Virginia Test Scores, the EPA, and GOvernment Employees
Today in the News
Virginia Test Scores
Wisconsin protesters are arguing that Virginia’s “poor” public school test scores prove that banning collective bargaining for government employees is a bad idea.
Senior Counsel Hans Bader says that Wisconsin protesters are misleading the media about Virginia test scores.
“In 2009, Virginia ranked in the middle of states on the ACT and SAT, and in 2010, it actually outranked Wisconsin on the ACT (12th vs. 17th in “average composite score“). The reason it doesn’t rank higher on the SAT is because so many of its students take the test – including marginal students who wouldn’t even take them in another state. (Wisconsin boasts a higher average SAT score than Virginia partly because only “four percent” of Wisconsin students took the SAT, compared to “67 percent” in Virginia. Virginia’s lower average SAT score is a function of a larger pool, not dumb students or bad schools, as PolitiFact pointed out in debunking the false claim that Virginia ranks 44th.)”
EPA
Several new bills have been introduced that could curb the power of the EPA.
Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis explains why the EPA needs to be legislatively reined in.
“EPA’s greenhouse regulatory surge may be the most extreme case ever of regulation without representation. Stopping EPA will not be easy, because to succeed, opponents must assemble legislative majorities and, perhaps, veto-proof majorities.”
Government Employees
This week, The New York Times’ Room for Debate asked, should government employees be allowed to keep their pensions?
Recently, on Varney & Co., CEI Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio explained why public employees’ union benefits are bankrupting state governments.