Feel Good Stories of the Day

Who says the mainstream media only report bad news. There’s some very heartwarming and cheering stories out right now.

Let’s start with the New York Times today:

With Plunging Enrollment, a ‘Seismic Hit’ to Public Schools

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — In New York City, the nation’s largest school district has lost some 50,000 students over the past two years. In Michigan, enrollment remains more than 50,000 below prepandemic levels from big cities to the rural Upper Peninsula.

In the suburbs of Orange County, Calif., where families have moved for generations to be part of the public school system, enrollment slid for the second consecutive year; statewide, more than a quarter-million public school students have dropped from California’s rolls since 2019.

And since school funding is tied to enrollment, cities that have lost many students — including Denver, Albuquerque and Oakland — are now considering combining classrooms, laying off teachers or shutting down entire schools.

All together, America’s public schools have lost at least 1.2 million students since 2020, according to a recently published national survey. State enrollment figures show no sign of a rebound to the previous national levels any time soon.

The story goes on to report that “experts say” this enrollment recline will be hard to reverse. Those are likely the same “experts” that have steadily ruined K-12 public education for a long time now. Keep in mind which political party controls the K-12 public school system.

Chaser, from the Wall Street Journal:

Billions in School Covid-Relief Funds Remain Unspent

U.S. school districts are struggling to spend billions of dollars in federal pandemic-relief money before the funding expires.

Districts have yet to spend 93% of $122 billion sunk into the K-12 education system last year as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Education.

Our educational blob has grown so incompetent it can’t even figure out out so spend a massive government giveaway.

The Emily Litella moment (“never mind”) of ESG investing continues. Bloomberg reported a few days ago that several “sustainable” climate change-related investment funds are closing down as investors move their money back to oil and gas stocks because they actually want to make money:

This year’s rally in oil prices, fueled in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has hurt those betting against oil and gas companies, among the biggest contributors to global warming. At the same time, investors have been pulling cash from environmental, social and governance-labeled funds after plowing cash into them in recent years.

Some of the largest climate-focused exchange-traded funds, for example, have seen steady outflows this year, including the $1.8 billion Invesco Solar ETF, which has had a net $230 million of redemptions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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