Distance Learning
Charter Schools
Blue state parents turn to home schooling
Closed public schools. COVID-19 mandates. Woke curricula. For these reasons and more, parents in blue states are turning to home schooling in droves. Nationally, home schooling has boomed. According to Census Bureau data, the proportion of households home-schooling their children skyrocketed from 5% in spring 2020 to 20% in spring ...
Lance Izumi
February 14, 2022
Blog
For National School Choice Week, The Homeschool Boom Continues
As America celebrates National School Choice Week from January 24th through the 30th, choice is growing, especially homeschooling. In my new book The Homeschool Boom: Pandemic, Policies, and Possibilities, I detail the phenomenal increase in homeschooling across the country. Since the book went to print, new federal data has come ...
Lance Izumi
January 24, 2022
Commentary
Read how changing funding won’t lead to public school reforms
A new proposal to continue high levels of funding for California school districts would, if enacted, remove incentives for the public schools to improve themselves. State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge), chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, recently proposed SB 830, which would switch the way public schools are ...
Lance Izumi
January 18, 2022
Blog
Yes, Parents Can Homeschool Their Special Needs Children
There are many myths that surround homeschooling, but one of the biggest is that it is too difficult for parents to homeschool their children with special needs. However, the reality is that many parents homeschool their special needs children because the regular public schools often fail to offer the type ...
Lance Izumi
December 28, 2021
Commentary
Biden Get a “D” on End-of-Semester Education Report Card
The 2020-21 school year has ended with failures across the education landscape. In the face of this education catastrophe, President Joe Biden earns a disappointing “D” on his end-of-semester report card. From still-not-fully-reopened schools to inadequate school-district distance learning efforts to huge student learning losses to rampant mental health problems ...
Lance Izumi
July 9, 2021
Charter Schools
Lance Izumi Interviewed on Controversial Bill Targeting Charter Schools
Board of Education Opposes Bill That Takes Aim at Charter Schools By Jack Bradley The Orange County Board of Education passed a resolution June 2 to oppose a bill that it claims would harm charter schools. Introduced by California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), AB 1316 will move through the State Assembly in June. The ...
Pacific Research Institute
June 3, 2021
Blog
Winners and Losers – February 19
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Baseball Fans – With all the awful news we are bombarded with these days, baseball fans were cheered by pitchers and catchers reporting this week to Arizona or Florida for spring training. Now, if we can only actually watch ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 19, 2021
Distance Learning
Lance Izumi Quoted in Los Angeles Times on School Reopenings
California teacher unions fight calls to reopen schools By Howard Blume As parents express widespread dissatisfaction with distance learning, two influential California teachers unions are pushing against growing momentum to reopen schools in many communities, saying that campuses are not yet safe enough amid the pandemic. Leaders with the California ...
Pacific Research Institute
October 16, 2020
Charter Schools
State lawmakers hurt charter schools, online learning with funding deal
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Gov. Newsom glaringly failed to fund regular public schools and public charter schools with growing enrollments. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democratic legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget ...
Lance Izumi
October 12, 2020
Blog
While California Wars Against Charter Schools, Harvard Finds Charter Performance Growth
Like in so many policy areas, California is going in the wrong direction when it comes to charter schools. But while Sacramento is making it hard for charters to grow, a new Harvard University study finds charter-school students are learning more than their regular public school peers. Last year, the ...
Lance Izumi
September 28, 2020
Blue state parents turn to home schooling
Closed public schools. COVID-19 mandates. Woke curricula. For these reasons and more, parents in blue states are turning to home schooling in droves. Nationally, home schooling has boomed. According to Census Bureau data, the proportion of households home-schooling their children skyrocketed from 5% in spring 2020 to 20% in spring ...
For National School Choice Week, The Homeschool Boom Continues
As America celebrates National School Choice Week from January 24th through the 30th, choice is growing, especially homeschooling. In my new book The Homeschool Boom: Pandemic, Policies, and Possibilities, I detail the phenomenal increase in homeschooling across the country. Since the book went to print, new federal data has come ...
Read how changing funding won’t lead to public school reforms
A new proposal to continue high levels of funding for California school districts would, if enacted, remove incentives for the public schools to improve themselves. State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge), chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, recently proposed SB 830, which would switch the way public schools are ...
Yes, Parents Can Homeschool Their Special Needs Children
There are many myths that surround homeschooling, but one of the biggest is that it is too difficult for parents to homeschool their children with special needs. However, the reality is that many parents homeschool their special needs children because the regular public schools often fail to offer the type ...
Biden Get a “D” on End-of-Semester Education Report Card
The 2020-21 school year has ended with failures across the education landscape. In the face of this education catastrophe, President Joe Biden earns a disappointing “D” on his end-of-semester report card. From still-not-fully-reopened schools to inadequate school-district distance learning efforts to huge student learning losses to rampant mental health problems ...
Lance Izumi Interviewed on Controversial Bill Targeting Charter Schools
Board of Education Opposes Bill That Takes Aim at Charter Schools By Jack Bradley The Orange County Board of Education passed a resolution June 2 to oppose a bill that it claims would harm charter schools. Introduced by California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), AB 1316 will move through the State Assembly in June. The ...
Winners and Losers – February 19
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Baseball Fans – With all the awful news we are bombarded with these days, baseball fans were cheered by pitchers and catchers reporting this week to Arizona or Florida for spring training. Now, if we can only actually watch ...
Lance Izumi Quoted in Los Angeles Times on School Reopenings
California teacher unions fight calls to reopen schools By Howard Blume As parents express widespread dissatisfaction with distance learning, two influential California teachers unions are pushing against growing momentum to reopen schools in many communities, saying that campuses are not yet safe enough amid the pandemic. Leaders with the California ...
State lawmakers hurt charter schools, online learning with funding deal
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Gov. Newsom glaringly failed to fund regular public schools and public charter schools with growing enrollments. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democratic legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget ...
While California Wars Against Charter Schools, Harvard Finds Charter Performance Growth
Like in so many policy areas, California is going in the wrong direction when it comes to charter schools. But while Sacramento is making it hard for charters to grow, a new Harvard University study finds charter-school students are learning more than their regular public school peers. Last year, the ...