School Choice
Commentary
Tax-credit scholarships offer school choice
The Sacramento Bee (CA), May 7, 2009 How many parents would send their child to a better school if they could? A boy I know was going to school in a gang-infested neighborhood, kept getting in trouble and was suspended several times. His parents wanted to send him to a ...
MargaretA. Bengs
May 7, 2009
Commentary
Failing D.C. Students
The Gadfly, May 6, 2009 The Washington, D.C. public school system is among the nation’s worst. In fact, it’s relatively uncontroversial to say that public schools in D.C. are the worst in the nation—despite the District spending over $15,000 per pupil in its public school system, by far the highest ...
Daniel Hays
May 6, 2009
Commentary
Obama’s Credibility Chasm
Barack Obama’s stubborn refusal to re-think his opposition to the school-choice voucher program in Washington, DC is further evidence, as if we need any more, that the centrist-talking candidate of 2008 was a smokescreen for the ideologically liberal now president who’s unafraid to show his true colors. Throughout the campaign ...
Lance T. izumi
April 29, 2009
Commentary
President Obama’s Education Vision Falls Short
In early March, President Obama addressed the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on his vision for public education. The president promised that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would move beyond party politics to use “only one test” when deciding how to use taxpayer money. That test would be “not whether an ...
Rachel Chaney
April 1, 2009
Commentary
Montana Considers School Choice Bill
School Reform News (Heartland Institute – Chicago, IL), April 1, 2009 Montana families may soon have more than just government-mandated public schools to choose from. On February 5 the state Senate Tax Committee heard SB 342, sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Essman (R-Billings). At press time the bill was pending ...
Pacific Research Institute
April 1, 2009
Commentary
Indiana Legislators Consider Tax Credit Measure
The Indiana state legislature is considering a bill to establish a tax credit scholarship program for families to send their children to private K-12 schools. S.B. 528—introduced in January by state Sen. Carlin Yoder (R-Elkhart County)—is designed to benefit low- and middle-income families. Businesses and individuals who donate to scholarship-granting ...
Thomas Cheplick
April 1, 2009
Commentary
Obama’s Education “Reforms”
In his first big education speech earlier this month, President Barack Obama tried to show that he is a reformer, and not a shill for the education special interests that dominate the Democratic Party. While he had a few worthwhile ideas, others sounded good until one turned to the details. ...
Lance T. izumi
March 26, 2009
Commentary
School choice for more than just Obama, Gates
Bill Gates recently released his annual letter on the state of his foundation. It turns out that he, President Obama and Chicago school chief Arne Duncan, the president’s pick for education secretary, have something in common. All say that the key experience in their life was their attendance at their ...
Lance T. izumi
March 23, 2009
Commentary
March 6 rally can stop ‘Monopoly’ players from passing ‘Go’
ABC’s John Stossel in a “20/20” report examined America’s education system in a segment called “Stupid in America.” It wasn’t pretty. Teacher unions and bought-and-sold politicians don’t look so good when a reporter of Stossel’s ilk tells the unvarnished truth about public schools. The unions moaned, and one in New ...
Jim Waters
March 5, 2009
Commentary
California Considers Deep Education Cuts
California school officials and education reformers are wrestling with the specter of multibillion-dollar education budget cuts in 2009. But as Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democrat-controlled state legislature look for spending reductions to cover the budget shortfall, leading state educators are pleading for leniency. Early proposals floated by lawmakers ...
Ben DeGrow
March 1, 2009
Tax-credit scholarships offer school choice
The Sacramento Bee (CA), May 7, 2009 How many parents would send their child to a better school if they could? A boy I know was going to school in a gang-infested neighborhood, kept getting in trouble and was suspended several times. His parents wanted to send him to a ...
Failing D.C. Students
The Gadfly, May 6, 2009 The Washington, D.C. public school system is among the nation’s worst. In fact, it’s relatively uncontroversial to say that public schools in D.C. are the worst in the nation—despite the District spending over $15,000 per pupil in its public school system, by far the highest ...
Obama’s Credibility Chasm
Barack Obama’s stubborn refusal to re-think his opposition to the school-choice voucher program in Washington, DC is further evidence, as if we need any more, that the centrist-talking candidate of 2008 was a smokescreen for the ideologically liberal now president who’s unafraid to show his true colors. Throughout the campaign ...
President Obama’s Education Vision Falls Short
In early March, President Obama addressed the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on his vision for public education. The president promised that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would move beyond party politics to use “only one test” when deciding how to use taxpayer money. That test would be “not whether an ...
Montana Considers School Choice Bill
School Reform News (Heartland Institute – Chicago, IL), April 1, 2009 Montana families may soon have more than just government-mandated public schools to choose from. On February 5 the state Senate Tax Committee heard SB 342, sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Essman (R-Billings). At press time the bill was pending ...
Indiana Legislators Consider Tax Credit Measure
The Indiana state legislature is considering a bill to establish a tax credit scholarship program for families to send their children to private K-12 schools. S.B. 528—introduced in January by state Sen. Carlin Yoder (R-Elkhart County)—is designed to benefit low- and middle-income families. Businesses and individuals who donate to scholarship-granting ...
Obama’s Education “Reforms”
In his first big education speech earlier this month, President Barack Obama tried to show that he is a reformer, and not a shill for the education special interests that dominate the Democratic Party. While he had a few worthwhile ideas, others sounded good until one turned to the details. ...
School choice for more than just Obama, Gates
Bill Gates recently released his annual letter on the state of his foundation. It turns out that he, President Obama and Chicago school chief Arne Duncan, the president’s pick for education secretary, have something in common. All say that the key experience in their life was their attendance at their ...
March 6 rally can stop ‘Monopoly’ players from passing ‘Go’
ABC’s John Stossel in a “20/20” report examined America’s education system in a segment called “Stupid in America.” It wasn’t pretty. Teacher unions and bought-and-sold politicians don’t look so good when a reporter of Stossel’s ilk tells the unvarnished truth about public schools. The unions moaned, and one in New ...
California Considers Deep Education Cuts
California school officials and education reformers are wrestling with the specter of multibillion-dollar education budget cuts in 2009. But as Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democrat-controlled state legislature look for spending reductions to cover the budget shortfall, leading state educators are pleading for leniency. Early proposals floated by lawmakers ...