Governor McDonald has targetted 2 critical areas for huge cash infusions: VRS and higher education. The governor plans to pump over 2.2 Billion into the state pension plan. He also intends to spend over $200 million over the next two years in higher education. Both areas are quickly approaching critical mass of not being able to do what they are intended to do.
According to hamptonroads.com:
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s announcements this week that he intends to pour $2.2 billion into the state pension system and boost spending for higher education by $200 million over the next two years are remarkable in two respects.
First, each implicitly acknowledges what nearly everyone in Virginia has long known but pretended isn’t true: The state’s failure to keep up with its obligations has reached a tipping point.
That much has been clear on any number of issues, perhaps none more than on transportation, which McDonnell has begun addressing through debt and public-private partnerships that ensure costly tolls on primary routes in South Hampton Roads.
But a study released earlier this week by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission underscored the bleak future of the Virginia Retirement System and the thousands of state workers counting on it.
The report explained the pension system’s condition as a consequence of multiple factors: the state’s pattern of contributing less each year than recommended, the economic downturn, increasing numbers of retirees and fewer workers taking their place. Analysts have calculated VRS is underfunded by nearly $20 billion.
Senior Zack Kopplin, age 17, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is leading the charge against a law that allows creationism to have equal time with evolution in Louisiana high schools. Kopplin attends Baton Rouge Magnet High School, and has been leading a campaign against the state’s Science Education Act since last summer. He has organized students, faculties, clergy, and business leaders to support the repeal of the law and has the support of at least 40 Nobel laureates.
The single most important reason why I took on this repeal was jobs,” Kopplin told me. “This law makes it harder for Louisiana students to get cutting-edge science-based jobs after we graduate, because companies like Baton Rouge’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center are not going to trust our science education with this law on the books.”
On Thursday, members of the Senate Education and Health committee voted to report SB 967: Family Life Education Standards of Learning by a vote of 11-4. This was a huge victory but the first step of many to getting this common-sense legislation signed into law.
On Monday, the entire Senate will vote on this legislation.
Family life education. Requires each school division to implement the standards of learning for the family life education program promulgated by the Board of Education, or a family life education program consistent with the guidelines developed by the Board, which shall have the goals of reducing the incidence of pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and substance abuse among teenagers. Any curricula or materials used must be evidence-based and supported by peer reviewed medical research.
As I understand it, this legislation would do away with schools being coerced into using bogus materials that present voodoo pseudo science as medical evidence. I once sat through several classes of abstinence education. It was foolish and the kids all laughed at it. There were virginity pledges, rings, and other gimmicks that really didn’t address sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, and the responsibilities involved in becoming sexually active at an early age. Those types of ‘classes’ are better for church groups and within the family. They are not appropriate for public education. This bill protects our children from pseudo science being presented as fact.
Please write to your state senator and encourage him or her to support SB 967. Accurate information never hurt anyone.
The other day, I got an email from Delegate Jackson Miller, trumpeting all the work he is doing to stop illegal immigration. I expected to read that he had taken up personal vigil down on the border considering all the fanfare. Such was not the case. In part, his email stated:
During the 2011 Virginia General Assembly Session, we will be debating many issues that are important to the Commonwealth, but one issue of particular significance to me is illegal immigration. As a former police officer with almost two decades of experience, I have seen firsthand the effect that illegal immigration can have on a community. As your Delegate, I am working hard to find solutions to the many issues and challenges that illegal immigration has presented in our communities and in our Commonwealth.
Recently, I appeared on Fox News Channel’s morning program, Fox & Friends, to defend a bill on which I am a co-patron. This bill, HB1465, (click for full text) stipulates that illegal aliens will not be eligible for admission to Virginia’s colleges and universities. Higher education is a privilege, not a right, and placement in Virginia’s colleges and universities has become increasingly difficult for legal residents of our state to obtain. This bill will require that all prospective students submit appropriate documentation showing proof of citizenship or a student visa for eligibility for enrollment.
The Prince William County School Board has passed a resolution asking the BOCS for permission to apply for federal Education Jobs Fund money to hire teachers in the current school year. The county school system ended up with an additional 807 students for the current school year which made the current teacher shortage even more severe. The cost for this many students is just under $8.7 million, or just under $11,000 per pupil.
Prince William County Public Schools has been allocated about $17 million through the Federal Education Jobs Fund Program, but the school division can’t use that money unless the county approves it.
The School Board voted 7 to 1 Wednesday to ask the Board of County Supervisors to allocate $5.8 million of the federal money to the school division in the current school year to help pay the costs for the additional students who enrolled. The other $2.9 million needed would come from state funding.
The School Board’s resolution also proposes discussing what to do with the remaining $11.2 million in federal money during its budget process for fiscal 2012.
The School Board is hoping they will change their mind.
One has to question Ms. Bell. What plan does she have to pay for educating over 800 more students? Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what the current BOCS does in response to the School Board resolution. Last August the BOCS got hysterical because they thought Superintendent Walts was issuing contracts to teachers without permission from them to take stimulus money. They called an emergency meeting even though Corey Stewart, Maureen Caddigan and John Jenkins were out of town.
Many years ago, in Prince William County, there was a gang on either the BOCS or the appointed school board who were not-so-affectionately named the 4 horsemen. They were seen as enemies of the school system. It seems that the 4 horsemen have been reincarnated, after several decades, on our board of supervisors. I am trying to remember . Why they were named that? Was it a nice way of speaking of the educational Apocalypse on the horizon or was it short for horse body parts? Perhaps those readers who have been around PWC for a while will remember.
With the BOCS sniffing around for money, it might be important to consider the letter Robley Jones, legislative Laison for VEA (Virginia Education Association) sent out this morning regarding the Education Jobs Fund:
(and it did say Dear Moon-howler:)
The manner in which the health of the state budget is presented can be most confusing. Trumpets ring as we declare a surplus; but the fact is that for the first time in 50 years, General Fund revenues have declined for two years in a row. The surplus just means that revenues exceeded projections, and a loss was projected.
You will also hear glowing words about the additional $18 million in funding for our schools from sales tax revenues. Sounds good, but sales tax revenues supplant required state and local spending. This $18 million does not add an additional penny for our schools.
But, enough ranting — I have two important things to call your attention to.
An employee at a Norfolk, Virginia elementary school is on administrative leave for handing out fetal dolls on the campus. The principal of Oak Wood Elementary has also been placed on administrative leave. It is unclear what the principal’s role in this matter was. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:
The investigation began after The Virginian-Pilot inquired this week about reports that the dolls had been distributed to students at Oakwood.
School board member Kirk Houston Sr. called the fetus dolls a “pro-life” tool. He said distributing them to students was inappropriate and unacceptable.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that the dolls, which were distributed to students at Oakwood Elementary School in Norfolk over weeks or months, are not authorized instructional materials.
The dolls, in pink and brown and about 4 inches long, came with a “pro-life” message and information on fetal growth, the paper reports.
School officials have begun an investigation. The employee who distributed the dolls has not been identified
.
What would possess a person to do something this foolish? Talk about a captive audience and also an audience that is a little young to have anti abortion rhetoric pushed on them. Fetus dolls just should not be part of a public school setting.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said school officials “should keep politics out” of curriculum debates.
“We do a disservice to children when we shield them from the truth, just because some people think it is painful or doesn’t fit with their particular views,” Duncan said in a statement. “Parents should be very wary of politicians designing curriculum.”
Most of us agree with Secretary Duncan. And this statement works both ways, whether it is from the Democrats, the Republicans, or whatever else is deemed politically correct at the time. Social Studies seems to get the brunt of being tossed around political alley and this time, Texas has really re-invented history. Read more…
Last night all but one of the PWC School Board members voted to approve a plan to bring pay-for-performance to the county via a federal grant entitled Teacher Incentive Fund. 31 schools are eligible. The objective is to attract and retain good teachers to under-performing schools. Otherwise known as merit pay, teachers, teachers’ organizations, and teachers’ unions nation wide have been opposed to bringing in this time of evaluation process.
Pay-for-performance requires superior evaluators and has been known to cut down on sharing and collegiality in places where it has been attempted. Research is scarce showing that students learn more or better when their teachers are evaluated under a merit pay system.
If awarded, the federal grant money would go to teachers and administrators at eligible schools that score well on a county-created 100-point scoring system. That system is made up of student performance, student behavior, instructional leadership, climate and instructional delivery performance.
Under these five categories are several subcategories. For example, student performance has seven subcategories which add up to 25 points on the 100-point scale.
There are 31 eligible schools in the county. Eligibility is determined by the percentage of economically disadvantaged student population at those particular schools.
The money would likely be handed out in a tiered system in which principals, Standards of Learning teachers, special education teachers and English for speakers of other languages teachers would receive the largest share. Depending on how much money the division receives, the awards would likely range from $2,000 to $10,000 per teacher or administrator, said Pedersen.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Those who work in ineligible schools will be out of luck and won’t get this opportunity. Of course, those are the teachers and principals who are dealing with less needy students. I wonder how many teachers will be willing to share with someone down the hall if they are being evaluated via pay-for-performance.
As long as there NCLB continues, the playing field will never be level. NCLB assumes that all kids at the same grade level can learn the same amount of material in the same amount of time. Starting off with a false premise leads to false conclusions.
It really doesn’t get much dumber. I know teachers are encouraged to be creative, but common sense needs to prevail. This dude is lucky if he just gets fired. He should expect the feds at his door:
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A Jefferson County geometry teacher was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday after being accused of using a hypothetical assassination plot on President Barack Obama as a way to teach geometric angles.
School Superintendent Phil Hammonds said Corner High School teacher Gregory Harrison could face possible termination.
Hammonds earlier said the teacher remained at work and there were no plans to fire him. But in announcing that the teacher was being placed on leave, the superintendent said his office had been flooded with calls from people around the nation, mainly upset that further action hadn’t been taken against the teacher.
Roy Sexton, special agent in charge of Birmingham’s Secret Service office, said his agency spoke with the teacher after being told about his comment, but no charges were filed and the investigation was closed.
“We did not find a credible threat,” Sexton said.
Hammonds said he will talk to teachers and students before recommending to the school board what action, if any, might be appropriate. It was not immediately known how long the teacher may be on leave.
Hammonds said the school system in Alabama’s most populous county was embarrassed by what Harrison said.
“There is nothing that can be said to rationalize what he said. We take this very seriously. There is no place in our society for a person to make these comments,” Hammonds said.
Attempts to reach Harrison for comment were not immediately successful. Calls to Hammonds were referred to the school system’s attorney, Burgin Kent, who did not immediately return a call for comment.
Joseph Brown, a senior in the geometry class, told The Birmingham News that the teacher “was talking about angles and said, ‘If you’re in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president.’
This lesson was so stupid on so many levels. In the first place, most schools have anti gun and weapons rules. Shooting anyone should not be played up in a school setting. The next level of stupidity is ever making anything that could be constued as a threat at an elected official, in particular the President of the United States.
In an unrelated story, we have another example of classroom no-nos.
Read about the teacher who brought in Michael Moore’s Sicko to be analyzed as the exam. When a student objected, the teacher called her a ‘tea-bagger.’
UVA President John Casteen III delivered a chilling, emotional speech to those gathered at the candlelight vigil for slain lacrosse player Yeardly Love. His message should be repeated over and over in middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities, churches, libraries–just about anywhere there are women.
Casteen told the mourners that we are all responsible for getting people help who are entangled and trapped in toxic, violent relationships. We can not longer just tell our friends, relatives and acquaintances to ditch a toxic relationship. We have to step forward and perhaps make some of those unpopular calls. Doing so might just save someone’s life–someone like Yeardly Love’s life.
The fraternity of silence and the culture of hiding abuse can no longer be tolerated.
There are profound ironies in our gathering here tonight for this purpose. This is the spring time. It’s the time of year for renewal, for new beginnings. And yet we have come here to grieve the ending of a young life, of Yeardley Love’s life, one full of promise and high prospects—and one not unlike yours.
I want to talk tonight about Yeardley Love, and I want to talk about you, and about this community—about us. Some of what I have to say is very hard. Bear with me, and listen.
All the brouhaha stems from Wednesday, when four teens wore red, white and blue garb on Cinco de Mayo, a day when many Latino students wore red, white and green to honor the defeat of the French military in Mexico in 1862.
Reached by cell phone today, one of the boys, Matthew Dariano, 16, said he was not at school today fearing there might be violence on campus. Instead, he and his mother were at a hotel doing satellite interviews with Fox News. He insisted that despite reports that he and his friends said unkind words to Latino students, “We didn’t say anything at all. We just wore our shirts.”
The assistant principal had asked the boys to turn their shirts inside out or go home, saying the clothing was “incendiary” on the Mexican holiday, and that he feared for the safety of the students. The boys thought that was “disrespectful” and two went home; their mothers called the media.
The boys are Dariano; Dominic Maciel, 15; and Daniel Galli and Austin Carvalho, both 16. Two of the boys are of Mexican heritage and two are not.
Dariano said he and his friends have not received any disciplinary actions for their behavior, but they have not received any type of apology either.
Wesley Smith, superintendent for the Morgan Hill Unified School District, said in a statement Thursday that the incident was “extremely unfortunate” and the boys should not have been disciplined for wearing “patriotic” clothing.
Free speech experts agreed with the district, saying political speech is protected even on a school campus as long as there is no basis that it will cause violence or physical harm.
About 100 Latino students walked out of class Thursday and marched to Morgan Hill City Hall to protest the boys’ action.
When does it just become the better part of valor to wear a neutral shirt?
The NY Daily News reports the same story with a little stronger flavor added:
A handful of California students got an unexpected lesson at their high school this week: Don’t wear your stars and stripes on Cinco de Mayo.
Five Morgan Hill, California students were asked to take off their American flag bandannas and turn their T-shirts inside out after students complained, according to NBC news in San Francisco.
Many members of Live Oak High School‘s large Mexican-American student population that felt it was offensive for the students to wear the American flag on a day that’s supposed to celebrate Mexican heritage.
When the boys refused to take off their flag t-shirts and bandannas, they were ordered to go to the principal’s office.
“They said we could wear it on any other day,” Live Oak student Daniel Galli said, “but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today.”
The alleged concern was that the T-shirts would lead to fights on campus.
“They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended,” said Dominic Maciel.
The chastised teens’ parents were furious.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel’s mom, said. “All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They’re expressing their individuality.”
Morgan Hill Unified School District released a statement saying it does not agree with how Live Oak High School administrators handled this incident and that the boys would not be suspended.
Funny how 2 different reports seem to give a totally different version of an incident. I still want to know why kids are being allowed to wear bandanas. Gang attire alert.
This area is a suburb of Silicon Valley. It is not a barrio. It sounds to me like kids are being kids and schools are being schools. And some folks on both ‘sides’ know exactly which buttons to push. And the entire nation is at war over it.
Good for the kids who wore neutral white. It looks like maturity set in. No one wants their school to be an armed camp.
UPDATE: according to a video on Foxnews.com, the students say they were not suspended over the shirts. They chose to go home rather than change their shirts.
George Huguely, 22, has been charged with murder in the death of Yeardley Love, 22. Both were fourth-year U.Va. students from Maryland and lacrosse players. Huguely is from Chevy Chase and Love was from Cockeysville. Both students were to graduate in a few weeks.
Love, 22, was found dead in her apartment yesterday morning. Hours later, 22-year-old George Huguely was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Roommates summoned police thinking that she was comatose from alcohol poisoning. First responders found that Ms. Love’s condition was far more serious and that she had suffered physical trauma. While not elaborating, police ruled out weapons. Neighors heard nothing.
Police say the two had been in a relationship but investigators plan to interview fellow players. Huguely’s lawyer says that “he is confident the death of a women’s lacrosse player from the same school, Yeardley Love, was not intended.” What a horribly tragic accident. One of these young people will probably spend time in prison and the other, who has been described by those who know her as an angel, is gone. Dead. Never to play lacrosse again, never to graduate, never to go to that first day of a new job. Her life has been snuffed out, for whatever reason.
Ms. Love is the 7th UVA student to die this academic year. We don’t send out children to college to die.
The University issued the following:
U.Va. President John T. Casteen III said in a statement that he hopes Love is remembered for her talents and her potential and not for the way she died.
“However little we may not know now about Yeardley Love’s death, we do know that she did not have or deserve to die — that she deserved the bright future she earned growing up, studying here and developing her talents as a lacrosse player,” Casteen said.
“She deserves to be remembered for her human goodness, her capacity for future greatness, and not for the terrible way in which her young life has ended.”
Casteen said he knows of no explanation for what happened to Love.
“This death moves us to deep anguish for the loss of a student of uncommon talent and promise, and we express the university’s and our own sympathy for Yeardley’s family, teammates and friends,” he said.
Bullying is a serious problem in the United States. It has always been around on playgrounds, at schools, and in the neighborhood. However, with the widespread use of the Internet, bullying has become more pervasive and yes, virulent. Verbal taunts and physical threats became a way of life for one young immigrant girl.
15-year-old Phoebe Prince was the victim of extreme bullying from her peers. Phoebe, who recently moved South Hadley, MA from Ireland, was bullied by classmates until she hanged herself in January. The bullying was described as relentless and happened in the halls, at school, in the library, in class, via cell phone messages and on the Internet. Nine teenagers have been indicted for the death of this young girl.
According to the New York Times:
The prosecutor brought charges Monday against nine teenagers, saying their taunting and physical threats were beyond the pale and led the freshman, Phoebe Prince, to hang herself from a stairwell in January.
The charges were an unusually sharp legal response to the problem of adolescent bullying, which is increasingly conducted in cyberspace as well as in the schoolyard and has drawn growing concern from parents, educators and lawmakers
Of course the tormentors bear the main responsibility for the girl’s death. But are others culpable? How about the parents of those kids? How about the school? How about her friends? Was anyone aware that this was going on? Didn’t some teacher notice that a child was being tortured? How do parents help their children when they are being bullied? This tragedy seems so avoidable.
Bullying is a serious problem in the United States. It has always been around on playgrounds, at schools, and in the neighborhood. However, with the widespread use of the Internet, bullying has become more pervasive and yes, virulent. Verbal taunts and physical threats became a way of life for one young immigrant girl. 
