Public Schools
Blog
California’s Poor Literacy Rates Makes Case for School Choice
When PRI pointed out a few years ago that California had the highest poverty rate in the nation, it’s fair to say it caught many by surprise. How could the biggest state economy in the country, brimming with tech, entertainment, and financial institution wealth, have so many poor? Turns out ...
Kerry Jackson
March 10, 2022
California
CEQA: The high cost of good intentions
By Chris Carr and Ken Broad California is in a quagmire due in no small part to the weaponization of CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. We are not providing the physical infrastructure befitting the world’s 5th-largest economy and leading crucible of innovation. Too often, critical projects don’t get built, ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 27, 2022
Blog
The Recall Heard ‘Round the Country
It was William F. Buckley who defined a conservative as someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop! But earlier this month, San Francisco residents — a city where Democrats number nearly two-thirds of the voters — decided that it was their turn to yell, Enough! Residents of the City by ...
Rowena Itchon
February 25, 2022
Commentary
PRI Lance Izumi Discusses SF School Board Recall in Northern California Record
Sarah Downey With last week’s overwhelming vote to recall three San Francisco school board members, it’s raising questions about how the referendum could impact public education and politics across California as parents go to the polls in year three of the COVID-19 pandemic. The recall results (72 percent to 79 percent in ...
Pacific Research Institute
February 24, 2022
Blog
The Fight for Greater Transparency in Public Schools
One of the big fallouts of the COVID pandemic has been the revelation of what is being taught in the regular public schools. Some of the most publicized revelations have occurred in California. Last year, it came to light that the Santa Clara Office of Education had conducted a series ...
Lance Izumi
February 17, 2022
Commentary
Failing Public Schools Motivate More Black Families to Homeschool
As the United States observes Black History Month, African-American families are making history by leaving failing public schools and homeschooling their children in record numbers. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, parents, and especially black parents, found public schools incapable of handling the crisis. Even prior to the pandemic, public schools were ...
Lance Izumi
February 16, 2022
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
America’s Cities in Decline
Go Downtown Things will be great when you’re — Downtown No finer place for sure — Downtown Everything’s waiting for you – Petula Clark, 1964 Perhaps I date myself, but I can still remember this 1960s song that captured the allure of the city. Back then, downtown, the proverbial “engine ...
Rowena Itchon
January 14, 2022
California’s Poor Literacy Rates Makes Case for School Choice
When PRI pointed out a few years ago that California had the highest poverty rate in the nation, it’s fair to say it caught many by surprise. How could the biggest state economy in the country, brimming with tech, entertainment, and financial institution wealth, have so many poor? Turns out ...
CEQA: The high cost of good intentions
By Chris Carr and Ken Broad California is in a quagmire due in no small part to the weaponization of CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. We are not providing the physical infrastructure befitting the world’s 5th-largest economy and leading crucible of innovation. Too often, critical projects don’t get built, ...
The Recall Heard ‘Round the Country
It was William F. Buckley who defined a conservative as someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop! But earlier this month, San Francisco residents — a city where Democrats number nearly two-thirds of the voters — decided that it was their turn to yell, Enough! Residents of the City by ...
PRI Lance Izumi Discusses SF School Board Recall in Northern California Record
Sarah Downey With last week’s overwhelming vote to recall three San Francisco school board members, it’s raising questions about how the referendum could impact public education and politics across California as parents go to the polls in year three of the COVID-19 pandemic. The recall results (72 percent to 79 percent in ...
The Fight for Greater Transparency in Public Schools
One of the big fallouts of the COVID pandemic has been the revelation of what is being taught in the regular public schools. Some of the most publicized revelations have occurred in California. Last year, it came to light that the Santa Clara Office of Education had conducted a series ...
Failing Public Schools Motivate More Black Families to Homeschool
As the United States observes Black History Month, African-American families are making history by leaving failing public schools and homeschooling their children in record numbers. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, parents, and especially black parents, found public schools incapable of handling the crisis. Even prior to the pandemic, public schools were ...
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 ...
America’s Cities in Decline
Go Downtown Things will be great when you’re — Downtown No finer place for sure — Downtown Everything’s waiting for you – Petula Clark, 1964 Perhaps I date myself, but I can still remember this 1960s song that captured the allure of the city. Back then, downtown, the proverbial “engine ...