Category: Education (K-12)
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White Children Deserve Equity, Too
by Paul Goldman Did you know the Constitution of Virginia denies white children the right to equal educational opportunities? Indeed, not just denied: but intentionally denied by the drafters of Article VIII, the Educational Clause. The denial is particularly damaging to white children in the Western and rural parts of the state. That’s right: Trump…
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Lawsuit Alleges Principal Made False Racism Claims
Elected officials fanned the flames about an alleged racist incident at Kellam High School—creating community scorn for the students and families. by Victoria Manning Three Virginia Beach parents filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit on June 2nd against Kellam High School principal Ryan Schubart contending Schubart wrongly accused their children of racism. The families claim…
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Separate But Unequal Lives On Without School Choice
By Chris Braunlich 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 for African-American…
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Preschoolers Gone Wild?
by James A. Bacon The number of Virginia preschoolers with disabilities has increased 24% of the past two years. The response of the Virginia Board of Education? Hire more special education teachers! Voting 7 to 0, the Board directed the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to remove the requirement for special-ed teachers to do graduate-level…
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Why So Few Female School Superintendents? Bias, If You Believe the RTD.
by James A. Bacon It appears that there is a “disparity” between the percentage of female teachers in Virginia public schools and the percentage of female school superintendents. About 82% of classroom teachers are women, but only 40% of school division superintendents are, reports Anna Bryson with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. What causes that discrepancy? According…
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Virginia Beach Dems Oppose Ending Discrimination in Schools
Republicans vote to uphold civil rights laws by committing to end DEI. by Victoria Manning On April 8th, the Virginia Beach School Board adopted a resolution with a 6-3 vote committing to end discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. They must still vote to formally remove DEI policies at a future meeting. The Democrats…
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DEI Enforcers Muscle VA Beach Schools
by Kerry Dougherty Oh look. Far-left Democrats in the General Assembly want to play FAFO. For those unfamiliar, that means “eff around and find out.” And they’re gambling with Virginia Beach public schools to do it. If you have kids in those schools you should be on the phone telling those radicals to back off…
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Student Funding, Family Choice
by Calder Svensen The landscape of American education is shifting. With the potential dissolution of the Federal Department of Education, states have a rare opportunity to rethink how education dollars are spent. Rather than waiting for broad, national solutions that may never materialize, Virginia should lead in designing an approach that prioritizes flexibility, choice, and…
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Detours and Delays
by Calder Svendsen Scheduling is nine-tenths of the job, as any successful — or unapologetically unsuccessful — parent will tell you. Love, life lessons, and the hard knocks of parenting certainly have their place, but they’re more like the mortar holding together the mileposts of daily life. The real challenge isn’t just shaping a child’s…
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The Plumber’s Apprentice
by Calder Svendsen I recently needed a plumber and was surprised when he showed up with an apprentice in tow — one of my former students. The young man had dropped out the year after taking my class, a decision that surprised no one who knew him well. He was capable, witty, and clever enough…
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Blue Collar Kids
by Calder Svendsen He said, “Look, I do the work, I’m passing, I’m just trying to graduate.” And he was right, on all counts. He was an average student who did average work and gave average answers when prompted. He had a penchant for distraction, even when he showed an interest in whatever we were…
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Fewer Students, Lower Scores, More Taxpayer Dollars
by James A. Bacon You’d think that with K-12 enrollment declining, the overall cost of educating Virginia’s children might start declining as well. The number of school-age children is sliding down a long slope (see graph above), and there is no indication that the exodus of 44,000 or so pupils during the COVID pandemic to…
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Virginia Pushes Accelerated Math Enrollment
by Todd Truitt Virginia will have a new law taking effect next school year requiring high-performing students to be automatically enrolled in accelerated or advanced mathematics. This new law complements another recent state action by Virginia to increase enrollment in accelerated middle school math courses via changes to its accountability system. As a result, Virginia is likely…
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Drive a Stake Through the Heart of Wokeness in Public Schools
by Kerry Dougherty Do you need another reason to get your kids out of public school? Here ya go: Fox News reports that a Fairfax County high school, home to what was once the best school system in the country, just saw its hallways decorated with ABCs for Women’s History month. Naturally, the display was…
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One Last Effort to Let Some Escape from School Failure
By Derrick Max, 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: This terrible performance is despite the extra $7 billion in direct aid to public education that Governor Glenn Youngkin has approved since the pandemic — a 50%…