Confederate general

A Virginia board is considering restoring the names of two schools which were originally named for Confederate generals but changed in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd .

The Shenandoah County School Board in 2020 voted to change Stonewall Jackson High School to Mountain View High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run Elementary School.

But in the two years since, community members — especially alumni — have expressed opposition to the name changes, school board member Cynthia Walsh told NBC News.

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More than 4,000 people have signed a petition to change the names back, Vice Chair Dennis Barlow said at a board meeting , where the issue was discussed at length last week.

Walsh is one of three members who were on the board when the name changes were approved. The current, all-white board is made up of six members.

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Some new board members feel the decision to change the names was rushed and did not consider the opinion of the community.

Barlow, who characterized those who were in favor of changing the names as outsiders who are “creepy,” “elitist” and from “the dark side,” said the school board’s decision was “undemocratic and unfair.”

He added that he regards Jackson as a “gallant commander.”

Walsh, who does not think the names should be changed back, argued: “Most people who vote for elected officials then count on them to do the right thing on their behalf.”

“We do have a representative democracy. We don’t have a direct democracy,” she added.

After Floyd’s death, statues , monuments, schools and buildings named for Confederate leaders became a focal point of the racial justice movement around the country. A number of the statues and monuments have come down.

“Times have changed, the makeup of our schools has changed,” Walsh said. “And I sincerely believe that revisiting the name change is not what’s best for kids.”

The board decided at the meeting that they would poll constituents on whether they believe the names should be changed back. But the board could not settle on whether to poll only the residents who live within the schools in question, or the whole area.

Kyle Gutshall, a recent high school graduate who was elected to the board this year, argued: “In my opinion if you’re doing it countywide, you might as well throw the students out because they don’t care.”

But other board members were adamant throughout the night that the decision has to first be what’s right for the students.

“No. 1 criteria: what is best for kids,” Andrew Keller said earlier in the meeting. “The kids we’e going to teach today and the next 25 years.”

They also didn’t settle on what options would be included in the survey, which they mostly agreed should have the questions:

Do you want to keep the names?

Do you want to restore the original names?

“I suggested a compromise: adding a third” option — I did not agree to the name change but I do not think we should change it back — “and that’s where we left it that night, but we didn’t vote on it,” Walsh said.

The next school board meeting is June 9.

The board likely won’t vote on the issue then, because they are still hammering out the details of the survey, Walsh said.

If the vote is split, the issue will likely be tabled for a year, or until there is a new board, she said.

Shenandoah County Public Schools declined to weigh in on the matter.

“It is the responsibility of the Shenandoah County School Board to determine the name of schools, school facilities, and areas of school facilities or grounds in the division. We do not have a comment or statement as a division at this time,” the district said in a statement.

The system serves about 6,000 students. More than 75 percent of them are white and about 3 percent are Black, according to U.S. News and World Report.

But Walsh said the statistics don’t show the full picture. “In one of our elementary schools, there are 10 languages spoken,” she said. “There is diversity.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under mounting pressure from business leaders, charities and MPs from across the political spectrum to produce a package of support after inflation hit a 40-year high, with food and energy costs among the main concerns.

But wrangling continued within the Cabinet over the idea of using a windfall tax on oil and gas producers which have benefited from high global prices to fund measures to help with household bills.

Ministers are “intrinsically opposed” to the levy, a senior member of Boris Johnson’s Government said, although it has not been ruled out.

Mr Sunak appeared to acknowledge the need for further support for the poorest in a speech on Wednesday night as “right now, we have a collective responsibility to help the most vulnerable in our society”.

But he wants to avoid inflicting further damage on the public finances, which have already been battered by the billions pumped in to the Covid-19 pandemic response, or introducing any stimulus measures which could further increase inflation.

Business leaders urged him to act, with Confederation of British Industry director general Tony Danker telling BBC Radio 4’s Today: “You have to help the hardest hit now.

“Helping people with heating and eating bills will not fuel inflation.

“You need to stimulate business investment now – that’s not going to overheat the economy.

“It’s going to make sure that any downturn in our fortunes is short and shallow because growth is coming soon.”

Figures this week showed Consumer Prices Index inflation hit 9% in April, but analysts suggested the rate for the poorest households, which spend a higher proportion of their income on food and energy, was more than 10%.

Petrol and diesel prices have continued to climb to new highs, the average cost of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Wednesday was 168.2p, up from 167.6p per litre on Tuesday.

Data firm Experian Catalist said diesel prices reached an average of 181.0p per litre on Wednesday, up from 180.9p a day earlier.

Labour has argued that a windfall tax could fund a VAT cut on energy bills and an increase in the warm home discount for those on a low income.

The option is still being considered by ministers, but the oil and gas industry has warned that unpredictable tax policies could deter investment and hit jobs.

Policing Minister Kit Malthouse told Times Radio: “We are intrinsically opposed to that kind of taxation. We want to see a pattern of investment from that industry that will help us with our medium and long-term energy problems.

“But the Chancellor reserves the right to take all steps he thinks necessary and he’s in conversation with that industry all the time, I’m sure.

“My predilection as a Conservative generally is to have low and stable and predictable taxes, and that retrospective taxation is to be avoided, but there are Conservative administrations in the past who have felt the need to tax retrospectively and sometimes the circumstances might warrant that.”

Measures reportedly under consideration by the Government include increasing the warm home discount or bringing forward a 1p cut in income tax by a year to April 2023.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Conservative former cabinet minister Chris Grayling called for lower taxes, saying: “You cannot achieve growth by over-taxing our economy.

“The decisions that have been taken on tax have been taken. But the direction of travel needs to change and it needs to change soon.”

Senior Tory Sir Bernard Jenkin said a £13.5 billion support package was needed to address the cost-of-living crisis.

He said: “A summer package to rescue the most vulnerable households is needed to avoid real financial distress and personal anguish and to support economic demand of the most vulnerable households, or we are creating possibly a worse recession than is already expected.”

The Chancellor faced demands to increase benefits and pensions, which rose by 3.1% in April, linked to the inflation rate in September last year, meaning they have fallen sharply behind the rise in prices.

The Resolution Foundation think tank said: “The living standards implications of this economic crisis are huge, but the Government has the power to support those hardest hit by bringing forward benefits uprating – something which is needed to prevent this parliament being the worst on record for living standards.”

Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said: “As a minimum, benefits must be brought in line with inflation this autumn. The health, wellbeing and life chances of a generation of children are now on the line.”

Downing Street has denied blocking the Treasury from imposing a windfall tax on oil and gas giants as the Chancellor faced mounting pressure to help ease the cost-of-living crisis with a new package of support.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he had seen “lots of reports” on division between the departments, but insisted Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are “aligned” on the issue.

Labour accused the Government of acting like “headless chickens” on the matter and suggested a U-turn is likely.

Wrangling has continued within the Cabinet over implementing a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas producers which have benefited from high global prices. The money raised could fund measures to assist with household bills.

Ministers are “intrinsically opposed” to the levy, a senior member of Mr Johnson’s Government said, although it has not been ruled out.

Asked if No 10 is blocking the Treasury from imposing the tax, the PM’s spokesman told reporters: “I have seen lots of reports overnight on this but the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are aligned. You’ve heard them both say effectively the same thing when it comes to these sorts of taxes.

“We want to see significant investment by these sorts of companies into British jobs to grow the economy, to secure our energy supply for the long term. We believe investment is the right thing to do in the first instance.”

Mr Sunak appeared to acknowledge the need for further support for the poorest in a speech on Wednesday night as “right now, we have a collective responsibility to help the most vulnerable in our society”.

But he wants to avoid inflicting further damage on the public finances, which have already been battered by the billions pumped in to the Covid-19 pandemic response, or introducing any stimulus measures which could further increase inflation.

Business leaders urged him to act, with Confederation of British Industry director general Tony Danker telling BBC Radio 4’s Today: “You have to help the hardest hit now.”

Figures this week showed Consumer Prices Index inflation hit 9% in April, but analysts suggested the rate for the poorest households, which spend a higher proportion of their income on food and energy, was more than 10%.

Petrol and diesel prices have continued to reach new highs. The average cost of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Wednesday was 168.2p, up from 167.6p per litre on Tuesday.

Data firm Experian Catalist said diesel prices reached an average of 181.0p per litre on Wednesday, up from 180.9p a day earlier.

Labour has argued that a windfall tax could fund a VAT cut on energy bills and an increase in the warm home discount for those on a low income.

The party’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer, told reporters in Leeds it is a “practical step” which is “staring the Prime Minister in the face”.

“I think he’s going to U-turn on this,” he said.

“By dithering and delaying he’s forcing people to struggle when they don’t need to do so.”

He said the Government are acting like “headless chickens” on the matter, sometimes ruling the levy in and sometimes ruling it out.

Sir Keir said after the Government voted down Labour’s bid for a windfall tax in the Commons, the PM has “nothing to say to people who are tossing and turning in their beds, unable to know how they are going to pay their bills”.

The option of the levy is still being considered by ministers, but the oil and gas industry has warned that unpredictable tax policies could deter investment and hit jobs.

Meanwhile, Conservative former Chancellor Norman Lamont called on the Government to return the Universal Credit uplift to ease the cost-of-living crisis for the most vulnerable.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “The top priority must be to give help to the most vulnerable, those who are struggling to feed themselves, to heat their homes, one is hearing daily the heart wrenching stories.

“Although the Government has given considerable help already I think it is clear that a further package will be necessary.

“There is no way the Government can insulate the whole population from an external caused inflation, but I think they ought to do very much what they’ve done before but on a bigger scale.

“I think they ought to do something on Universal Credit, perhaps restore the temporary increase that was then withdrawn, also act on the warm homes discount and widen its scope.”

Asked if Mr Johnson agrees arguments in favour of a “low-tax economy”, as made by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Wednesday, do not tally with raising national insurance contributions, the PM’s spokesman said: “Obviously it’s important to look at the overall tax burden.

“I think people understand the rationale as to why we have introduced the levy, which serves two purposes: to fund the NHS, we all know someone who is requiring NHS care at the moment and some of the challenges the NHS has post-pandemic; and it solves the long term problem of adult social care.

“The Chancellor and the Prime Minister are both committed to lowering taxes further when the time allows.”