School Choice
Business & Economics
Mixed-bag of recommendations
Which state policies would California’s small-business owners like to change? To find out, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convened a two-day conference in Los Angeles. The first-ever “Governor’s Conference on Small Business and Entrepreneurship” included small-business owners, community-college administrators, state employment and development officials, trade-group representatives, and policy researchers, including me. ...
Commentary
Kids Need More School Choice
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes shortening the school year by five days to save $1.1 billion and help shrink the state’s $42-billion deficit. State superintendent Jack O’Connell opposes the idea, declaring that a longer school year is needed to prepare students for “the competitive global economy.” International evidence, however, overwhelmingly ...
Commentary
Reform Our Schools Mr. President Elect
Honorable President-elect Barack Obama: In nominating Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education, you stressed the need for school reform. In accepting the nomination, Duncan said, “Whether it’s fighting poverty, strengthening our economy, or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It is the civil rights issue of our ...
Commentary
Why Money Can’t Be the Answer for Obama’s New Education Secretary
For Secretary of Education, President-elect Barack Obama recently named Arne Duncan, whose seven-year record as head of Chicago schools includes some noteworthy improvements. Duncan now faces significant challenges that require deeper reforms than those he pursued in Chicago. Under Arne Duncan the graduation rate in Chicago schools rose from 47 ...
Commentary
Special-needs students deserve grant program
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), December 9, 2008 Today the educational future of special-needs and foster children is in the hands of the Arizona Supreme Court. At issue is the constitutionality of state scholarships that parents such as Brendan and Susan Fay of Tucson can use to send their children ...
Commentary
Jewish Groups Lobby for Federal School Choice Bill
Forty-four years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a new rights movement is gathering steam as ethnic groups are increasingly joining forces to press for school choice. Jewish groups have taken a prominent role in the effort. The Civil Rights Act of Equal Educational Opportunity (CRA ...
Commentary
President-elect Obama offers poor no ‘change’ on school choice
Barack Obama’s historic election victory and eloquence will surely inspire American parents and students alike, but they are likely in for disappointment as well, especially those with limited means. On the issue of school choice, change has not come to America. A gap remains between what the president-elect says and ...
Commentary
Urban legends about Arizona’s scholarship tax credit
Goldwater Institute (AZ), November 3, 2008 I’ve heard people say that Arizona’s scholarship tax credits “only help rich kids go to private schools.” This is a myth. Based on the fact that three of the larger student tuition organizations (the Dioceses of Phoenix and Tucson and the Arizona School Choice ...
Commentary
Grading Obama
Lance T. Izumi, a senior fellow in California studies and the senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, is the co-author of the book “Not as Good as You Think: Why the Middle Class Needs School Choice.” (Full biography.) The federal No Child Left ...
Commentary
Choice and Good Schools—Swedish Style
Say “Sweden” and most Americans think Volvo and IKEA. There is more to the Scandinavian country, however, than just sturdy cars and innovative furniture. Sweden is the world leader when it comes to parental choice in education. Up until 1991 local governments operated almost all Swedish schools. That changed with ...
Mixed-bag of recommendations
Which state policies would California’s small-business owners like to change? To find out, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convened a two-day conference in Los Angeles. The first-ever “Governor’s Conference on Small Business and Entrepreneurship” included small-business owners, community-college administrators, state employment and development officials, trade-group representatives, and policy researchers, including me. ...
Kids Need More School Choice
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes shortening the school year by five days to save $1.1 billion and help shrink the state’s $42-billion deficit. State superintendent Jack O’Connell opposes the idea, declaring that a longer school year is needed to prepare students for “the competitive global economy.” International evidence, however, overwhelmingly ...
Reform Our Schools Mr. President Elect
Honorable President-elect Barack Obama: In nominating Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education, you stressed the need for school reform. In accepting the nomination, Duncan said, “Whether it’s fighting poverty, strengthening our economy, or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It is the civil rights issue of our ...
Why Money Can’t Be the Answer for Obama’s New Education Secretary
For Secretary of Education, President-elect Barack Obama recently named Arne Duncan, whose seven-year record as head of Chicago schools includes some noteworthy improvements. Duncan now faces significant challenges that require deeper reforms than those he pursued in Chicago. Under Arne Duncan the graduation rate in Chicago schools rose from 47 ...
Special-needs students deserve grant program
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), December 9, 2008 Today the educational future of special-needs and foster children is in the hands of the Arizona Supreme Court. At issue is the constitutionality of state scholarships that parents such as Brendan and Susan Fay of Tucson can use to send their children ...
Jewish Groups Lobby for Federal School Choice Bill
Forty-four years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a new rights movement is gathering steam as ethnic groups are increasingly joining forces to press for school choice. Jewish groups have taken a prominent role in the effort. The Civil Rights Act of Equal Educational Opportunity (CRA ...
President-elect Obama offers poor no ‘change’ on school choice
Barack Obama’s historic election victory and eloquence will surely inspire American parents and students alike, but they are likely in for disappointment as well, especially those with limited means. On the issue of school choice, change has not come to America. A gap remains between what the president-elect says and ...
Urban legends about Arizona’s scholarship tax credit
Goldwater Institute (AZ), November 3, 2008 I’ve heard people say that Arizona’s scholarship tax credits “only help rich kids go to private schools.” This is a myth. Based on the fact that three of the larger student tuition organizations (the Dioceses of Phoenix and Tucson and the Arizona School Choice ...
Grading Obama
Lance T. Izumi, a senior fellow in California studies and the senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, is the co-author of the book “Not as Good as You Think: Why the Middle Class Needs School Choice.” (Full biography.) The federal No Child Left ...
Choice and Good Schools—Swedish Style
Say “Sweden” and most Americans think Volvo and IKEA. There is more to the Scandinavian country, however, than just sturdy cars and innovative furniture. Sweden is the world leader when it comes to parental choice in education. Up until 1991 local governments operated almost all Swedish schools. That changed with ...
