Tag Archives: Topic: School Choice

Bloomberg: Governor Chris Christie said he expects to win passage of a limited school-voucher program this year, even as the state’s largest teachers union tries to block.

Washington Post: A Senate committee Thursday killed a bill that would allow Virginia’s tens of thousands of home-schooled students to play sports at their local high schools.

One News Now: Michael Donnelly of America’s Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is asking home schoolers in the homeland to contact Swedish officials and urge them to stop persecuting parents who are attempting to home school their children.

American Federation for Children: Governor Jan Brewer today signed legislation increasing the amount of maximum allowable donations to the state’s Individual School Tuition Organization Tax Credit Program, a move that is expected to increase access to the nation’s oldest scholarship tax credit program.

Ed News: You won’t believe latest intrusion by government. Homeschooling families will soon be forbidden from teaching that homosexual sex is sinful as part of their schooling program, according to the government of Alberta, Canada.

Washington Post: Scientologists say the “study technique” is non-religious. Critics of Scientology say that the materials use language important in Scientology’s religious teachings, and the program is a way to start indoctrinating young children into Scientology doctrine.

Baptist Press: The U.S.-based Home School Legal Defense Association and the Alliance Defense Fund have filed a brief in a Swedish court on behalf of the Himmelstrands. “Homeschooling is legal in the United States and in many other countries only after decades of tumultuous legislative and legal conflicts,” Michael Donnelly of HSLDA said.

American Federation for Children: Students enrolled in the Milwaukee voucher program are more likely to graduate from high school and go to college than their public school counterparts, boast significantly improved reading scores, represent a more diverse cross-section of the city, and are improving the results of traditional public school students, according to a comprehensive evaluation of the program released today.

LifeSiteNews: Under Alberta’s new Education Act, homeschoolers and faith-based schools will not be permitted to teach that homosexual acts are sinful as part of their academic program, says the spokesperson for Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk.

American Federation for Children: The Georgia House of Representatives today passed legislation that would reinstate a crucial commission charged with authorizing charter schools, the first step in an effort by advocates of educational options to overturn a State Supreme Court decision that struck down the commission last year.

NJE3.org (includes video): Supporters of a bill to give scholarships to tens of thousands of students in failing public schools to attend private and parochial schools rallied on the Statehouse steps today, urging legislators to take action.

One News Now: Wyoming Senate File 44, which dealt with compulsory school attendance, had the potential of jailing and heavily fining parents who home school their children.

Slate Magazine: Could such a go-it-alone ideology ever be truly progressive—by which I mean, does homeschooling serve the interests not just of those who are doing it, but of society as a whole?

The video and a report are available at CBS website. (direct YouTube link)

Education News: For the second time in just months, an attempt to assemble information such as names and addresses on all homeschool students in one Mississippi judicial district and provide those details to judges has been defeated . . .

HSLDA : Himmelstrand and his wife had homeschooled their three children for multiple years before authorities in the municipality where they live denied them permission in 2008. The Himmelstrands currently face fines in excess of $26,000 in U.S. currency for their choice to homeschool. HSLDA and the Alliance Defense Fund have filed a brief in a Swedish appellate court on behalf of the family. | HSLDA press release at Christian Newswire

One News Now: Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), who has been defending the Johansson family, points out that everything about Dominic’s education was legal. “Not only was home schooling legal at the time — it was limited, but it was legal — but Dominic fit into all of the circumstances in which it was legal,” he explains. “There was no evidence, no due process.”

Federation for Children: Despite reauthorization agreement, Obama aims to halt highly-successful Opportunity Scholarship Program.

Charter school teachers fear IRS rules change: A little-noticed proposed change in Internal Revenue Service regulations could have devastating effects for charter school teachers by making them ineligible for state retirement plans, and they could stand to lose much of the money that they already have accrued.

OneNewsNow.com: “That the government should have the right to take children away from their families simply for the act of home education — that is without due process, without any real evidence gathering — that is almost a military state power,” he contends.

A recent European Court of Human Rights ruling increases the pressure on Sweden to return a 10-year-old boy to his parents after the government abducted him from his parents nearly three years ago for being home-schooled.

Fox News: The call from the governor was the latest fallout for New Jersey Education Association Executive Director Vincent Giordano, whose own salary tops $300,000.

Education News: A bill sponsored by California Assemblyman Tony Mendoza that makes it easier for school districts to block charter schools has passed through the Assembly.

American Federation for Children: The leader of New Jersey’s largest teachers union dismissed the plight of low-income families across the state who are in desperate need of high-quality educational choices, saying in a recent local television interview that “life’s not always fair” while arguing against giving expanded educational options to students trapped in failing schools.

Catholic News Agency (CNA): The “unique value” of Catholic education in Philadelphia is being threatened by a shortage of resources, and Pennsylvania Catholics should encourage their legislators to create vouchers to sustain them, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput says.

Religion Clause: Authorities in Gothenburg have formally notified the Namdars that they will be fined the equivalent of $2400 (US) per week if they do not enroll their children in a Swedish school by Feb. 1.

Louisiana Federation for Children: The Louisiana Federation for Children today praised newly-released results of a recent parental satisfaction survey showing overwhelmingly high satisfaction rates from parents with children participating in the New Orleans voucher program.

ADF Attorney Roger Kiska on the Hugh Hewitt Show. | MP3 audio 5:50 mins

ADF Attorney Roger Kiska appeared on the Zeb Bell Show. | MP3 audio 17:10 mins

Religion Clause: A trial court in Arizona’s Maricopa County yesterday rejected state constitutional challenges to the state’s “empowerment scholarship” program that makes school vouchers available to students with special needs so they can attend private or parochial schools.

Alliance for School Choice: More than 210,000 children are participating in publicly funded private school choice programs across the nation, according to the School Choice Yearbook 2011-12—the annual award-winning publication offering the most comprehensive data on the nation’s 27 private school choice programs—released today by the Alliance for School Choice.

The Republic (AP): Harris said he forwarded the proposed rules to his attorney, Joel Oster of the Alliance Defense Fund, and will decide how to proceed after consulting with him.

The New American: The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a U.S.-based conservative legal advocacy group, noted that Edholm’s recommendation comes at a time when home school families in Sweden are under severe assault. The ADF, in partnership with another U.S. group, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), has come to the legal aid of a Swedish home school family whose nine-year-old son was abducted by the Swedish government in 2009. According to an ADF press release, Swedish officials “seized the child because they believe home schooling is an inappropriate way to raise a child and insist the government should raise [him] instead, even though home-schooling was legal in Sweden at the time he was taken into custody.

Center for AZ Policy Foundations Blog: Moments ago, two school choice bills were passed by the Arizona State Senate by a vote of 19-9-1.

Todd Ziebarth, vice president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, on which states are most supportive of charter school growth.

WorldNetDaily: The HSLDA also works with the Alliance Defense Fund to challenge such violations of parental rights. Roger Kiska, a European-based attorney working with the ADF, warned, “Parents have the right and authority to make decisions regarding their children’s education without government interference. Swedish policy on home education is at odds with recognized international legal standards that uphold the right of parents to direct the education of their children. Those standards include the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights documents, all of which recognize that parents have a fundamental right to choose what kind of education their children will receive.”

HSLDA: Roger Kiska is an ADF attorney stationed in Europe who has brought numerous cases before the European Court of Human Rights on family issues, including homeschooling. He says that the European Court of Human Rights has not been particularly supportive of homeschoolers. “The ECHR is giving aid and comfort to Sweden’s repressive home education policies. But ECHR jurisprudence and Swedish, as well as German, policy on home education is at odds with recognized international legal standards that uphold the right of parents to direct the education of their children,” Kiska said. “The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights documents all recognize that parents of children have a fundamental right to choose what kind of education their children will receive. We are committed to working with HSLDA and others to vindicate this right. We will stand with families like the Johanssons and Himmelstrands until we win.”

Christian Newswire: The Home School Legal Defense Association and Alliance Defense Fund and have applied to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of one family whose child was abducted by the government in 2009 and have filed a brief in a Swedish appellate court on behalf of another family fined an amount equivalent to $26,000.

ADF, HSLDA say changes would violate int’l legal standards on human rights

Are school vouchers OK in Arizona?: Andrew F. Morrill, President of the Arizona Education Association, says S.B. 1553 violates our state constitution by diverting public funds to private schools.

NOLA.com: Although charter schools continue to dwarf vouchers in terms of overall growth, voucher programs have rebounded on the national political and educational scene in the past year. In 2011, more than 30 states introduced bills that would use taxpayer dollars to send children to privately run schools, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. That’s up more than 300% from the previous year, when only nine voucher bills were introduced.

Washington Post: A judge upheld Indiana’s school voucher law on Friday, rejecting opponents’ arguments that the largest such program in the nation unconstitutionally uses public money to support religion. | Meredith v. Daniels (Ind. Super. Ct. (Marion Co.) Jan. 13, 2012)

Mcall.com: Preliminary state audit report finds Pocono Mountain Charter School had ‘improper entanglements’ with Tobyhanna church.

American Federation for Children: Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell yesterday announced an expansive education reform agenda for the 2012 legislative session that is poised to significantly expand educational options through creation of a scholarship tax credit program for the state’s low-income families.

ADF Attorney Dave Cortman on Koinonia (KPXQ AM 1360) with Tom Brown: The Idaho charter challenge at the Supreme Court. | MP3 audio 12:19 mins

One News Now: “The mere fact that a classical text is religious does not mean it has no educational value,” contends ADF attorney David Cortman. “In fact, the Supreme Court itself has clearly acknowledged this, and that’s why it should hear the case.” . . . “It’s ridiculous that a historical, religious text that has been studied as part of Western civilization for centuries is somehow automatically off-limits,” the attorney argues. “When government officials ban the objective study of all religious texts, including the most important literary works of all times, it only contributes to the further dumbing down of government-run education.”

Education News: Parent organizers from San Diego and Lynwood on Wednesday rallied against what they called inaccurate and misleading union dispatches to teachers on the controversial parent trigger law, which allows parents at low-performing schools to force their campus to convert to a charter and hire new teachers, or change its administration.

Religion Clause: The Orange County Register last month, in an editorial, reported on a lawsuit filed on Dec. 9 against the Compton (CA Unified School District challenging its two denials of a charter school application filed by a Christian minister.

Idaho Press-Tribune (12/29): It’s generally accepted that federal law trumps state law. So the Alliance Defense Fund, which has taken up the case on behalf of NCA, has legitimate reason to believe it has a valid argument. But if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t agree to hear the case, it doesn’t matter how strong it is. The odds aren’t very good. But it would benefit Idaho greatly if it does happen.

WorldNetDaily: Michael Donnelly, director of international relations at Home School Legal Defense Association, says this decision offers a glimmer of light in the case. “I am hopeful that this is the beginning of the end to the horrific treatment these people have suffered at the hands of Swedish authorities over the past two and a half years,” he said. “The Johansson family have endured unspeakable tyranny over their decision to homeschool their child and then to attempt to leave Sweden. Sweden’s behavior in this case has been shocking.” His organization and representatives of the Alliance Defense Fund are pursuing a case over the custody battle before the European Court of Human Rights

Religion Clause Blog: Alliance Defense Fund announced yesterday that it has filed a petition for certiorari (full text) with the Supreme Court in Napa Classical Academy v. Goesling

Idaho Press-Tribune: Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday that asks the court to weigh in on the now-defunct Nampa Classical Academy’s lawsuit against Idaho state officials for prohibiting the use of the Bible in the school’s curriculum.

Idaho Press-Tribune (AP): “If the commission’s misinterpretation of state law is allowed to stand, all Idaho public school and university students will be subject to the ban,” the Alliance Defense Fund said in a statement issued Wednesday.

ADF seeks review of 9th Circuit ruling that upheld ban on all religious, Western Civ. texts from objective study in every public school, university

ADF Attorney Benjamin Bull at Townhall : All Domenic Johansson really wants for Christmas is his life back . . . In this season, as so many of us are thinking – as we should – of the children who don’t have toys or a turkey for Christmas, let us also remember those children who long not just for something to eat or play with, but for the freedom to honor the deepest convictions of their souls.

Sunshine State News: Attorney General Pam Bondi has resubmitted ballot language a week after a Leon County judge agreed with critics that the wording of the “Religious Freedom” amendment was too “ambiguous.” The revised ballot summary for Amendment 7 on the November 2012 ballot adopts suggestions from Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis, the attorney general’s office stated in a release.

Education News: Hawaii’s Charter School Review Panel has “misinterpreted state law and minimized its role in the system’s accountability structure”, says an audit of the state’s charter school system, writes Katherine Poythress at Honolulu Civil Beat.

HSLDA : Christer and Annie Johansson have won a small but hopeful victory in their quest to regain custody of their nine-year-old son Domenic who was taken from them over 2 years ago in a dramatic raid while the family was seated on an airliner departing the Nordic country. Ruby Harrold-Claesson, the couple’s attorney, reported to HSLDA that the Gotland District Court ruled in favor of the Johanssons, allowing them to retain their parental rights of Domenic . . . HSLDA continues to work with the Alliance Defense Fund and Harrold-Claesson at the European Court of Human Rights representing the family in their lawsuit against Sweden.

HSLDA: On Tuesday, December 13, the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing on S. 1877, a bill to require all adults to be mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect. HSLDA believes that this bill will create a police-state reporting environment that will lead to baseless investigations of innocent families, and actually hurt at-risk children. HSLDA opposes S. 1877.

OneNewsNow.com: A religious freedom ballot issue is slowly moving forward in Florida. Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel explains that the Florida constitutional amendment is opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union and teachers unions because it could lead to school vouchers allowing parents to send their children to religious and private schools.

A Florida judge has removed a constitutional amendment from the 2012 election ballot that would have deleted the state’s ban on using taxpayer money “in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”

Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice: This year, the New Mexico state legislature considered legislation to offer individuals and corporations tax credits for donating to nonprofits that distribute private school scholarships. That idea, also promoted by Gov. Susana Martinez, was supported by 62 percent of surveyed voters in New Mexico.

HSLDA: New truancy enforcement laws have sparked criminal charges against several homeschool families in Nebraska. A Dawson County Sheriff’s deputy actually threatened to remove one family’s children unless they enrolled them in public school.

Federation for Children: “We vote you in!” “We’ll vote you out!” The chant was at first a bit difficult to hear, but after a few refrains—and a steady increase in volume—the message to the men and women working in the building in front of the crowd couldn’t be denied.

Wisconsin State Journal: First it was the ACLU, then the unions. Now the Madison-based Freedom from Religion Foundation is joining the list of organizations speaking out against Madison Preparatory Academy.

Freedom from Religion Foundation: A new Madison, Wis., public charter school set to operate in a former church has drawn the attention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. FFRF is also asking for a review of why the property has maintained tax-exempt status while it’s been vacant and not being used for worship services.

Russ Cochran at Memoria Press: Recently, Rush Limbaugh tied his whole brain, not just half of it, behind his back. In the process he ended up sounding a whole lot like the cultural barbarians he claims to be fighting.

San Jose Mercury News: An appellate court this week refused to hear the Los Altos School District’s case against Bullis Charter School, setting up either a possible showdown in the California Supreme Court or an end to the long-running legal dispute. For Bullis officials, Monday’s court outcome was an affirmation that the school district had discriminated against it by failing to provide adequate facilities as required by state law.

Swiss parents are not allowed to school their children at home via webcam. The Federal Supreme Court ruled that children’s social skills were not sufficiently nurtured by such an arrangement.

NCRegister.com: Bishop Braxton has concluded that it’s time for U.S. Church leaders to reassess their dependence on government funds: “While many Catholics still advocate for government-funded vouchers to cover tuition at parochial schools, I am wondering if this even remains an option, when government funds comes with strings attached.”

Louisiana Federation for Children: The Louisiana Federation for Children (LFC) today celebrated the bipartisan victories of numerous school choice supporters to the Louisiana Legislature and state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) during the Saturday, Nov. 19, statewide general elections.

NCPA Policy Digest: Over the last decade, the expansion of school voucher programs, which let some students use taxpayer dollars to pay tuition at private schools of their choice, slowed considerably. Losses in statewide referenda and in state Supreme Courts made vouchers an even tougher political sell than they had been in the past. However, this trend took a drastic reversal in 2011. . .

Baptist Press: “The government shouldn’t abduct and imprison children simply because it doesn’t like homeschooling,” ADF legal counsel Roger Kiska said. “That’s bad enough. But now the state is going even further by attempting to get the parents out of the way altogether. This simply cannot stand.”

Federation for Children: The Georgia Department of Revenue this week approved $50 million in donations to provide scholarships to students to attend private schools under the Georgia Scholarship Tax Credit Program.

The Republic (AP): Harris, R-West Fork, has said he thought religious displays are permitted if paid for with private money. Harris said he met Tuesday with a lawyer from the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which works to preserve religious freedom. The attorney is planning to meet with state officials, Harris said