Failing Education
Dick Black thinks he was elected to:
Divert education tax dollars to home and private religious schools;
Tell education and counseling professionals how to do their jobs;
Starve our public schools of state funding;
Impose his personal religious and political beliefs on other people's children
Dick Black's idea of
Back-to-School supplies:
Black "voted for" teacher pay before he voted against it
Concealed in the dust-up created by Dick Black over an incorrect bill number in his opponent's Back to School flyer is the fact that Black voted against funding an increase in teacher salaries. Revealingly, his pro-education colleagues in the General Assembly voted against the essentially meaningless bill in question because it had no funding provision. When it mattered, on the bill that would fund the increases, Black voted no.
As Republican Delegate Jim Dillard said of Dick Black, "He's just not a friend of public education," and his "F" is "richly deserved."
Sources: HB 292, HB 5018, Washington Post
Black doesn't want parents to know their kids are being bullied
Dick Black claims in his Back to School flyer that he "voted for anti-bullying law." This is not exactly accurate.
The 2005 bill , introduced by Republican Delegate Rob Bell, requires notification of parents when an assault is committed against one of their children. This provision was described as "the real guts of the bill" by Republican Delegate William H. Fralin Jr. "Until our children feel safe in our public schools, we are not going to be able to do an adequate job educating them," he said.
Bullying is a widespread problem in middle and high schools across the state, and can have serious, lasting consequences, including depression, anxiety disorders, suicide attempts and poorer academic achievement, according to testimony for the bill. In addition, victims of bullying often do not tell their parents.
The bill was endorsed on a 9-1 vote by the House Education subcommittee after its only opponent, Dick Black, tried to remove the notification language.
Black ultimately voted in favor of the bill, but only after being embarrassed by the media exposure of his committee vote, which would have otherwise not been recorded.
Sources: HB 2266, Daily Progress, January 18, 2005, Daily Progress, January 25, 2005
Black can't learn from experience
After 2000 man-hours of work by Loudoun County Public Schools staff, months of public controversy and ugly name-calling, School Board meetings that ran past midnight, and a price tag as yet unknown to the public, Loudoun County has a policy regarding theatrical presentations. The policy does nothing other than put into writing the practices already in use. It does not preclude the performance of a play like "Offsides", which was approved after careful consideration by school personnel.
What the rest of the community learned from this Dick Black-generated debacle was that federal law does not permit the censorship of ideas or viewpoints expressed by students. Had the School Board adopted a policy that prohibited the content of "Offsides," it would not have been defensible in court - School Board counsel rejected numerous attempts at drafting such language. The Library Board of Trustees was not so sensible during Dick Black's tenure. The adoption of an unlawful internet policy strong-armed by Black landed the county in court and socked residents with the bill.
Dick Black hasn't learned a thing. In spite of the outcome, and exposure of his misinformation about the play in question, he continues to repeat the same obsessive idea: "[I do not think] it is proper to have boys kissing boys on stage in our public high schools." Dick Black has no regard for the law, for the potential cost to taxpayers of a lawsuit, or the school resources wasted on a non-issue. His only concern is creating controversy to make it appear as if he is doing something of importance. Compare these antics to his behavior in the library.
Source: Leesburg Today, July 29, 2005
The truth about Black's "19 education bills"
A Leesburg Today reporter has discovered the truth about Dick Black's claim that he introduced 19 education bills in his seven years as a delegate. Shockingly, Dan Telvock reports that "a review of the 2004 and 2005 General Assembly legislation introduced by Black shows he sponsored a bill commending the Potomac Falls High School girls' soccer team in 2005 and no education-related bill in 2004."
In fact, none of the "education bills" touted by Dick Black have a thing to do with funding or otherwise supporting public education. Instead, they fall into the categories of symbolic commendation, imposing his personal religious beliefs on public schools, or diverting public funding to private schools that share his views. An overview of the legislation patroned by Dick Black is available here, as well as on this page.
Source: Leesburg Today, July 29, 2005
Black earns a GPA of less than 1.0
Talk about failing education - how poor does a student need to be to earn less than a 1.0?!
Virginia21, a student voter advocacy group, has just unveiled an education report card they have been compiling on the VA House of Delegates over the past two years. The legislation used for evaluation was chosen by 15 student body presidents from Virginia's public colleges and universities. "Members with good grades made protecting higher education, increasing economic opportunity and creating an open government top priorities," said Virginia21 Executive Director Jesse Ferguson. Fellow Republican delegates James Dillard, Joe May and Tom Rust made the "Dean's list," with GPAs of over 4.0. Only one other delegate earned a lower score than Dick Black.
A student who performs this poorly would normally be required to repeat the grade -- but in Dick Black's case we would rather not see that happen.
Sources: Virginia21 Report Card, Lynchburg News & Advance, April 27, 2005, WVEC News, April 26, 2005
Black broke his pledge to education
State funding for public education does not reflect the true cost of constructing, staffing, equipping, operating and maintaining schools. In 2003, a state Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) study found that Virginia schools, faced with the cost of meeting state mandated Standards of Quality, were under-funded by $1 billion a year. As a result, taxpayers are bearing the increasing burden of local real estate tax rates as localities try to pay both their share and the state's share of education costs.
The 2004 General Assembly session produced a budget that allocated an additional $22.4 million to Loudoun County Public Schools, narrowing the gap between state funding of education and what Loudoun ultimately pays in the form of property tax. The shortfall in the state's budget could not be addressed by cutting spending further, according to Delegate Joe May (R-Western Loudoun). "We have to increase the revenue," he said. "All of these new monies, every penny, comes through the sales tax" said Senator Bill Mims (R-Eastern Loudoun). "After all these years of pushing for greater state aid to have a jump of that magnitude and to know it did not come from income tax revenue, which hits Loudoun the hardest." Both Senators Russ Potts and Mims, along with Delegates Tom Rust, Gary Reese, and May, supported the budget.
Dick Black voted against the budget and broke his pledge to the Alliance for Virginia's Students to support and work for additional state dollars to fund the actual costs of the Standards of Quality. He did, however, stay true to his anti-tax zealot cohorts by adhering to their anti-tax pledge no matter what the costs.
Sources: HB 5001, SB 5001, Leesburg Today, May 7, 2004, Alliance for Virginia's Students, JLARC
Black opposed reducing class size for at-risk students
Dick Black voted against HB 434, a 1998 bill that revised the statewide voluntary pupil-teacher ratio and reduced individual class sizes for grades K-3 in schools with high concentrations of at-risk pupils. This measure was a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education, and was passed overwhelmingly in the House.
Black also voted against SB 168, a related bill to establish the Business and Education Grants Program and Fund, a competitive grants program to support innovative partnerships between schools and local business and industry. This bill was passed unanimously in the Senate.
Black wants tax credits for private education at the expense of Loudoun public schools
Since the 1999 session, Dick Black has supported legislation that provides tuition tax credits for parents who home school or send their children to private schools, legislation that would have diverted tax dollars from our public schools at a time when Virginia's public schools were under-funded by over $500 million each year.
Virginia school divisions receive funding from the state based on average daily membership. If a student isn't present, the schools don't get the money.
The Virginia Family Foundation, Michael Farris' Home School Legal Defense Association (which helped draft some of the legislation) and the Christian Coalition (which Dick Black was instrumental in founding) have been the primary lobbyists for these bills. The Family Foundation has acknowledged that the proposed tax credits would cost the state $460 million annually, but insist that the decreased enrollment in public schools would save $319 million a year in education funding. They base this claim on fantastic theories that public schools would lose about 8.1% of their enrollment (about 91,000 students) if this legislation was passed. They then creatively calculate as profit the full per pupil cost for every pupil who will supposedly leave public schools. What is left out of this calculation is that many costs are stationary -- building construction and maintenance, buses, teachers. A drop in enrollment of 91,000 students would decrease on average a class of 30 students to 27, but still cost taxpayers several hundred million dollars before a single school seat is vacated.
Not only is this type of legislation costly to taxpayers, it fails to benefit those low income families whose public schools are most likely to suffer from underfunding. According to the Virginia Education Association, in jurisdictions which have adopted similar legislation, tax credits have primarily benefited wealthy families.
Dick Black's objective in supporting such legislation is not to help low income students or promote "school choice", but to create a discriminatory and unaccountable elite private education system, funded with public money. For instance, the 2001 bill he co-sponsored (HB 1961) was written to explicitly not require any additional regulation of private or home schools. Black voted against amendments to this bill requiring that private and home school students be subject to Virginia's Standards of Learning, and restricting the tax credits to low income families.
Sources: HB 1740, HB 68, HB 1961, HJ 30, HB 1356, HB 1119, HJ 572, Mainstream Loudoun, Virginia Education Association, Loudoun Easterner, Jan. 19, 2000, Leesburg Today, Jan. 24, 2001
Black votes against increasing Loudoun's share of state education funding
The state provides only a fraction of the education funding required for Loudoun schools to meet mandated requirements for Standards of Quality (SOQs). In 2003, Black had two opportunities to increase Loudoun's share of state funding for SOQs and voted no both times. He had the opportunity to join a bipartisan group of Northern Virginia legislators, including fellow GOP Loudoun Delegates Gary Reese and Tom Rust, to increase this funding to 100% and then to 55%. He chose not to, knowing full well that Loudoun only receives 32% funding from the state. Not only does Dick Black fail to actively pursue more education funding, he won't even cast a vote for it. Because the SOQs are mandated by law, this funding must come from somewhere. In the absence of state funding, the localities have no option but to increase property taxes. Why is supposedly "anti-tax" Dick Black voting to raise our property taxes?
Sources: HJ 598, Alliance for Virginia's Students,
Black opposes family involvement in public education?
In 1999 Dick Black voted against legislation that would award competitive grants to public schools that implement "innovative family and community involvement programs designed to facilitate parents' creation of a supportive learning environment at home and increased involvement in classroom learning and school activities." HB1270, the Families in Education Incentive Grants Program, passed in the House, unanimously passed in the Senate, and was signed into law by then Governor Gilmore.
Source: HB 1270
Black tries to divert funding from public schools, again.
In 2003, a state Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) study found that Virginia schools were underfunded by $1 billion a year. Given the fundamental right to a public education enshrined in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a responsible legislative response would have been to work for full funding of Virginia public schools. Instead, Dick Black worked to divert this much-needed public school funding - he co-patroned HB1639, titled "Overcrowding of Public Schools." His solution: If any student is attending an overcrowded school or one with trailers, parents would be allowed to move their child to a private school and taxpayers would foot the bill for at least part of the tuition.
This bill was passed by indefinitely in the Education Committee, with only Black voting against.
Black's solution to youth alienation and violence: Let's do the Time Warp
Dick Black says that what is really needed to prevent future tragedies like Columbine is not peer mediation, counseling, anti-bullying education, or (heaven forbid) zero tolerance for firearms on school property. No, the way to address the unspeakable tragedy of Columbine is to legislate "classroom decorum."
In 2001, Black introduced HB2644, a bill that would require all students to address teachers as "Ma'am" or "Sir," and "Mr." or "Miss" or "Mrs.". (In Dick Black's world, it would presumably be a violation of law for a female teacher to reject the marital status-based honorifics in favor of "Ms.") "The counterculture revolution of the '70s took the war into the classroom. Before that time, public schools were a model of decorum, and then we began this thing we've seen play out at Columbine," said Black. The bill died in committee.
Sources: HB 2644, Washington Times, Dec. 26, 2000
Black thinks an 18% return on our tax dollars represents Loudoun's interests?
During Dick Black's tenure in office, Loudoun County has plummeted from a 33% return to an 18% return on the taxes we send to Richmond. That difference cost Loudoun taxpayers $68 million this year alone.
The formula used in Richmond to determine support from the state government for transportation infrastructure and the public education system does not take into account the rapid rate of growth experienced by communities such as Loudoun. Our traffic congestion problems have steadily increased, many of our classrooms are overcrowded, and our property taxes are rising. It is critical in addressing these quality-of-life issues to begin to recoup our tax dollars from Richmond.
While other members of the Loudoun delegation are drafting legislation and doing the long term bipartisan work it will take to address these problems, Black concentrates his efforts on his strange personal agenda. For instance, in 2001 Delegate Joe May and Senator Bill Mims each presented legislation to the School Board and LCPS senior staff that would facilitate the return of state income tax revenues back to the localities to fund desperately needed school construction and renovation and transportation projects. May noted that it would take a bipartisan effort over years, not months, to rectify the problems Loudoun is facing.
In 2001, Dick Black sponsored some school-related legislation, too: to make it easier to hire bus drivers, to mandate a student conduct code, to require internet content censorship, and to mandate the public display of "In God We Trust."
Sources: Loudoun Times-Mirror, Mar. 12, 2002, Loudoun County Public Schools, Legislative Information System
Black thinks public schools should be religious schools, too
Dick Black's world view doesn't appear to include the separation of church and state. Although the residents of his district reflect a wide diversity of cultures and religious traditions, his legislative agenda is dominated by efforts to impose his own beliefs upon our public institutions, especially our public schools. More . . .
- extreme. ineffective. dick black.