School Choice
California
National School Choice Week: The Middle Class Needs Choice, too
Its National School Choice Week and governors and legislators in a number of states have proposed increasing schooling options for low-income students attending low-performing schools. While commendable, its important to point out that student under-achievement isnt limited to low-income areas, but is also widespread in middle-class and more affluent suburbs ...
California
California Schools Behind the Curve
Gov. Jerry Brown said in his State of the State address that the so-called “declinists,” those who worry about California’s place in the nation and the world, are wrong. He pointed to areas where the state is supposedly ahead of rivals, like Texas, Massachusetts and New York. However, if one ...
Commentary
A GOP ed reform roadmap
On the New York Times Education Watch, Dr. Lance Izumi lays out a post-election “lesson plan for Republicans” at the national level. He argues quite simply that the minority party needs to latch on to three basic themes in the area of education policy: Decentralization – repent for the federal ...
California
For Parents, School Choice Is Easier Than Ballot Initiatives
Theres a grassroots parent revolt surging in California. Parents statewide and at the local level are pushing ballot measures to overturn unpopular government education policies. While the initiative process may be Democracy 101 in action, it would be easier for parents if they were simply given vouchers to choose the ...
California
Pay cut story highlights pension absurdities
Fresno schools Superintendent Larry Powell has been getting the hero treatment in the national media for his reportedly selfless decision to give up his annual salary/benefits of $290,000 a year and instead take $31,000 in salary only. He’s doing it for the kids, he said, to save the district significant ...
California
California: The anti-education-reform state
Across America, state after state has enacted bold, far-reaching systemic education reforms. In contrast, California has not only failed to enact such fundamental reforms, but has actually gone backwards and passed laws that reduce accountability, protect special interests and preserve the status quo. In Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation ...
California
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Commentary
Virtual School Plan Praised
A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
Commentary
PRI’s Vicki Murray Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding Arizona Scholarship Program
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute’s Vicki Murray applauds the ruling issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a legal challenge aimed at ending Arizona’s tax credit scholarship program. A recent study by Vicki Murray, Education Studies Associate ...
Commentary
Choice Foes, Including President Obama, Seek to Block DC Students from SOARing to Better Schools
Today the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. Last month a strong bi-partisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning movement for education choice nationwide. Powerful opponents of school choice, ...
National School Choice Week: The Middle Class Needs Choice, too
Its National School Choice Week and governors and legislators in a number of states have proposed increasing schooling options for low-income students attending low-performing schools. While commendable, its important to point out that student under-achievement isnt limited to low-income areas, but is also widespread in middle-class and more affluent suburbs ...
California Schools Behind the Curve
Gov. Jerry Brown said in his State of the State address that the so-called “declinists,” those who worry about California’s place in the nation and the world, are wrong. He pointed to areas where the state is supposedly ahead of rivals, like Texas, Massachusetts and New York. However, if one ...
A GOP ed reform roadmap
On the New York Times Education Watch, Dr. Lance Izumi lays out a post-election “lesson plan for Republicans” at the national level. He argues quite simply that the minority party needs to latch on to three basic themes in the area of education policy: Decentralization – repent for the federal ...
For Parents, School Choice Is Easier Than Ballot Initiatives
Theres a grassroots parent revolt surging in California. Parents statewide and at the local level are pushing ballot measures to overturn unpopular government education policies. While the initiative process may be Democracy 101 in action, it would be easier for parents if they were simply given vouchers to choose the ...
Pay cut story highlights pension absurdities
Fresno schools Superintendent Larry Powell has been getting the hero treatment in the national media for his reportedly selfless decision to give up his annual salary/benefits of $290,000 a year and instead take $31,000 in salary only. He’s doing it for the kids, he said, to save the district significant ...
California: The anti-education-reform state
Across America, state after state has enacted bold, far-reaching systemic education reforms. In contrast, California has not only failed to enact such fundamental reforms, but has actually gone backwards and passed laws that reduce accountability, protect special interests and preserve the status quo. In Indiana, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation ...
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Virtual School Plan Praised
A virtual school would give students in rural and low-performing schools access to honors, enrichment and remediation courses, improving achievement and graduation rates at a lower cost than traditional classroom instruction, according to a report by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. Virtual schools offer other advantages over bricks-and-mortar ...
PRI’s Vicki Murray Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision Upholding Arizona Scholarship Program
San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute’s Vicki Murray applauds the ruling issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a legal challenge aimed at ending Arizona’s tax credit scholarship program. A recent study by Vicki Murray, Education Studies Associate ...
Choice Foes, Including President Obama, Seek to Block DC Students from SOARing to Better Schools
Today the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. Last month a strong bi-partisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning movement for education choice nationwide. Powerful opponents of school choice, ...
