Schools reopened across the Mountain State this Tuesday, but despite additional measures taken by many schools to remain safe, nine counties were prohibited from conducting in-person classes this week. The West Virginia School Re-entry Metrics and Protocol Program, a color-coded map used to track coronavirus cases and determine eligibility for districts to reopen schools, has…

Teachers, parents, students, and everyone in between are gearing up for some kind of start to the 2020-21 school year. There’s no denying that uncertainty is the prevailing theme this school year.   Will the year start in person or virtually? Can the spread of the coronavirus be contained? What will enrollments look like? Is…

You may have noticed that there has been a lot of discussion recently about unemployment benefits across the United States, as well as right here in West Virginia. How much should unemployment benefits be? How long should unemployment benefits last? Who should qualify and why? Though these questions are particularly acute in the current COVID-19…

One of the most contentious debates currently raging across the country is whether schools should reopen in the Fall. The hashtag #schoolsreopening is even trending on Twitter! Everyone has an opinion about it, and every state and school district is coming up with a different plan on how to handle in-person and remote learning solutions.…

In this first episode, you’ll meet the Cardinal Institute team, learn what we mean by the phrase Forgotten America, and get a peek into what you can expect from the Forgotten America podcast.  You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can support the podcast by becoming a patron on Patreon or you can…

Discussions about masks are all practically impossible to avoid these days. Although, perhaps, “discussion” is too generous a term for the level of conversation that seems to take place most often. Instead, in my experience, it has a tendency to devolve into a snarky exchange of quips amounting to little more than “you don’t value…

On Tuesday, June 30, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled (5-4) in favor of education choice in a landmark case, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. I will leave the legal analysis to those far more qualified to do so, particularly to the Institute for Justice, the libertarian law firm who argued the case…

When voices on both the right and the left agree on something in the battleground of American politics, we all ought to sit up and pay attention. Right now, in the chaos of protests and calls for police reform, America is waking up to the problem of public-sector unions.   The death of George Floyd…

Many of our individual lives have changed in some way or another due to the coronavirus. Similarly, lawmakers have a wide range of public policy options worthy of consideration as they are tasked with facilitating smooth transitions into post-coronavirus life and recovery of the localities and economies they, and the constituents they represent, are a…

One never knows when poignant, humbling moments will hit you, or even why when they hit, they hit you square in the gut.   Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the Cardinal Institute has been doing its best to cut through the information thicket and curate three good resources – e.g., articles, research, podcasts, videos – that deal…