Bacon's Rebellion

  • Virginia’s Schools Really Do Need More Money

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Suzanne Munson

    Recent General Assembly debates about state budgets open a cornucopia of questions about the future of education in Virginia — charter schools, lab schools, vouchers, funding for religious schools? Now might be a good time to examine some background about public education in Virginia.

    Thomas Jefferson proposed the state’s first legislation in support of universal education, for rich and poor alike, in 1779. He viewed pubic education as necessary for an informed, successful democratic republic: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be.”

    As school funding involved tax dollars, well-to-do Virginia legislators ignored Jefferson’s appeal for decades. Meanwhile, our neighbors to the north were educating their populace. It would take a Civil War and its aftermath for this state to develop a nascent system of public education.

    Today, Virginia’s school divisions across the board receive 14% less funding from the state than the 50-state average, equal to about $1,900 less per student. This is neither admirable nor sensible, if we are to have a successful economy, students trained for challenging work, and an informed electorate.
    (more…)

  • Beach School Board Votes on Parents’ Rights Tonight

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    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Tonight’s the night, Virginia Beach. A chance to show the leftist school board members that parental rights matter in the Resort City.

    There are several ways to do it: flood school board members with emails, sign up to speak at tonight’s board meeting (you have until noon) or just go to the meeting that starts at 6 and frown when the leftists start wringing their hands about the “rights” of troubled teens to keep their gender confusion secret from their parents.

    Last month the Youngkin administration put the finishing touches on its new transgender model policies for schools. What they came up with is a rational, reasonable approach that allows students to change their gender in school WITH PARENT APPROVAL.

    The way it should be handled. (more…)

  • Decency and Democracy Prevail in Roanoke County

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    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Scott Dreyer

    In recent years, much of America has been convulsed by riots, arson, looting, and mayhem to the point where basic safety and simple dialogue have become impossible. When faced with shocking headlines, many can only shudder in horror and be thankful they don’t live in such places.

    In what some call “the Virginia Way” and “the Roanoke Way,” however, our region has largely avoided such large-scale disorder. Even during the tumultuous days of school integration in the 1950s and ’60s, when many U.S. cities had riots, violence, and police brutality, integration in the Roanoke Valley was largely peaceful, thanks to a generation of both white and black leaders who acted like adults and generally shared a common Christian worldview.

    Thus, when the July 27 Roanoke County School Board meeting fell into chaos, it made headlines, shocked many, and showed that mob rule threatens to derail dialogue and official proceedings.

    For over two hours, Board members listened to 27 people speak during the public comment period. Then, when School Superintendent Dr. Ken Nicely was discussing new regulations from the Virginia Department of Education in Richmond, he was interrupted with heckling that included profanity.

    Chairman Brent Hudson warned that profanity would not be tolerated, but it continued. Since Nicely was unable to clearly continue his presentation, Hudson took the remarkable step of ordering the room cleared. Two agitators refused to leave: one is a Roanoke City resident and the other a County resident who confronted Hudson in a threatening manner. Police arrested both. (more…)

  • More Ruminations on Higher Education in Virginia

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Radford University

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    James Sherlock has done a great service for this blog by starting a conversation on the future of higher education in the Commonwealth.  There are several paths that could be followed.

    One of his contributions was identifying the schools that have been losing enrollment. I was not surprised that Longwood, Radford, and Mary Washington led the list. They are essentially going after the same students. I was aware that VCU enrollment was down. It may be the victim of its over-optimistic projections. However, its enrollment decline may have been temporary. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that one the largest freshman classes in the school’s history arrived on campus this past weekend. I was surprised that the enrollment at Old Dominion has declined. Being the only major four-year institution in South Hampton Roads, one of the state’s growth leaders, and having a natural constituency with all the military installations in the area, one would have thought it was prepared for healthy growth. Alas, with the Virginian-Pilot being only a shadow of its former self, there are no media reports on the size of its incoming class this fall. (more…)

  • Huge Swings in Student Populations Among Virginia’s 4-year Public Colleges and Universities Have Consequences

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    sherlockj

    University of Mary Washington

    by James C. Sherlock

    I have previously in this series on Virginia’s public institutions of higher learning (IHE’s) used the term “cannibalization” to describe some getting bigger and some getting smaller, a few much smaller, in terms of student populations.

    I will here provide the numbers to back that up.

    While the total undergraduates dropped 1.5% (minus 2,572) in the system between the fall of 2018 and the fall of 2022, the increase in graduate students (plus 3,604) made up for it and the total campus population changed 0.4%.

    Basically flat.

    But those system numbers mask huge swings in student populations, both undergraduate and total, among the 15 schools. The data compiled in that spreadsheet are sourced from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV).

    The trends have enormous consequences for Virginia’s 4-year colleges and universities, both those that are growing and those that are shrinking.

    The same trends have easily predicted consequences for Virginia students if not reversed. (more…)

  • Leftist Media Canonizes Another Killer

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Ronald Albert Barnes.

    That was the name of the Southampton County Correctional Center guard who died in March of 1975 after being beaten and stomped by two inmates, including convicted rapist Tony Lewis.

    If you read Sunday’s Virginian-Pilot, maybe you were moved by the front-page valentine to “Tony The Tiger,” as he was affectionately known by his family, who are trying to get him out of prison after 50 years behind bars.

    The story – “A Pursuit Of Freedom Blocked At Every Step” – is what journalists used to call a “Sunday thumb sucker,” a long-form piece dedicated to a heartwarming topic.

    Perhaps you, too, read yesterday’s drivel about how this poor guy from Hampton – grew up fatherless in the projects, blah, blah, blah – and has been incarcerated since he was 16. His first conviction was for a 1973 rape (absolutely zero details on THAT crime) and later for his part in the murder of the prison guard, an escape attempt and other crimes associated with a deadly prison riot.

    Inches and inches of ink about a killer. Yet the newspaper couldn’t be bothered to print the name of the man he murdered.

    Color me unsurprised.

    Let’s be honest, giving the dead man an identity might turn Tony the Tiger into Tony the Ruthless Killer and dilute the sympathy The Pilot is trying to gin up for the inmate. (more…)

  • The Rats Return

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    VMI Rats

    by James A. Bacon

    Good news from the Virginia Military Institute! After seeing a drastic falloff t0 374 entering students last year, 491 students matriculated this fall. Last year’s decline capped off years of disastrous public relations stemming from a campaign by The Washington Post and the Northam administration to depict VMI as a racist, sexist institution. The Post has since redirected its venom to conservative VMI alumni, taking the heat off the institution, and Northam is history.

    Last year, according to VMI officials, the administration ramped up its recruitment efforts, focusing on geographic areas with larger populations of military families and low-income or minority students. About 85.5% of this year’s cadets are men, and 14.5% are women. Interestingly, VMI did not provide a breakdown by race/ethnicity, even though achieving racial diversity has been a top priority.

    Meanwhile, controversy continues to roil the military school. As Bacon’s Rebellion noted two weeks ago, Board of Visitors Chairman Thomas R. Watjen had asked VMI’s University Counsel, who reports to Attorney General Jason Miyares, to investigate allegations that VMI officials had sought negative press about The Cadet, the independent student newspaper that has been a thorn in the side of Superintendent Cedric Wins and his administration. But now, reports Cardinal News, Watjen says VMI “will handle the matter internally.” (more…)

  • The Real Deal

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Who do you think provides the more authentic insight into the mindset of the American working class: elite media, which filters its portraits of blue-collar Americans through the cultural and ideological lenses of its Ivy League reporters, or a home-grown balladeer like Farmville resident Oliver Anthony?

    Anthony (real name Christopher Anthony Lunsford) became an overnight musical sensation with his YouTube song, “Rich Men North of Richmond.” He is the real deal, singing raw country music unaffected by the wokeness that has infected the new generation of Nashville superstars. His “lived experience” clearly informed the lyrics to the song.

    “People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers,” he wrote in a recent Facebook post reacting to his sudden fame. “I don’t want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight.” (more…)

  • Virginia’s State Higher Education System – A Concept for Magnet Schools among the Smaller Ones

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Radford University

    by James C. Sherlock

    Yesterday I posted an article listing a series of challenges facing Virginia’s Institutions of Higher Learning.

    Today I will offer a concept for a solution designed to address both the cost of a 4-year degree and the thriving of the smaller schools.

    Create a magnet school program in the smaller schools:

    • for majors that are increasing in popularity; and
    • to meet Virginia’s critical workforce needs.

    To reduce costs for the schools and students, the magnet schools would focus on attracting third- and fourth-year undergraduates to a limited number of magnet majors as transfers from the community college system.

    They inevitably would get some third-year transfers from the larger schools for strong majors, but that is not the focus.

    The Community College system already has its guaranteed entry program, with courses specified by and tailored for specific institutions.

    To strengthen specific departments, the schools would need to spend money.

    I recommend developing a state fund administered by SCHEV, access to which would require firm plans not only to strengthen specific departments, but also to cut costs elsewhere.

    The largest schools would not be permitted to apply, with a potential exception of a program for undergraduate nursing and education student stipends.

    (more…)

  • Dominion Plan to Maintain Gas Attacked at SCC

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Percentage of Virginians reporting difficulty in paying for electricity, including those setting their thermostats to uncomfortable levels. From expert testimony filed by the University of Michigan’s Justin Schott, based on census data. Click for larger view.

    By Steve Haner

    First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.

    The front line in the war against fossil fuels in Virginia has now shifted back to the State Corporation Commission, and as usual only one side has fielded an army and brought heavy weapons to the battlefield.  Those who might defend the continued use of coal and natural gas are missing in action.   (more…)

  • Correction

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    In two recent stories about administrative bloat and faculty bloat at the University of Virginia, I published inaccurate information. I stated that annualized full-time-equivalent student enrollment between fiscal 2012 and fiscal 2022 increased 1.1%. The correct figure was 8.8%. The result of the error was to exaggerate the degree to which the increase in salaried staff and teaching faculty outpaced the increase in student enrollment.

    However, the larger point of the articles stands: the increase in staff and faculty exceeded that of enrollment by a wide margin. The headcount of salaried staff increased 25.4% over the same period and the headcount of tenure-track faculty, instructors, and lecturers increased 25.7%.

  • The Value of an Old School Roanoke County Education

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Scott Dreyer

    These remarks were shared with the Roanoke County School Board by email on August 17, 2023.

    I share these thoughts with the Roanoke County School board as someone who grew up in the County from ages 1 to 18 and attended County Public Schools from grades 1-12 until graduating from Northside.

    I am profoundly thankful for the education I received over those twelve years. The content shared here is not meant to sound boastful; it’s not about me. The intention is to give honor and gratitude for the fine educational foundation the Roanoke County Schools gave me, and to share this with the community so we can appreciate what we have and build on it, and not let it be neglected or destroyed.

    The education and leadership opportunities I received in County Schools, (in tandem with lessons learned at home, in Scouts, at church, in the community, etc.) gave me the tools to enjoy a rewarding and successful life and career.

    And my experience is not unique. I am the youngest of four; all of us graduated from County schools and then attended and graduated from William and Mary. Clearly, Roanoke County gave us tools in our toolkit to take our studies and lives to the next level. (more…)

  • Virginia State Colleges and Universities Slouching Towards a Cliff

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    University of Mary Washington

    by James C. Sherlock

    The economist Herb Stein once said that if something cannot go on forever, it will stop.

    The University of West Virginia has just stopped to take stock.

    Facing a $45 million shortfall, it had to cut programs. Instead of taking the unthinking way out — assigning a cut target to each department — it restructured.

    The university shut down nearly 10% of its majors entirely. The axe fell most directly on the humanities. The Athletic Department was told it was on its own for funding.

    President Gee did not want a bailout, figuring it was time to bite the bullet. He and his board decided to emphasize the programs in demand and let go those which could not attract enough students to justify their costs.

    Virginia’s portfolio of institutions of higher learning (IHEs) faces challenges, some unprecedented, from at least a half dozen different sources.

    Eventually, sooner rather than later, we will have to deal with them as a state. Virginia’s state “Plan” for its IHEs is not helpful.

    This issue needs detail for discussion, and I will provide some here. (more…)

  • Cruise Subsidy More Important Than Tax Relief?

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    What is this cruise ship doing in a story about Virginia’s budget and tax fight? Read and learn.

    The Richmond Times-Dispatch has obtained and released the most recent negotiating offer from Democrats in the Senate as the standoff between the two political parties over the state budget continues.  It is contained in an on-line article that doesn’t appear to have made it into the print edition yet. (more…)

  • Virginia’s New “The Stupid Party”

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Chris Braunlich

    From the ‘50s to the mid-‘70s, the Republican Party was known as “the stupid party” – locked in the past, making foolish decisions, promoting unwise and counterproductive policies.

    Today, in Virginia, “the stupid party” has returned. But it is no longer Republican.

    The current battle over Virginia’s budget and the prospects for tax reduction and reform affirms the Left’s governing philosophy: what the government has belongs to the government and what the taxpayer has is negotiable.

    With a $5.1 billion surplus exceeding the last fiscal year’s projections, Governor Glenn Youngkin proposes to return $1 billion — less than 20 percent — to the taxpayers from whom it came, in the form of permanent rate reform. He would spend the remainder on education, behavioral health, law enforcement and other projects. Senate Democrats, on the other hand, want to spend all of it, offering, at best, a one-time rebate giving them “first dibs” on future excessive tax revenue. (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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