Bacon's Rebellion

  • Financing Public Education–2–Non-SOQ Programs

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Note: This is the second installment of an overview and discussion of state financing of K-12 education in localities. Part 1 of this series was an overview of financing related to the Standards of Quality.

    The Standards of Quality is the major category through which the Commonwealth provides financial assistance for public education, but there are other important sources as well. These are:  incentive programs, categorical programs, and lottery-funded programs. Together, the introduced budget bill would provide $2.3 billion in FY 2023 and $2.0 billion in the second year in these categories for local school divisions.

    Two aspects need to be noted. First, the total amounts to be distributed are estimates. The actual amount of lottery profits is likely to change and, therefore, the amount of funding available for distribution to school divisions will change accordingly. Second, participation in these programs by school divisions is optional. A school division does not have to participate in the Virginia Preschool Initiative or the Early Reading Intervention programs, for example. But, if it does choose to participate and receive the funding available, it must provide the local matching funds, if required, and abide by all the other conditions set out in the Appropriation Act and Department of Education (DOE) guidelines. (more…)

  • Northam Solves Mystery of the Man in Blackface

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Let’s just call it a missed opportunity.

    Yesterday, with just three days remaining in his term as governor, Ralph Northam unveiled the official portrait of himself.

    Surely some practical joker behind the scenes was tempted to replace the commissioned painting with that well-known portrait of Northam in blackface standing beside a friend or date in a Klan hood.

    Imagine the gasps when the assembled crowd might have seen an enlargement of the notorious black and white snapshot instead of the painting that truly is destined to hang somewhere in the Capitol beside images of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.

    Alas, no pranksters on the scene, so it appears that everyone politely applauded at the likeness painted by Stanley Rayfield, a gifted 34-year-old Virginia portrait artist. His painting features a tieless Northam beside two newspapers with the headlines “Virginia Repeals Death Penalty” and “The Country’s Biggest Remaining Confederate Statue Comes Down in Virginia.” On the bookshelf behind the governor is a photo of Pam Northam and a leather-bound book titled, “Covid-19 Pandemic Response.” (more…)

  • Government Attacks on Parental Choice in Virtual K-12 Education in Virginia. Chapter 6: The State Experiments with the Educations of More than 12,000 Children

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    If parents asked their local schools for a full-time virtual K-12 (FTVK12) option for this school year, they were  presented with only the VDOE option, Virtual Virginia, unless their district runs such a program itself, as a couple of them do. 

    Virtual Virginia is, thus, nearly the only virtual education option offered through the public schools.  

    That option is heavily advertised to teachers and administrators using VDOE’s online seminar convening clout. No doubt there was some credit offered for watching.

    It also is an experiment at the vastly increased scale — a 1,400% increase in its registrations this year — an experiment with children’s educations. Especially since we have no idea of the quality of that education.

    No SOL scores have ever been published for Virtual Virginia students. In contrast, we can and have derived them from state records for MOP students. The MOP student SOL scores actually improved during COVID.

    I have a few issues with this particular government experiment. (more…)

  • Fact Checked by Facebook

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    James A. Bacon

    The original meme posted on Bacon’s Rebellion and in Facebook.

    by James A. Bacon

    On Sunday I published a meme from The Bull Elephant blog that used two photos to contrast the environmental footprint of the Keystone Pipeline with that of a lithium mine for hybrid cars. The point, as any thinking person would immediately grasp, was to highlight the inconsistency of those who decried the environmental impact of the pipeline but ignored the impact of a lithium mine. It was a meme. Memes, by their nature, over-simplify arguments. I posted it not because it provided a fair-and-balanced exegesis of the issue, but because the juxtaposition of images reminded readers that one cannot consider the environmental impact of gas- and 0il pipelines without also considering the impact of their renewable alternatives, which require the large-scale mining of lithium, rare earth minerals, and other elements.

    The next day I cross-posted the meme on the Bacon’s Rebellion Facebook page. When I checked that page today, I found that the image had been stripped away and replaced with the following notice: “False Information. The same information was checked in another post by independent fact checkers.” (more…)

  • Government Attacks on Parental Choice in Virtual K-12 Education in Virginia. Chapter 5: Driving Out Commercial Providers

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    There was plenty of VDOE-computed “capacity” in Richmond Public Schools (RPS) to accommodate out-of-district students for purposes of their being taught by the leading MOP provider.

    (MOP’s are the privately-run, state-funded “Multidivision Online Providers” of educational services which are a legal option for parents of Virginia school kids.)

    Then RPS suddenly cancelled its long-standing contract with that provider, eliminating that artificial “capacity.”  

    RPS never laid eyes on those students.  

    It registered them, got the state share of direct aid to education money that follows the students, turned the kids over to the provider, paid the invoices and kept the difference. This is a financial shell game required by the state. (more…)

  • Excising the “Equity” from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The biggest challenge Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin will face during his four-year term, scheduled to begin four days from now, will be to undo the “progressive” policy prescriptions of the Northam administration inspired by Critical Race Theory. The trickiest of these is Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, or DEI, which is a benign name for a set of pernicious ideas.

    DEI has become orthodoxy in K-12 education, higher education, and state government today, and its proponents will defend it tenaciously. Youngkin can be certain that any efforts to reverse the orthodoxy will inspire vocal allegations of racism. It is critical that he frame the issue so as to seize the moral high ground and maintain strong public support.

    With this post, I share some thoughts about the rhetoric he needs to adopt.

    The first step is to be clear about what is so objectionable about “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.” It’s not the words “diversity” or “inclusion.” The United States is a nation of immigrants. Virginia is a demographically diverse state. It is appropriate to celebrate our ethnic diversity, and it is axiomatic that our schools, colleges, and government should be open and welcoming to Virginians from all walks of life. (more…)

  • How to Discriminate by Race… Without Admitting You’re Discriminating by Race

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    James A. Bacon

    New board emails, texts reveal “embarrassing” politics with “bonus points”

    by Asra Q. Nomani

    In fall 2020, Fairfax County, Va., school board members said the quiet part out loud.

    As school district officials engineered race-based admissions changes to America’s No. 1 high school, to increase the numbers of Black and Hispanic students, school board member Abrar Omeish sent board member Stella Pekarsky a text, saying: “I mean there has been an anti asian feel underlying some of this, hate to say it lol,” using the acronym for “laughing out loud.”

    Pekarsky, now the board chair, responded: “…I always told people that talking about TJ is a stupid waste of tome [sic].”

    Omeish answered: “Of course it is…They’re discriminated against in this process too.”

    The messages are part of months of emails and texts made public in a federal lawsuit by Coalition for TJ, a grassroots parent group, against the Fairfax County School Board, alleging anti-Asian racism in the new admissions policy to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, ranked America’s No. 1 high school by U.S. News and World Report. Pacific Legal Foundation is representing the Coalition for TJ, and has carried the mantle courageously for parents in New York City, waging a similar battle to protect merit-based education. Our Coalition for TJ parents are inspiring folks with names like Suparna, Hemang, Glenn, Helen, Harry and Yuyan — all with complicated stories of overcoming adversity in their lives. (more…)

  • Northam’s Final Presser: No Remorse

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    For the first time since the pandemic began, a news bulletin that Gov. Ralph Northam was holding a press conference yesterday didn’t fill me with dread.

    Four days left in his term. How much damage could he do?

    In the past we never knew which civil liberties would be thrown into the wood chipper by the governor who never admits he’s wrong.

    Any time infections rose, we knew with certainty that Northam would flail about, instituting new rules that would have absolutely no impact on the trajectory of the virus.

    Cases rose, and cases fell. It mattered little if Virginians were sitting on beaches, staying out past midnight or wearing state-mandated face diapers. (more…)

  • Government Attacks on Parental Choice in Virtual K-12 Education in Virginia. Chapter 4: Demand and Supply

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    The demonstrated demand this school year for publicly-funded full-time virtual K-12 (FTVK12) education in Virginia has been about 17,000 kids. 

    That figure does not include the home-schooled kids ineligible for public funding support, discussed below.  

    While that is a big number, it represents less than 1.5% of the 1,251,970 kids  enrolled in Virginia public schools this fall, including virtual public schools. So less than 1.5% of Virginia public school children are being educated virtually full- time at public expense.  Nationally, the maximum seen in any state in that category before this year was 2%.

    This chapter will discuss issues of demand and supply in Virginia. (more…)

  • Government Attacks K-12 Public Education in Virginia – Chapter 3: The Elusive Costs of the Government Option

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    The publicly funded competitors to VDOE-run Virtual Virginia provide VDOE-approved curricula and courses delivered by VDOE-certified teachers employed by highly experienced and nationally prominent companies regulated by VDOE.

    You get the point: VDOE oversees its competitors. And it knows what they are paid by the government.

    My very rough estimates indicate that a full-time, VDOE-run Virtual Virginia education is more expensive than a similar education provided by those private sector competitors.

    But no one in the public or in government could either prove or disprove that assessment. I would call that a problem.

    It would take a forensic accountant to determine the true cost of a full-time Virtual Virginia education. We should have those figures. We do not.

    Neither does the government. (more…)

  • Morrissey Proposes Extending Parole to Most Violent Offenders

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    James A. Bacon

    by Hans Bader

    State Senator Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, has proposed legislation to make parole available to even the most violent offenders, including those who were given shorter sentences due to the lack of existence of parole at the time they were sentenced. The proposal includes a bill to make parole available to all types of offenders at all ages (SB 112), a bill to make parole available to all offenders who committed crimes as juveniles (SB 110), and a bill to make parole available for people who committed crimes before age 21 (SB 109).

    Legislation making parole available to offenders of all ages was proposed but not approved in 2021. It might pass the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate this year, but is very likely to die in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates. So SB 112 is likely to die.

    Senator Morrissey’s other bills, aimed at paroling more youthful offenders, have better prospects for passage, but still have a good chance of being defeated. (more…)

  • Cloth Masks Reduce Omicron Risk by 50%

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    More evidence is coming in that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has very different properties than Delta and other variants, and that polices and practices deemed appropriate for earlier versions might not be so for Omicron. The latest revelation comes from Dr. Linsey Marr, a Virginia Tech engineering professor, who works in the once-obscure academic specialty of bioaerosols. She became famous during the COVID-19 epidemic after playing a role in determining that the virus did not spread by fomites (particles left on surfaces) but through aerosols in the air.

    WTVR in Roanoke sums up her latest conclusions about the efficacy of wearing masks to prevent the spread of Omicron: “She said cloth masks are only about 50% effective in protecting against infected particles — good enough for earlier forms of COVID-19, but not against the more transmissible Omicron variant.”

    Only 50%? Cloth masks don’t offer a 100% guarantee of protecting us from the virus? That’s the glass-half-empty version of the data. The glass-half-full version is this: hey, cloth masks are 50% effective in protecting against infected particles!! Which is a lot better than zero.

    This information resonates with me because, although I have dutifully worn masks in public spaces, I was unsure about their efficacy and feared that I was engaging in COVID theater. (more…)

  • Herring’s ERA Advisory Opinion Is Flawed, Self-Defeating

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    James A. Bacon

    by Emilio Jaksetic

    On January 6, 2022, Attorney General Mark Herring issued an advisory legal opinion in which he concluded that the Virginia General Assembly cannot rescind its January 2020 decision to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

    What is amazing about Herring’s advisory opinion is its reliance on one passage of the Supreme Court decision in Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. 433 (1937), while failing to address a later passage in that decision that renders his advisory opinion irrelevant and nugatory.

    Herring quotes the following passage from Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. at 450: “Article V, speaking solely of ratification, contains no provision as to rejection.  Nor has the Congress enacted a statute relating to rejections.”

    Herring fails to mention or address the following passage from Coleman v. Miller, 307 U.S. at 452: “We have held that the Congress in proposing an amendment may fix a reasonable time for ratification. Dillon v. Gloss, 256 U.S. 368. There we sustained the action of the Congress in providing the proposed Eighteenth Amendment that it should be inoperative unless ratified within seven years.” (more…)

  • Littel Pick as Health Secretary Signals Youngkin’s Approach to Healthcare Reform

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    James A. Bacon

    John Littel

    by James A. Bacon

    Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has appointed a new Secretary of Health & Human Resources to lead the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic and also to pursue long-term  reforms in mental health and healthcare.

    Youngkin’s pick, John Littel, is a Virginia Beach resident and recent president of Magellan of Virginia and chief external affairs officer for parent company Magellan Health. Magellan of Virginia provides behavioral health services to Virginia Medicaid and FAMIS enrollees.

    “The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts on Virginians across the Commonwealth, and John will play a pivotal role in overseeing our efforts in protecting Virginians’ lives and livelihoods,” said Youngkin in a press release.

    “Starting on Day One, John’s experience will be an asset as we fix our broken mental and behavioral health system, ensure Virginians have access to affordable, free-market healthcare options, and reform our healthcare safety net to save taxpayer dollars and improve healthcare outcomes,” he added. (more…)

  • Don’t Know, or Won’t Say, How Many Omicron Hospitalizations?

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    James A. Bacon

    by Carol J. Bova

    The most recent Virginia Department of Health (VDH) information on the number of COVID-19 infections in vaccinated people dates from December 25, 2021. Statewide weekly total case numbers go through January 1, 2022.

    The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) gives total hospitalizations and ICU numbers for confirmed and pending tests as of January 9, but doesn’t differentiate between Omicron and other forms of Covid.

    Bret Baier, on Fox News Sunday, January 9th, interviewed several people about the Supreme Court session on Covid vaccine mandates and Covid information. He included an audio clip of an incorrect statement by Justice Sonia Sotomayor: “We have over 100,000 children, which we’ve never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators.”

    He then asked Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky if it were true that “there are fewer than 3,500 current pediatric hospitalizations from COVID-19.” (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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