Public Schools
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
Charter Schools
Lessons from California’s Charter Schools of the Year
The Oakland Charter Academy in northern California and the Our Community Charter School in the San Fernando Valley have won the Hart Vision “Charter School of the Year” award from the California Charter Schools Association. “These exemplary charter schools should be studied and their best practices replicated in the broader ...
Evelyn B. Stacey
May 1, 2009
Commentary
Virtual Ventures Expand Choice for K-12 Students
Not long ago, online courses were programs only for universities and vocational schools. But today, online offerings at public elementary, middle, and high schools are gaining ground, bringing more choices to parents, students, and teachers in the world of K-12 education. Connections Academy, launched in 2002, has led the charge ...
Evelyn B. Stacey
May 1, 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
Fuzzy funding for L.A. County schools make little sense
CALIFORNIA’S fiscal outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association, along with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, claims California’s per-pupil funding now ranks 47th nationally. Most experts agree California is around the ...
Vicki E. Murray
April 29, 2009
Commentary
Court Rules Tax-Credit Scholarship Program Constitutional
On April 21, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a tax-credit scholarship program remains constitutional under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling marks the latest failure by opponents of parental choice in education to halt the program and spells good news for California. Choice opponents ...
Vicki E. Murray
April 23, 2009
Business & Economics
Prop. 1A’s passage would open doors to more taxation
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian gave California taxpayers a $1.1 billion rebate. Due to the Gann spending limit enacted in 1979, named after Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann, the state had a budget surplus, making the rebate mandatory. Subsequent ballot measures, however, rendered the limit meaningless. Now we are being ...
MargaretA. Bengs
April 20, 2009
Business & Economics
The Left’s pension dilemma
You know the pension tsunami is getting close to shore when the mainstream media are filled with hard-hitting stories about the coming crisis, such as the front-page article April 11 in the Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee, documenting the manner in which huge pension costs for retired public employees “threaten ...
Steven Greenhut
April 16, 2009
Commentary
New California School Finance Center Database Brings Transparency to Public Education Finance
With the state’s budget deficit worsening, concern grows over the impact on school funding and Californians seek a way to make informed decisions about education policies affecting millions of school children each year. The just-launched California School Finance Center online database brings much-needed transparency amidst the charges and countercharges. The ...
Vicki E. Murray
April 2, 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 ...
Lessons from California’s Charter Schools of the Year
The Oakland Charter Academy in northern California and the Our Community Charter School in the San Fernando Valley have won the Hart Vision “Charter School of the Year” award from the California Charter Schools Association. “These exemplary charter schools should be studied and their best practices replicated in the broader ...
Virtual Ventures Expand Choice for K-12 Students
Not long ago, online courses were programs only for universities and vocational schools. But today, online offerings at public elementary, middle, and high schools are gaining ground, bringing more choices to parents, students, and teachers in the world of K-12 education. Connections Academy, launched in 2002, has led the charge ...
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 ...
Fuzzy funding for L.A. County schools make little sense
CALIFORNIA’S fiscal outlook continues to worsen. Concern is now mounting over the impact the state’s budget deficit will have on education funding. The California Teachers Association, along with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, claims California’s per-pupil funding now ranks 47th nationally. Most experts agree California is around the ...
Court Rules Tax-Credit Scholarship Program Constitutional
On April 21, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a tax-credit scholarship program remains constitutional under the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling marks the latest failure by opponents of parental choice in education to halt the program and spells good news for California. Choice opponents ...
Prop. 1A’s passage would open doors to more taxation
In 1987, Gov. George Deukmejian gave California taxpayers a $1.1 billion rebate. Due to the Gann spending limit enacted in 1979, named after Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann, the state had a budget surplus, making the rebate mandatory. Subsequent ballot measures, however, rendered the limit meaningless. Now we are being ...
The Left’s pension dilemma
You know the pension tsunami is getting close to shore when the mainstream media are filled with hard-hitting stories about the coming crisis, such as the front-page article April 11 in the Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee, documenting the manner in which huge pension costs for retired public employees “threaten ...
New California School Finance Center Database Brings Transparency to Public Education Finance
With the state’s budget deficit worsening, concern grows over the impact on school funding and Californians seek a way to make informed decisions about education policies affecting millions of school children each year. The just-launched California School Finance Center online database brings much-needed transparency amidst the charges and countercharges. The ...