many to be a seminal work in defining what made America and the American character unique among nations. White was a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania businesswoman and […]
Governor Youngkin’s Reaganesque Approach to Regulatory Reform Should be a Model for Other States
Regulations, while usually well-intentioned, are often a drag on economic growth. They increase costs for businesses, stifle innovation, and can create barriers to entry for new entrepreneurs. With a runaway administrative state, simple laws passed by Congress or a state’s legislature can become complex and burdensome rules that require hordes of lawyers or already overburdened […]
End Federal Control of Our Schools, Close the U.S. Department of Education
While the U.S. Department of Education is only a small fraction of total education spending – accounting for less than 10 percent of education spending in the United States (9 percent in Virginia) – it has a huge impact on how states and localities spend their own money on schools, on how teachers are educated […]