Lance Izumi
Blog
Take a deep dive on Gov. Newsom's education budget
Newsom’s Proposed Education Budget: A Recipe for More Disaster
With all the blaring headlines about California’s huge state budget deficit, one would think that education spending, which accounts for around 45 percent of the budget, would take a significant hit. Well, think again. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, which was the last pre-pandemic budget, state General Fund spending for ...
Blog
Honoring America's heroes on Veterans Day
Personal stories and lessons for Veterans Day
Today, we honor those who have served in our nation’s armed forces. We honor their dedication, their self-sacrifice, and their commitment to, in the words of General Douglas MacArthur, “Duty, honor, country.” Every veteran has his or her own story about how their military service impacted their life. What I’d ...
Blog
Latest study shows charters work
New Study Shows Charter Schools Are More Efficient and Effective Than Regular Public Schools
California has been a huge recipient of one-time federal COVID-19 dollars for education, with $23 billion pouring into the state’s coffers from Washington. On top of this federal funding, California public schools have received $18 billion in one-time state funding to address pandemic-related issues. Unfortunately, while some California public schools ...
Commentary
Read about California's latest test scores
California’s Latest School Test Scores Are Nothing to Celebrate
Imagine a headline that read, “Not Everyone Died in Massive Train Wreck, Say Railroad Officials.” If that spin sounds ridiculous, take a look at the California Department of Education’s recent press release on state test scores. The department’s headline reads: “2022-23 Statewide Assessment Results and Chronic Absenteeism Rates Show Student ...
Blog
School choice works
The BASIC Fund: Proof That School Choice Works, Even in California
Across the country, lawmakers in red and red-leaning states have enacted expansive school-choice laws. Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Florida, Arizona, West Virginia, and North Carolina have adopted universal school-choice programs that allow parents to use government-funded education savings accounts to help fund their education expenses, including private-school tuition. It is often ...
Charter Schools
Read about PRI's new national education survey
New Poll Shows Voters See Room for Improvement in School Boards
The just-released national survey, conducted for the Pacific Research Institute by Echelon Insights, found that 49% of respondents said that their local public school boards were fair/poor/very poor. Just 36% thought their boards were excellent or good. Those who rated their school board’s performance as poor or very poor were ...
Blog
Read about an innovative new California school
New School Year, New Hope for At-Risk Students
I report on a lot of bad news about education in California, which is why it was so invigorating to attend the inaugural opening day of Cristo Rey Orange County, an innovative Catholic school that combines rigorous academics with a unique work-study program that has proved successful for countless students ...
Education
Read new survey on public education
New PRI Poll: As New School Year Begins, Voters See Room for Improvement with Local Schools
SACRAMENTO – As students head back to school, a new national survey commissioned by the California-based, nonpartisan, free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute finds that voters are more dissatisfied with their local school boards than their neighborhood schools, and see room for improvement in public education. When asked how ...
Blog
Read about latest attacks on charter schools
Los Angeles and Oakland Get “F” Grades for Charter Funding Gaps
The University of Arkansas study compared funding for regular public schools and charter schools in 18 cities across the country using 2019-2020 budget data. Historically, regular public schools have been funded more generously than charter schools, which are autonomous publicly funded schools independent of school districts, but that gap is ...
Classroom Ideology
Harvard-UNC SCOTUS ruling puts pressure on K-12 to do better
With the U.S. Supreme Court striking down race preferences in university admissions in the much-anticipated Harvard-University of North Carolina case, the pressure is now on K-12 schools to produce college-ready students, especially those from underrepresented minority groups. In the Harvard-UNC case, the court said that both institutions discriminated against Asian American applicants, who had the highest objective academic ratings, by using subjective ...
Take a deep dive on Gov. Newsom's education budget
Newsom’s Proposed Education Budget: A Recipe for More Disaster
With all the blaring headlines about California’s huge state budget deficit, one would think that education spending, which accounts for around 45 percent of the budget, would take a significant hit. Well, think again. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, which was the last pre-pandemic budget, state General Fund spending for ...
Honoring America's heroes on Veterans Day
Personal stories and lessons for Veterans Day
Today, we honor those who have served in our nation’s armed forces. We honor their dedication, their self-sacrifice, and their commitment to, in the words of General Douglas MacArthur, “Duty, honor, country.” Every veteran has his or her own story about how their military service impacted their life. What I’d ...
Latest study shows charters work
New Study Shows Charter Schools Are More Efficient and Effective Than Regular Public Schools
California has been a huge recipient of one-time federal COVID-19 dollars for education, with $23 billion pouring into the state’s coffers from Washington. On top of this federal funding, California public schools have received $18 billion in one-time state funding to address pandemic-related issues. Unfortunately, while some California public schools ...
Read about California's latest test scores
California’s Latest School Test Scores Are Nothing to Celebrate
Imagine a headline that read, “Not Everyone Died in Massive Train Wreck, Say Railroad Officials.” If that spin sounds ridiculous, take a look at the California Department of Education’s recent press release on state test scores. The department’s headline reads: “2022-23 Statewide Assessment Results and Chronic Absenteeism Rates Show Student ...
School choice works
The BASIC Fund: Proof That School Choice Works, Even in California
Across the country, lawmakers in red and red-leaning states have enacted expansive school-choice laws. Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Florida, Arizona, West Virginia, and North Carolina have adopted universal school-choice programs that allow parents to use government-funded education savings accounts to help fund their education expenses, including private-school tuition. It is often ...
Read about PRI's new national education survey
New Poll Shows Voters See Room for Improvement in School Boards
The just-released national survey, conducted for the Pacific Research Institute by Echelon Insights, found that 49% of respondents said that their local public school boards were fair/poor/very poor. Just 36% thought their boards were excellent or good. Those who rated their school board’s performance as poor or very poor were ...
Read about an innovative new California school
New School Year, New Hope for At-Risk Students
I report on a lot of bad news about education in California, which is why it was so invigorating to attend the inaugural opening day of Cristo Rey Orange County, an innovative Catholic school that combines rigorous academics with a unique work-study program that has proved successful for countless students ...
Read new survey on public education
New PRI Poll: As New School Year Begins, Voters See Room for Improvement with Local Schools
SACRAMENTO – As students head back to school, a new national survey commissioned by the California-based, nonpartisan, free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute finds that voters are more dissatisfied with their local school boards than their neighborhood schools, and see room for improvement in public education. When asked how ...
Read about latest attacks on charter schools
Los Angeles and Oakland Get “F” Grades for Charter Funding Gaps
The University of Arkansas study compared funding for regular public schools and charter schools in 18 cities across the country using 2019-2020 budget data. Historically, regular public schools have been funded more generously than charter schools, which are autonomous publicly funded schools independent of school districts, but that gap is ...
Harvard-UNC SCOTUS ruling puts pressure on K-12 to do better
With the U.S. Supreme Court striking down race preferences in university admissions in the much-anticipated Harvard-University of North Carolina case, the pressure is now on K-12 schools to produce college-ready students, especially those from underrepresented minority groups. In the Harvard-UNC case, the court said that both institutions discriminated against Asian American applicants, who had the highest objective academic ratings, by using subjective ...
