The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
Those committed to the purpose of the 1995 Standards of Learning program – rigorous learning standards leading to higher levels of academic achievement by Virginia’s students – should endorse replacing a 1997 accreditation standard that threatens to undermine the fundamental reform it was intended to support.
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America has the will and tools to ensure “Sensible Growth” in its cities and suburbs. Inevitably, these metropolitan regions will expand, but by applying sensible approaches we can reduce congestion, preserve open space and keep pace with demands for schools – all while providing for new economic and residential expansion....
Recent opinion polls confirm that Virginians consider education a key issue in this year’s General Assembly elections. This paper evaluates the K-12 education agenda for the year 2000 and presents a series of policy recommendations.
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This report provided to the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and its Commonwealth Transportation Alliance a model and methodology by which transportation projects can be prioritized in accordance with a set of value criteria. The model and methodology contained in the report provides eight (8) criteria for assessing the relative merits...
Improving the spending habits of Virginia’s government is finally catching on – and it first arose in this piece, in a bill introduced by Senator Warren Barry.
... 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...