1/22/2010 – As Governor Bob McDonnell settles into his new office, counties and cities throughout the state continue their annual budget drafting process in earnest. Local governments rely heavily on state spending. Indeed, about 52 percent of the state budget goes to our counties and cities and these local jurisdictions will have...
3/31/2017 — As an undergraduate political science major, the grounds upon which a Supreme Court Justice should be considered was made clear to me in my Constitutional Law course: Integrity, experience, temperament, and intelligence. One thing not to be judged was politics. Not to be asked were “How would you rule if…”...
12/6/2010 – Charter schools are independent public schools given additional flexibility from regulations, in exchange for greater accountability in outcomes. If they don’t produce, they are shut down. Bring the subject up with most school board members in Virginia, and the question will be: “If providing flexibility is good, why don’t...
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...
