The Half Sheet

If the two percent pay increase for teachers is cut, Virginia will have missed yet another opportunity to make the investments that help kids thrive. And this failure will particularly sting as it will come in a budget initially celebrated for investing in education.

Virginia’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit is costing taxpayers twice as much as initially thought, according to a recent report to the Joint Subcommittee to Evaluate Tax Preferences. 

Virginia’s lawmakers can and should make policy choices that increase the bargaining power of workers and build an economy that works for all. To pretend that it is impossible to do so is to ignore history.

Despite some fears and harsh rhetoric from politicians, including a raft of anti-refugee bills introduced during this last session of the General Assembly, refugees contribute to our country’s economy and make our communities stronger. Let’s not be the generation that turns our back on Lady Liberty’s promise.

More than 20,000 kids in Virginia may lack health insurance because lawmakers have refused to close the health care coverage gap for their parents. That’s because allowing more low-income adults to get health insurance also helps connect more low-income children with the coverage they’re already eligible for.

Since publishing that report we’ve run the numbers for every school division in the state in the table below. The divisions highlighted in green are the 10 divisions that would see the largest funding increase. A PDF version is available here.

As the public and media hold their local schools accountable, we cannot ignore that different students have different costs associated with their education. The evidence is very clear that students from low-income families have substantially greater needs and require additional resources. Failing to provide adequate resources presents a false choice to schools: cut services for the general student body or ignore the specialized needs of low-income students.

We believe Virginia needs an economy that works for us all, not just a few. Where every Virginian who works hard can support their family and build a brighter future. Yet for too many in our commonwealth, that opportunity is out of reach.

The 40-hour workweek and time-and-a-half for overtime work are cornerstones of a strong and fair economy. Unfortunately, overtime protections have been allowed to become badly out-of-date. On Wednesday, the Obama administration announced an update to the rule that will give millions more Americans overtime protections and clarify protections for millions more.

With Governor McAuliffe’s announcement last Friday that state revenue collections came in far lower than forecast for April, it’s clear that Virginia is on a crash course to a big problem unless the next two months bring substantial improvement.

Productivity growth can be a driver of growing compensation and increased living standards. Increased employment can be an important way to make sure the gains of the economy are shared with more workers and families. Virginia’s economy is getting healthier, but it still needs consistent increased employment and increased productivity in a broad range of sectors to make up for missed growth over the last eight years.

Closing the coverage gap in Virginia would help 400,000 people get quality, affordable health care. And, as this growing body of research shows, it would also protect them from financial ruin for reasons often beyond their control: illness and injury.