Teacher Shortages Persist:

Governor Youngkin signed a compromise budget last fall (USA Today, 9/14/23) that significantly cut taxes while increasing funding for both education and his Right Help, Right Now mental health initiative. Education spending remains a flashpoint in this year’s budget negotiations as legislators debate spending formulas and priorities. The Thomas Jefferson Institute’s Nancy Almasi takes a look at the reasons and difficulties in retaining teachers across the state, Added Pay Won’t Make Teachers Want To Stay In Bad Teaching Environments.

Remedial Math At Our Premier Magnet School?

One school that has seen a significant change to its academic environment is Fairfax County’s famed magnet school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. In 2020, the FCPS Board changed the admissions process to remove the required entrance exam in an effort to alter the demographics of the students at the school, which have been overwhelmingly Asian for several years. What has been the result of removing merit-based admissions for TJHSST? In The Washington Examiner, Stephanie Lundquist-Arora and Harry Jackson report on a shocking email from the principal which reveals that the newest classes of students under the new admissions standards have been in need of remedial math – Thomas Jefferson High School Principal Celebrates Remedial Math Achievements.

UVA Spends How Much On DEI?

While the debate over the end of merit-based admissions in FCPS made national news, little notice has been paid to the spending on DEI programs and staff at our Virginia state colleges and universities. James Bacon, author of the blog Bacon’s Rebellion and himself a UVA graduate, reposted an article that details the massive amounts of money and resources that UVA dedicates to DEI efforts. Read all about it in University of Virginia Spends $20 Million On 235 DEI Employees, With Some Making $587,340 Per Year.