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.

Even factoring in Social Security payments, the JLARC study showed, most state retirees are barely able to count on 80 percent of their working pay, as financial planners recommend.

Making matters worse, the General Assembly has consistently ignored calculations by the Virginia Retirement System Board of Trustees. Lawmakers have made rosy assumptions that the fund would earn 8 percent on investments, while the board has recommended 7.5 percent. The actual 10-year return, through Sept. 30, was 5.8 percent.

It’s not just at the end of adulthood that the state has failed its citizens.

Tuition at Virginia’s public universities has more than doubled in the past decade, largely because the state’s contributions have dwindled. This year, the state allocated to public colleges and universities $245 million less than its own recommendations.

At public two-year colleges, tuition rose nearly 95 percent in the decade ending in 2009, while median household income rose just 6 percent, according to a report this year from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

If those schools are to have a substantial role in the governor’s vision of increasing the number of undergraduate degrees by 100,000 over 15 years, that tuition spiral will have to stop. Which means the state will have to pay up. McDonnell’s announcement represents a down-payment on that.

Second, it underscores that the funding proposals begin to make good on McDonnell’s pledge to set priorities for government spending. That makes where the money is going as important as where it’s not – and where it’s coming from.

The share of state funds devoted to VRS, education and Medicaid expenses has increased enormously in recent years, a trend projected to continue. The state’s expenses are expected to outpace projected revenue by $1 billion or more over the next two years.

McDonnell has noted in recent weeks that he’ll propose more funding for K-12 education – in and out of the classroom – when he unveils his biennial budget proposal Monday.

Some of that money will undoubtedly help school divisions deal with the added burden of higher contributions for teachers’ pensions, since nearly half of the $2.2 billion VRS contribution announced by McDonnell will come from localities.

Those cities and counties are already facing increasing expenses and declining property tax revenue. The loss of federal stimulus funds, in addition to the state’s transfer of obligations onto localities, will further strain municipal budgets.

Virginia state jobs barely keep up with the private sector now.  If Virginia state workers are asked to contribute more to their retirement program, then the state will be unable to attract and retain workers.  There is quite a quandary over what to do.  Good for Governor McDonnell to doggedly stay on this problem.  He acknowledges  Virginia’s promises to workers and realizes the importance of taking care of this set of employees.   Virginia has neglected transportation, higher education and its pension program for too long.  It’s time to pay the piper. 

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.

According to Washington Post:

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.”

He also won the support of major scientists and national and local organizations in support of the repeal; more than 40 Nobel laureates signed a letter that was just sent to the Louisiana Legislature. The National Association of Biology Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Biology Educators also back Kopplin’s campaign.

“The repeal has been rapidly gaining momentum over the last year,” Kopplin said in an email. “People are calling and asking their legislators to take a stand for accurate and evidence-based science. People are driving in from as far away as Shreveport for our rally.

“I believe that this repeal will pass this year. Louisiana students want to be taught science that will prepare them to get jobs in today’s global economy,” he said.

Governor Bobby Jindal opposes the repeal of the law.  The article did not say how science achievement is tested since all students in the state would have have necessarily been taught the same material.  Why would colleges or businesses hire people for science jobs if they had not had science?

Creationism is faith–one’s religion.  Evolution is science.  Why would faith be taught in science class?   Why would Louisiana and other states allow religion to be taught in place of science?   It has been nearly 86 years since the Scopes Monkey Trial.  Why is this debate still continuing to erode science education?   Schools need to teach science and churches can teach religion.  Good luck to Zack Kopplin in his attempt to drag Louisiana education into the 21st century.  The students of Louisana deserve an equal education that is not based on which teacher they get or where they go to school. 

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.

Senator Colgan’s email:

district29@senate.virginia.gov

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. 

Let’s see if I understand this correctly.  Miller is attacking illegal immigration by preventing ‘good kids’ from attending college?  Isn’t this akin to shooting fish in a barrel?  Picking low hanging fruit?  As a former police officer, Miller knows what happens with kids when they have no hope or goals.  Kids with no hope or goals often drop out of schools, get into trouble or join gangs. 

I don’t see him tackling the problem of the hard cases.  Instead, Miller is going after the kids who have done the right thing.  These kids who are targeted have come here through no fault of their own.  They have  overcome all odds and have learned English, competed with English-speaking classmates and have suceeded  in their coursework.  Now Miller wants to not only put an unaffordable price tag on higher education, he wants to prevent them from even registering. 

Miller adds further insult by stating that they are lucky to have their k-12 education, thanks to Plyler vs Doe.  I don’t think Supreme Court decisions make us lucky.  Aren’t they validation of rights already there?  Are black student lucky to have Brown vs Board of Eduation?   I can’t imagine why any politician would want to limit education. 

I don’t get it.  At first immigrants were criticized for being uneducated and for not speaking English.  Any attempts made by immigrants to overcome ignorance and inability to speak English are apparently not appreciated either.  In fact, they are so unappreciated that lawmakers are wasting a short session just to make sure they CANNOT ever attend college.  The suggestion made to go back to ‘their country’ and get the documentation is simply disingenuous.  It cannot be done.  These kids are American.  They salute the United States flag.  They speak English. 

Miller needs to rethink this one.   Prince William County and Manassas have all sorts of problems.  We have traffic and road problems, commuter problems, and crime that is becoming more urban in nature.  Our foreclosure issues are still holding our real estate assessment down.  Our county employees haven’t had a raise in 3 years and our classrooms are overcrowded.  It’s time to stop kicking around kids who are doing the right thing.

As a police officer, Delegate Jackson Miller should know better.  So should his his co-patron.  Not Larry Sabato  has an interesting spread on Delegate Chris Peace’s illustrious school career.  Chris Peace gets to be Weenie of the Week  on NLS.   It sounds to be like that award should have been a tie.

I am so disappointed.

According to News and Messenger:

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.

Neabsco District representative Lisa Bell cast the dissenting vote.

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.

In August, the Board of County Supervisors passed a resolution stating that they would not address the federal education jobs fund money until the fiscal 2012 budget process.

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. 

The School Board had not been briefed and Chairman Johns requested that the BOCS not take permanent action until a presentation could be arranged.  Mr. Johns was ignored.  Supervisors Stirrup, Nohe, Covington, and May all voted to turn down the stimulus package.  Supervisor Principi left the room in hopes of stopping the decision from being made that night. 

Moonhowlings blog has been highly critical of the County Board of Supervisors for this hasty action.  Teachers were needed before the 807 new students arrived on the scene.  Nothing affects quality instruction and the classroom environment like class size and most class sizes in PWC are too large.  Even if our students could have better conditions for one year, that is better than nothing.

We realize that the supervisors will be running for re-election next year and nothing says ‘good politician’ like voting NO on spending money.    The supervisors need to get over the idea of placing re-election ahead of what’s best for Prince William County students.  Classrooms with 35 kids are not going to be productive.  If PWC doesn’t take the money, then someone else will. 

We call upon the County Supervisors to do the right thing and accept stimulus money to ease the classroom burden.  800 students is a lot of kids to educate.  All the excuses I have heard simply aren’t going to play out.  Not the continuing contract excuse (write a conditional contract), not the VRS contribution (stimulus funds can be spent here) and not the  hysterical ‘what will we do about next year’ shrieker.  (worry about this year , this year.) 

Hats off again to Supervisor Frank Principi for trying to do the right thing.  Maybe this time the other supervisors will join him.

Anything to get re-elected

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.

But I digress….

Wednesday night, after an hour and a half discussion, the school board voted to bring back the issue of stimulus funding at an undetermined date.  At the special BOCS meeting  Tuesday, August 24,  School Board Chairman Milt Johns asked the 5 BOCS members present to please not make a permanent decision until all facts were in and the school board could make a presentation.  His request was not honored and a resolution was passed to postpone discussion of stimulus funds until next year.  At the school board meeting on September 1, Johns had the following reaction:

“It was almost irrational for them to pass a resolution before they’ve been briefed,” said Johns, who called the action “rash.”

According to the News and Messenger, regarding the September 1 school board meeting:

The decision to postpone action regarding the federal Education Jobs Funds was largely due to what the board considered insufficient data on both the funding formula and amount of money the county would receive from the state of Virginia.

Some board members also expressed hesitation to take action in light of the recent Board of County Supervisors’ resolution to not address stimulus money until the fiscal 2012 budget process. During a special meeting last week, supervisors [BOCS] criticized the perceived lack of communication from the schools regarding their decision to prepare for the hiring of 180 new teachers this year with potential stimulus money.

Even some board members stated their dissatisfaction with Superintendent Steven L. Walts’ decision to publicize the intent to hire new teachers before a formal presentation was made. Walts reacted to the board members’ comments by saying, “We did what we thought was appropriate in order to begin to get ready in the event these funds become available and both boards choose to utilize them.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, several board members said they would like to be able to use part of the funds — which could be as much as $15 million — in this fiscal year. That could potentially allow the schools to hire a small portion of the 180 teachers initially considered by Walts.

The earliest new teachers could get into the classrooms would be November 1. The Education stimulus funds can be used this year or by September of next year. Supposedly, there is a good chance the funds will be sustained. The state is in the process of applying for those funds.

Chairman Milt Johns expressed his dissatisfaction that his request to postpone decision- making until facts were in was ignored by the Board of Supervisors:

While the school board was unanimous in its decision to re-visit the issue, several members publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the supervisors’ resolution. During the special meeting in August, school board chairman-at-large Milton C. Johns asked the supervisors not to make a decision until a representative from the schools could give them a presentation.

On Wednesday, he re-iterated that stance. [quote above]

Mr. Johns was right. The BOCS did act irrationally. Why make decisions when you don’t have all the facts?

That seems to be a real bad habit of this board recently, starting with the screw job they gave Eric Finley and his asphalt plant (after encouraging the gentleman) and a week later encouraging youngsters to join the political process in hopes of acquiring some little league football fields.  The real object was to push through a huge development called Avendale, which will be in the Rural Crescent.   Decisions made by the BOCS seem to be getting more and more capricious and inconsistent.   This indicated election time is upon us.

Thank goodness the school board is now an independent body and they can act responsibly regarding education without worrying about the supervisor who appointed them. They are trying to do the right thing by finding  out as much as possible about grant money that could offset our educational costs as taxpayers and relieve some of the horrible classroom overcrowding our kids will face this year.

The 4 Horsemen who quickly voted to end all discussion until next year did act irresponsibly and irrationally.  They must want to be  able to tell their constituents that they voted against spending. It seemed to be  all a political gesture. No other reason.

Finding out facts, even if you have to postpone decision-making is never a bad thing. Hopefully the parents will take one look at class size this year and kick the 4 horsemen squarely in the part just behind the rider.

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.

First, thanks to an incredible lobby effort by NEA. An effort that many of us participated in, $249.5 million from the Education Jobs Fund is heading our way. By the way — Senators Warner and Webb and Representatives Boucher, Connolly, Moran, Nye, Perriello and Scott voted in favor of this appropriation. Representatives Cantor, Forbes, Goodlatte, Wittman and Wolf voted against the Education Jobs Fund.

This morning the Secretary of Finance, Richard D. Brown, explained to the money committees of the General Assembly how this money can be used:

“School districts must use these funds to pay the salaries and benefits of teachers, school administrators, and other essential staff.

– The funds can be used to recall or rehire former employees, retain existing employees, and hire new
employees to ensure that students receive vital education and related services.

– These funds may not be used for general administrative expenses, overhead, or other support services by school districts.”

Please be vigilant in watching how your local school board and board of supervisors or city council use these funds.

Second, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction will be sending a memo to your superintendent that reads, in part as follows:

“If temporary furloughs are imposed, the school division should not adjust the required contributions to the Virginia Retirement System (including group insurance contributions). Employees’ service credit and salary information reported to the Virginia Retirement System may not be adjusted for the unpaid furlough time. This will ensure that an employee’s average creditable compensation for retirement and life insurance benefits will not be adversely affected and insures that VRS receives the requisite contributions to fund these benefits.”

We have worked with the administration to try to ensure that if you were to be furloughed that it would not reduce your ultimate retirement benefit. If your board furloughs employees, please watch to see that the Superintendent’s advice is honored.

As you know VEA opposes both furloughs and salary reductions.

Thank you,

 

Robley Jones

Generally speaking, we have a very consciencious school board here in Prince William County. However, as elections draw closer (November, 2011) there is a tendency amongst mere mortals to please the voters a little more. While the BOCS can’t touch the funds directly, they do have some control over what they allocate to the school board. (well you just got X so we can subtract that off your total kind of mentality)

Just another example of VEA standing up for education. Thanks Mr. Jones.

The more rural school districts have been hit extremely hard by the recession. Prince William has been hit hard. Unfortunately, I fear bad blood if PW teachers and staff get another raise while regular county employees go a third year without raises. (If they don’t work for a supervisor.)

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 Washington Post reports:

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.

[fetus doll picture from the AP]

Quoted from Huffingtonpost.com:

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.

This week the Texas Board of Education approved a far more conservative curriculum. A couple of months ago ‘howlings took a look at the proposal. Not much has changed:

During the months-long revision process, conservatives strengthened requirements on teaching the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation’s Founding Fathers and required that the U.S. government be referred to as a “constitutional republic,” rather than “democratic.” Students will be required to study the decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

They also rejected language to modernize the classification of historic periods to B.C.E. and C.E. from the traditional B.C. and A.D., and agreed to replace Thomas Jefferson as an example of an influential political philosopher in a world history class. They also required students to evaluate efforts by global organizations such as the United Nations to undermine U.S. sovereignty.

Former board chairman Don McLeroy, one of the board’s most outspoken conservatives, said the Texas history curriculum has been unfairly skewed to the left after years of Democrats controlling the board and he just wants to bring it back into balance.

It seems that it would be best to just deal with facts rather than the continual interpretations. No wonder kids perform so abysmally on routine history type questions. The answers keep changing.

Years ago kids studied a lot more geography. They knew about far away places most of them would probably never travel to. Today, most Americans are fairly ignorant about ‘where’ types of questions. How many of us would score 50% on naming the countries of Africa on an outline map? How about Europe? Asia? How about naming the countries of South America? How about the provinces of Canada? Yet our ability to travel to these places is fairly easy, given the affordability of air fares. Perhaps some good old fashioned geography ought to take the place of all this controversy.

If that doesn’t work, how about studying the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery exploration?  It might give us more of an appreciation of who we are and how we got to be who we are. One person died–and he died of appendicitis. Those people traveled thousands of miles 200 years ago. The Corps of Discovery went across the nation, over uncharted territory. They braved wild animals, mosquitoes and other insects, native people, sickness, huge mountains, raging rivers, freezing weather, snow storms of epic proportion, all sorts of dangers. And other than the one guy with appendicitis, every last one of them made it home. Maybe Texas needs a lesson in what it is all really about. That was Mr. Jefferson’s dream. Perhaps he shouldn’t be dissed quite so rapidly.

Jefferson bought the vast expansion of land from the French–the Lousiana Purchase. He then arranged to have it explored–not by an army but by a band of men. The leaders were his Virginia neighbors. He scraped together financing for the trip. He set goals and objectives for the group. They were mapmakers, scientists, doctors, hunters, gatherers, climatologists, diplomats, whatever it took.

Texas needs to stop playing politics with American history.  Kids are a captive audience.  Many of their parents don’t know any better.  Texas textbooks will dominate education in all states during this adoption.  Texas needs to look at the Virginian–the quintessential Virginian whose insight and foresight made it all possible.  TJ could teach them all a thing or two.

“. . . the object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principal streams of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river, may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce . . .”

More on The Corps of Discovery

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.

According to insidenova.com: (full story at insidenova)

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.