Posts by Neal Modi

Governor McDonnell’s education plan is already making waves around Virginia--specifically, in Virginia Beach. This past January, Gov. McDonnell released his K-12 education plan calling for an increase in funding of $438 million for K-12 schools throughout the Commonwealth. (Read my first post about it here.) Nevertheless, while on the surface the plan is laudable, only 22% of the proposed $438 million will go to the classroom while the remaining will head to the teacher pension system and other non-classroom needs. Furthermore, McDonnell's refusal to peg education costs to inflation means less and less money for school districts and even worse, the Governor's proposal to increase the percentage of the sales tax going towards transportation translates to a concomitant decrease in education funding.

The public has a right to know. It’s a simple maxim that has been expressed ever since our nation’s founding. Our Founding Fathers reasoned that a government that keeps its citizens in the dark is amenable to corruption, vice, and greed. Yet today, legislation now sitting in the General Assembly would restrict localities’ ability to publish public notices in newspapers.

There is a fundamental debate raging in the higher education world right now. The basic resolution reads: Is higher education a public or private good? This is a crucial question not only for theoretical debates in the academy but about public policy affecting thousands of Virginia students and families. If higher ed is is a public good, the state’s role in funding higher education is clearly established. The state has a clear obligation to ensure that students can attend higher education since the product of that education benefits state and society alike. Meanwhile, if it's a private good, it follows that the costs of education should fall entirely onto the student, since it's the student who enjoys the fruits of his education.

Nelson Lopez is a fourth-year student at the University of Virginia. A bright, personable young man, Nelson volunteers his time as a tutor with the Southwood Community Outreach Center and is an assistant in the Immigration Clinic at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville as well. But without intervention by the ACLU, he may have never been able to attend U.Va. A citizen by birth, Nelson applied to U.Va. in the winter of 2008, only to receive notification from the University that spring asking him that he would have to prove his parent’s legal residency in order to be considered an in-state student. After much bad publicity and widespread, constant coverage by the Washington Post, the University re-classified Lopez as an in-state student, thereby increasing his chances of admission and the prospect of paying a lower in-state tuition. Nevertheless, Lopez’s case was an exception to the rule.

We need to address our schools' current policy on suspension and expulsion. Across the Commonwealth, thousands of students are being suspended under zero tolerance policies for minor transgressions. In fact, the most cited reasons for suspension or expulsion in Virginia’s schools during 2009-2010 were defiance, classroom disruption, making obscene or inappropriate gestures, language, and disrespect. Together, they made up over half of all incidents reported and charged.

The community college needs to be a mainstay in our state. In addition to its traditional functions of providing certificates and training for a host of high-demand careers, the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) also provides an affordable path to a four-year degree. In fact, Northern Virginia Community College, with over 60,000 students, is the second-largest community college in America. This is a sign of how well attended and reputable our community colleges have become. Nevertheless, while our community colleges are an inexpensive gateway to both traditional four-year schools and profitable careers, they also are gatekeepers. The fact is that the trend toward "distance learning," while convenient and practical, is hindering many community college students from realizing their potential and their goals.

500,000 people. That’s the number of people who have ridden the Tide–Hampton Roads’ new light-rail transit service–in just four months. To the surprise of many, the Tide has wildly exceeded expectations. Currently servicing around 20,000 people a day, the service already has plans to expand into other municipalities and has received positive support from both city leaders and citizens alike. At one time, the Tide appeared to be a disappointing project that was both over-budget and over-due. While much credit certainly should go to Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) and the new leadership that turned the Tide (pun intended) into a government success story, credit is also due to Hampton Roads’ cities–for cooperating.

This past month, Governor Bob McDonnell unveiled his two-year, $84.9 billion spending plan, which would increase the budgets for transportation, higher education and the state’s pension system.[i] To say the least, this new budget plan -- the largest spending plan in Virginia’s history -- has garnered much media and public attention, largely through McDonnell’s pledged reinvestment in higher education. At a December 14th press conference surrounded by state university presidents and administration, McDonnell said that its time to “reverse a pattern of disinvestment or erratic investment” in higher education, which has led to tuition hikes of 10% for over the past decade. As laudable as this commitment is, the budget also shortchanges K-12 education -- and therefore misses the boat on the true story of education, reform, and innovation in Virginia.