Tag: Chris Braunlich
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Bargaining Bill Would Trample Public Employee Rights
by Chris Braunlich Tuesday’s column discussed some of the reasons Governor Spanberger should amend or veto the public employee collective bargaining bill headed to her desk: the local and state taxpayer costs, the creation of new bureaucracies, the opposition of local Democrats and a majority of local government and school board leaders and, perhaps most persuasively, the…
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Will Union “Dues Skimming” Come to Virginia?
by Chris Braunlich There are many reasons why Governor Abigail Spanberger should veto the collective bargaining bill headed to her desk, a bill requiring local and state governments to bargain with union bosses even if less than a majority of public employees want the union or the bargaining. There is the fact that it will…
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A Slippery Slope Down to Dark Backroom Deals
by Chris Braunlich Unless Virginia voters reject the constitutional amendment on the ballot April 21, gerrymandering will return to Virginia. Five years ago, 66% of Virginia voters — 2.8 million Virginians — approved a bipartisan redistricting constitutional amendment ending gerrymandering. The result was a map that is widely regarded as one of the fairest in…
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Democrats Rush Back to Gerrymander Virginia, If We Let Them
By Chris Braunlich, You have to be pretty confident – no, make that “arrogant” – to tell 2,770,704 Virginia voters that you’re willing to stick it to them. But that’s exactly what Virginia House and Senate Democratic leaders appear ready to do at 4:00 pm on Monday, all in the cause of enhancing political power and rejecting…
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Spanberger Support for Mandatory Union Jobs Not “Moderate”
By Chris Braunlich Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger wants voters to believe she’s a moderate. That’s understandable. At a time when the Democratic Party’s favorability is at 33 percent and with an avowed socialist as the party’s nominee in the most highly visible election in the nation, the smart money is for Democrats in Virginia…
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New Governor, New Chance to Actually Improve Education
By Chris Braunlich It shouldn’t be hard for both political parties to agree that among those who suffered most from covid school shut-downs were low-income children. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the assessment against which all states judge their progress, the percentage of Virginia students scoring at proficient or above in the 2024 NAEP…
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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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Business Needs Certainty. So Do Voters.
by Chris Braunlich Asked nearly 40 years ago what he needed most, less regulation or lower taxes, a small manufacturer of machine tools replied: “We need both,” he said, “but the thing we need most is certainty.” “Businesses have to plan out months and years,” he said. “We have to plan for employee salaries, tax rates,…
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Unless Targeted, Extra Math Funds Will Be Wasted
by Chris Braunlich, Writing in the blog Bacon’s Rebellion, Arlington parent and self-described “Obama Democrat” Todd Truitt has come out swinging against a Virginia budget amendment to spend $12 million extra “to improve student performance in mathematics.” His argument? Without Governor’s amendments, these extra funds won’t help math outcomes and will probably hurt. Mr. Truitt’s…
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Check the Mirror, Senator Hashmi
By Chris Braunlich State Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Powhatan) has written a Richmond Times-Dispatch commentary proclaiming Governor Glenn Youngkin responsible for Virginia’s education declines, a commentary astonishing for the breadth of its amnestic qualities. Senator Hashmi, who seeks the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor, correctly notes “Virginia’s fourth-grade math scores have plummeted, dropping us from fifth…
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Keeping Seats Open for Next Governor to Fill
By Chris Braunlich The Democratic State Senate last week rejected nine of Governor Youngkin’s appointments to key governing Boards in the state. Although Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) used high minded language to defend the action, it is much more likely that the rationale was baser — simply keeping important policy-making board seats open for what…
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Four Anti-School Choice Myths Exploded
By Chris Braunlich When Governor Glenn Youngkin proposed an Education Opportunity Scholarship Grant – similar to what exists in 28 other states – providing $5,000 in private school scholarships to 10,000 low-moderate income public school K-12 students, the reaction was instantaneous, underscoring America’s partisan divide: Republicans endorsed it. Democrats opposed it. Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Mt. Vernon),…
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Still Crucial to Shine Light on Educational Disparity
By Chris Braunlich, More than 70 years ago, black and white students in Virginia received separate and very unequal educations. In They Closed Their Schools, author Bob Smith writes that in Farmville, a city not unlike the rest of Virginia, the white public school built after a 1939 fire “had a gymnasium, cafeteria, locker rooms,…
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Giving Thanks for What Makes America Great
by Chris Braunlich Alexis de Tocqueville never met Nancy Slater White, but he would have liked her. Tocqueville, of course, is the observational author whose 1835 book, Democracy in America, is considered by many to be a seminal work in defining what made America and the American character unique among nations. White was a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania…
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New School Accountability System Needs New Funding Approach
By Chris Braunlich When the Virginia State Board of Education approved a new state accountability system, it predictably drew attacks from the usual sources. The new system places greater emphasis on student mastery of subject information (50-65%) over student growth (20-25%). But while growth is critical and should be recognized, under the process approved during the…