RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week
April 2 to April 8, 2023 In RealClearInvestigations, Steve Miller reports on yet another COVID misfire for American public education. It’s already reeling from declining enrollment and achievement amid widespread criticism of masking and shutdowns demanded by teacher unions. This time, school districts are fulfilling widely predicted shortsightedness: spending relief money like there's no tomorrow when, in fact, there is a tomorrow -- today. Miller reports: -
Schools across the nation are heading toward or sailing over "fiscal cliffs," because $189 billion in federal COVID cash is running out. -
After getting $145 million, Seattle is handing out pink slips to up to 70 employees as it struggles with enrollment that has dropped 16% since 2020. Relief spending included $1.4 million on “equity work” and “response to racism.” -
Stockton, Calif., is laying off 19 full-time employees hired after its $241 million infusion. -
New York City used some of its vanishing $7.5 billion for enduring budget items that it’s now struggling to pay for -- including 500 social workers, new bilingual programs, and expanded summer learning centers. -
Education researcher: “This is the largest federal infusion of money in schools ever, around $4,000 a student. ... Districts have given double-digit pay increases in perpetuity, and these districts will be stuck with high labor costs.” -
The fiscal cliffs did not come out of the blue. In 2009, the Great Recession prompted government to dish out nearly $50 billion to districts. Then a bender of hiring led to a hangover of layoffs.
The school closures many leaders insisted on during the pandemic had the greatest negative effect on poor children who were already struggling, this article reports: For students who were learning from home, especially those in low-income families, the challenges were acute. Many lacked reliable internet, a quiet place to study and a parent on-site to make sure they paid attention. … Before the pandemic, students from the wealthiest school communities were about five grade levels ahead of those from the poorest in math. By last year, that gap had grown to 5.5 grade levels. In the poor Alabama town this article focuses on, 93 percent of students at a school serving poor children were below grade level in math during testing this winter. As this article focuses on socio-economic data – explaining outcomes through the lens of poverty – it ignores progressive reforms in education that could well contribute to the problem. In a separate article, for example, the Daily Signal reports that Maryland’s largest school is reviewing its homework policies through the lens of so-called anti-racism.: Guiding questions for the review will look at the impact of homework in “historically marginalized communities,” the “social-emotional impact of homework practices,” and which homework practices are “inclusive, culturally responsive, and antiracist.” … The homework policy review comes as new mid-year Evidence of Learning standards in the district show that less than half of sixth grade students met math standards and only 52.6% of third graders met literacy standards. Waste of the Day
by Adam Andrzejewski, Open the Books Biden, Trump and the Beltway Other Noteworthy Articles and Series In what appears to be a violation of its stated policy regarding intrusive spyware, the Biden administration signed a contract with an Israeli firm, NSO, gaining access to one of its most powerful weapons – a geolocation tool that can covertly track mobile phones around the world without the phone user’s knowledge or consent. The contract, disclosed for the first time in this article ... ... stated that the “United States government” would be the ultimate user of the tool, although it is unclear which government agency authorized the deal and might be using the spyware. It specifically allowed the government to test, evaluate, and even deploy the spyware against targets of its choice in Mexico. … The weapons have given governments the power to conduct targeted, invasive surveillance in ways that were unavailable before the advent of the tools. This power has led to abuses, from the Mexican government spying on journalists who were investigating military crimes to Saudi Arabia using NSO technology to hack the devices of political dissidents. The use of spyware against journalists and opposition figures sparked a political scandal in Greece. White House officials told the Times on background that they were unaware of the contract. Official spokesmen for the White House and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to make any further comment. In a separate article, CNN reports that one of China’s most popular shopping apps, used by more than 750 million users a month, can bypass users’ cell phone security to monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages and change settings. And once installed, it’s tough to remove. Officially, the University of Florida has reported to Governor Ron DeSantis that it hosts 31 DEI initiatives at a cost of $5 million per year. But Christopher F. Rufo, a journalist and adviser to the governor, reports that a cache of internal documents he obtained under the state’s Sunshine Laws show the efforts are far more extensive. Slides from a presentation on UF’s six-month “DEI inventory” study, conducted by Damon Williams, a strategist for diversity leadership retained by the university, would appear to show that UF has created 1,018 separate DEI initiatives (slide 55). Williams’s preliminary survey suggests that the process of ideological capture has spread throughout the university’s departments and divisions: 73 percent “have a DEI committee” and “DEI officer”; 70 percent “espoused commitment to DEI”; 53 percent “have a DEI strategic plan”; and 30 percent have “DEI in annual reports” and use “DEI in performance review.” Rufo reports that the university’s DEI bureaucracy “promotes racial and political preferences in faculty hiring, encourages white employees to engage with a twelve-step program called Racists Anonymous, and maintains racially segregated scholarship programs that violate federal civil rights law.” Flush with cash from a booming tech industry, Silicon Valley Bank executives began buying longer-term investments that paid more interest in 2020 to juice profits. The strategy quickly triggered an internal alarm. Instead of heeding that warning, this article reports, executives at the now-failed bank simply changed the model’s assumptions. The tweaks, which have not been previously reported, initially predicted that rising interest rates would have minimal impact: SVB’s new projections took effect last year and assumed that cash flow from deposits would stay consistent for longer, softening the projected bite of higher interest rates. Before changing the model, a 2 percent interest-rate hike would drop a measure of future cash flows by more than 27 percent; afterward, the hit was less than five percent, according to the bank’s securities filings. … The new assumptions validated SVB’s profit-driven strategy, but they were profoundly misplaced. Over the past year, interest rates have climbed nearly five percentage points, the fastest pace since the 1980s. Meanwhile, the tech industry has entered a post-pandemic swoon, causing SVB’s elite clientele to withdraw cash far faster than bank executives had expected. … The episode shows that executives knew early on that higher interest rates could jeopardize the bank’s future earnings. Instead of shifting course to mitigate that risk, they doubled down on a strategy to deliver near-term profits, displaying an appetite for risk that set the stage for SVB’s stunning meltdown. Since 2012, the U.S. has spent more than $500 million to help Niger fight terrorism. Over the last decade, this article reports, the number of U.S. military personnel deployed to the sub-Saharan African – which hosts one of the largest and most expensive drone bases run by the U.S. military – has jumped from 100 to 1,001. Nevertheless, terrorism is “skyrocketing.” Over the last decade, Niger and its neighbors in the West African Sahel have been plagued by terrorist groups that have taken the notion of the outlaw motorcycle gang to its most lethal apogee. Under the black banners of jihadist militancy, men on “motos” – two to a bike, their faces obscured by sunglasses and turbans, armed with Kalashnikovs – have terrorized villages across the borderlands where Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger meet. These militants, some affiliated with Al Qaeda or the Islamic State group, impose zakat, an Islamic tax; steal animals; and terrorize, assault, and kill civilians. The U.S. is having trouble protecting its own. Less than a mile from the drone base’s entrance, as The Intercept recently reported, bandits conducted a daylight armed robbery of base contractors and drove off with roughly 24 million West African CFA francs late last year. The Southern Poverty Law Center has gained fame and generated piles of cash by designating organizations it disagrees with as hate groups. At least one of its victims is fighting back, suing the SPLC for defamation. The SPLC branded the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society an “anti-immigrant hate group” in February 2018 after the SPLC had previously stated in 2011 that it did not consider the society a “hate group.” The society, named after a 16-year-old Georgia boy killed in a 2000 car crash caused by an illegal immigrant, aims to combat illegal immigration. … The lawsuit notes that “by repeatedly claiming the mantle of specialized knowledge and expertise, and using a specific, fact-based definition to determine what a ‘hate group’ is,” the SPLC’s accusation “causes severe reputational damage and for the target to live in a climate of constant fear for personal safety and that of his family.” |
