Tag Archives: Topic: School Choice

Kyle Olson at Townhall : The embarrassing attendance underlined one major truth – there is no mass movement to maintain the status quo in our nation’s public schools. The only people defending the current system are those who profit from it, like the leaders of the nation’s teachers unions.

AP: As of mid-July, at least 30 states had introduced bills that would use taxpayer dollars to send children to private schools, most limited to poor or special needs children, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

OneNewsNow.com: With the increasing national popularity of school choice and reform legislation, teachers unions are ramping up their attacks against school-choice advocates.

OneNewsNow.com: The Institute for Justice has announced it will defend the Indiana school choice program in court against groups that feel their monopoly over public education is threatened.

CBS: Sources familiar with the decision said that Emanuel’s son and two daughters will be enrolled in the private and prestigious University of Chicago Lab School in Hyde Park.

The Morning Call: The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia heard arguments Thursday on whether charter schools can sue their parent districts — a question Judge Marjorie O. Rendell called hugely important for the future of charter schools in Pennsylvania.

Americans United, Allied Groups Oppose Taxpayer Funding of Religious Schools In Washington, D.C. | Americans United: Americans United for Separation of Church and State has joined 52 educational, religious and public policy groups in calling on Congress not to divert taxpayer dollars to religious and other private schools in the District of Columbia.

Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service via National Catholic Reporter: David Cortman, senior counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, which argued for both the National Day of Prayer and for the Arizona tuition credit program, is not surprised about strategies to move to the state courts. “If they can’t challenge them in federal courts, they’ll certainly challenge them in states,” he said, “but we’ll also be there to defend those programs.”

WSJ.com: School may be out for the summer, but school choice is in, as states across the nation have moved to expand education opportunities for disadvantaged kids. This year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time.

Reuters: The Indiana State Teachers Association on Friday filed suit against the state, asking a court to block implementation of the country’s largest private school voucher program.

American Federation for Children: In total, 11 states and the U.S. Congress passed school choice legislation in just the first six months of 2011 . . .

Religion Clause: Minnesota federal district court yesterday refused to issue a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction to allow the Tarek ibn Ziyad Acedmy to continue to operate after the July 1 expiration of the contract with its current sponsor.

OneNewsNow.com: The Institute for Justice has filed an intervention on behalf of Colorado school board to defend their school-choice program.

American Federation for Children: Two of Ohio’s existing school choice offerings will be significantly expanded and the state will become the first in the country with four different school voucher programs after Gov. John Kasich today signed into law a state budget that considerably increases the number of educational options available to Buckeye State families.

American Federation for Children: With the support of 65 percent of Democrats in the legislature, North Carolina this morning enacted a new, $6,000 tax credit benefiting families of children with disabilities.

American Federation for Children: In approving the state budget, Walker enacted a significant expansion of the popular Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. The state’s 2011-2013 budget contains language that increases income eligibility for the program and removes the cap on the number of participants. The budget also allows children in Milwaukee to attend the private schools of their parents’ choice—anywhere in Wisconsin.

ACLU: Three civil liberties organizations filed suit today in Denver District Court to challenge a school voucher plan adopted by the Douglas County School District. The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued on behalf of a group of parents, clergy and other taxpayers who oppose the program’s effort to divert taxpayer money to primarily religious, private schools. | Complaint: LaRue v. Colorado Board of Education

American Federation for Children: Thousands of additional Wisconsin children will have access to greater educational options following Thursday night’s passage of budget provisions that will significantly expand the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) in size and scope.

American Federation for Children: Forty-two states have introduced legislation in 2011 to create or expand school voucher and scholarship tax credit programs, according to an analysis completed today by the American Federation for Children — the nation’s voice for school choice.

AJC.com: The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday declined to reconsider a recent decision that declared the state’s charter school law unconstitutional and which left an estimated 16,500 students wondering where they would be getting an education next school year.

Brooke Terry at EducationNews.org: Texans for Voluntary Taxpayer Savings addresses misconceptions about federal control, private schools and school choice in Texas’s SB 1 bill.

ACLU: The American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights Wisconsin today called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the systematic discrimination against and exclusion of students with disabilities in Wisconsin’s school voucher program

ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on the Jody Hice Show to discuss this the recent victory in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. | MP3 audio 16:38 mins

ADF attorney David Cortman at Townhall Magazine: The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Alliance Defense Fund case Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn is no small victory.

EducationNews.org: As the Texas House is set to consider budget cuts that have already passed the state Senate, public school unions are rallying the troops to protest

ADF attorney available to media after 9th Circuit hears arguments regarding charter school blocked from using books deemed ‘religious’

Our Sunday Visitor: That leads to a subtle anti-clericalism, he said, because the children learn that priests cannot be counted on to hand on the faith. It shows in what he sees as a dearth of vocations from home-school families. “Why would you want to join the club if its members can’t be trusted to their jobs?” he said.

AP: Agassi, who operates an award-winning charter school in Las Vegas, said Thursday the biggest impediment to charter school growth is finding adequate facilities to house students.

Heritage Foundation: Finding effective solutions to our nation’s education problems is one of the most pressing issues facing America today. Many children lack quality educational options and are too often relegated to attending low-performing schools.

Today, a slim majority of Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled (in a 4 to 3 decision) that the law creating the Georgia Charter Schools Commission is unconstitutional. At stake in the ruling are no less than 16 charter schools serving approximately 15,000 children across the state.

Ohio.com: “The Ohio House of Representatives is considering legislation that would make those vouchers available to any parent who met income requirements, regardless of the quality of the public schools their children attend.”

Wasau Daily Herald: Milwaukee’s voucher school program would be expanded under a Republican-backed bill expected to pass the state Assembly on Tuesday.

LA Times: “A hasty legal maneuver by top Los Angeles school officials will not fend off a legal challenge of their decision to turn over low-performing Clay Middle School to a charter-school organization, The Times has learned.”

Education News: Governor Tom Corbett, a former history and civics teacher, detailed his measures to increase school choice and combat teachers union power.

Greg Forster at Public Discourse: You haven’t heard about it, but for over a year the U.S. Department of Education has been quietly working behind the scenes to establish national control of K-12 education curriculum.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels on Thursday signed into law a plan giving Indiana the nation’s most sweeping private school voucher program.

Donald J. Boudreaux at the Wall Street Journal (via Google): What if groceries were paid for by taxes, and you were assigned a store based on where you

Religion Clause Blog: Last week, the Tulsa World reported that a number of Oklahoma parents of students with special needs have filed a federal lawsuit against Broken Arrow, Union, Jenks and Tulsa public school districts after those districts announced they would not comply with a 2010 state law setting up a voucher program for students with disabilities.

The New American: A ban on public funding for religious organizations, written into Florida’s constitution in the 1880s, would be repealed under a bill now before the state’s legislature. The Associated Press reported that the bill, HJR 1471, won approval in the state House on April 27, but its companion measure, SB 1218, was stalled in the state Senate.

Education News: New Jersey’s outspoken governor encouraged listeners to challenge the entrenched power of teachers unions to make progress in fixing public education.

Jason Riley at Wall Street Journal (via Google): A study published last year found that D.C. voucher recipients had graduation rates of 91%. That’s significantly higher than the public school average of 56%.

Van Baren, Bruce, The Wall Comes Tumbling Down: The Establishment Clause Collides with School Choice (April 27, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1824804

Irish Times: THE DEPARTMENT of Education should take all reasonable measures to ensure parents have a choice of school patron, according to a new report by an expert group.

Howard Rich at Townhall: Well, as cash-strapped public sector unions find themselves beset by a rising tide of legislation targeting their benefits, collective bargaining and recruitment tools – they are becoming less inclined (and less able) to fight against parental choice plans. In fact, they must defend their bread and butter issues first – or risk losing everything.

John Norquist at Wall Street Journal (via Google): “Many more middle-class parents would live in big cities if they could pick the public schools.”

Education News: Critics are protesting Ohio Governor John Kasich’s plan toexpand scholarships for students wanting to attend private schools at the same time as he’s cutting $1.8 billion in public school funding, Cincinnati.com reports.

Michael Flaherty at the Wall Street Journal: Mr. Tulloss is the chairman of Parent Revolution, a grass-roots organization that has shocked the education establishment in California with a simple premise: Parents should have more say in the fate of their neighborhood schools. That’s because they are the one group in the education debate without a conflict of interest—their interests are entirely aligned with their children’s. Parent Revolution has made national news in its ongoing attempt to use California’s new “parent trigger” law, which allows parents to transform a failing school by, among other things, replacing it with a charter school.

The Republican-controlled state legislature handed Daniels a huge victory Wednesday when the House voted 55-43 to give final approval to a bill creating the voucher program that would allow even middle-class families to use taxpayer money to send their children to private schools.

ADF attorney Doug Napier on the Hugh Hewitt Show.| MP3 audio 5:39 mins | Decision Points: An Evening with George W. Bush | Thousands of children’s educations saved at U.S. Supreme Court | Victory for academic freedom: 4th Circuit says professor’s speeches, columns protected by First Amendment

Heritage Foundation: Last Thursday, the Indiana Senate approved what could become the nation’s largest school voucher program. If signed by Governor Mitch Daniels (R), the plan will allow children throughout the state to use a scholarship to attend a private school of their choice.

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, at the Wall Street Journal (via Google): “A month ago, education ministers and teachers union presidents from the 16 top-performing and improving countries—including Finland, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil and Canada—came to New York to participate in an international conference on public education sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the U.S. Department of Education. The education leaders of these countries presented with impressive clarity all the methods they are using to improve student learning and strengthen teacher quality.”

TwinCities.com: A federal judge on Wednesday shot down a Twin Cities charter school’s bid to dismiss an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit claiming it promotes Islam, clearing the way for a summer trial.

Jordan Lorence at Human Events: The Supreme Court’s decision to throw out the challenge to Arizona’s tuition tax credit plan gives needed breathing room to that state’s emerging and innovative school-choice system. It also imposes common-sense requirements on opponents of school choice, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which now must come to court with people who have been actually harmed by the tax credit plan, and have more than just generalized complaints against it based on extreme notions of “separation of church and state.”

Religion Clause Blog: Today, the U.S. Supreme Court disposed summarily of Arizona School Choice Trust v. Winn, (Docket No. 09-988) granting certiorari and remanding the case to the 9th Circuit for further proceedings.

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence at the Speak Up Movement University Blog: Self-rule for the District of Columbia is an important topic for consideration, but many will find it difficult to support if it means more abortions and fewer children able to attend private schools.

“Brewer nixed House Bill 2581 on Tuesday, citing worries that it would drain the general fund. The bill passed the Senate, 21-7, and the House, 39-21. Lawmakers could call for a vote to override the veto but would need at least one more vote to get the required two-thirds support.”

Education News: Republicans are delaying the vote to shore up waning support while Democrats dispute the bill’s true cost.

Bill Frezza at Forbes: Arguing that declining to tax someone is not the same as giving them a government handout, the majority reinforced the idea that not all wealth is owned by the government, which only deigns to let us keep some at its pleasure.

hen President Obama outlines his tax-increase plan on Wednesday, it’ll be based on the liberal assumption that all money belongs to the government, with Americans retaining only what bureaucrats allow. That’s the dangerous argument Supreme CourtJustice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, made last week in a case on education funding.

ADF attorney Dave Cortman appeared on KRLD News Radio 1080 with Mitch Carr to discuss this ruling in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. | MP3 audio 3:10 mins

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco appeared on the radio to discuss this: ADF attorneys win Arizona parental-choice-in-education case. | Talk from the Heart with Rich Buhler, MP3 audio 9:24 mins | Kresta in the Afternoon, MP3 audio 9:27 mins

“With Arizona’s old voucher plan deemed unconstitutional, a new plan lets parents access an account to decide where their child attends school – with limits.”

Clint Bolick at the Sonoran Alliance: “Monday the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the latest challenge to Arizona’s tuition scholarship tax-credit program, which provides dollar-for-dollar tax credits for contributions to private school scholarships . . . Later in the week, the Arizona Legislature increased the amount of the tax credit for the scholarship program from $1,000 to $1,500 per couple. Then on Thursday, the Arizona Legislature became the first in the country to approve education savings accounts, an idea born at the Goldwater Institute . . . ”

ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the victory for parental choice in education at the U.S. Supreme Court. | MP3 audio 11:15 mins

Religion Clause Blog: “AP reports that the compromise reinstates a ban on the District of Columbia using its own local tax funds to pay for abortions for poor women.  Also, according to World Magazine, the President agreed to include the SOAR Act as part of the final budget bill.  The act reopens the voucher program . . . ”

Heritage Foundation: Friday night, House Speaker John Boehner (R–OH) secured a huge win for D.C.’s schoolchildren. In a triumph for low-income families in the nation’s capital, Boehner succeeded in reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) in the long-term continuing resolution.

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show with a guest host to discus the Arizona school choice victory at the U.S. Supreme Court. | MP3 audio 16:04 mins

ADF attorney Greg Baylor appeared on KDCR, Conversations with Carl Zylstra to discuss this: ADF attorneys win Arizona parental-choice-in-education case. | MP3 audio 21:13 mins

Education News: Denver’s 79,000 students are increasingly turning to school options beyond their original campus assignments.

Stop the ACLU: The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) was thrilled to hear the decision. “Parents should be able to choose what’s best for their own children. This ruling empowers parents to do just that,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “Parents should decide what schools their children attend and where their money goes. The ACLU failed in its attempt to eliminate school choice for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide and also failed to demonstrate that it had any constitutional basis for its clients to file suit in the first place.”

In a bill passed by a 27-1 vote, the state Senate has increased donation limits from $500 to $750. The bill also removes donation limits for corporations and insurance companies.

NCPA Policy Digest: In recent decades, many calls for transformative change in American schooling have advocated school choice. Yet these calls themselves have too often accepted the orthodoxies of the 19th century schoolhouse. Working with the Walton Family Foundation’s Bruno Manno, Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, offers a more promising vision for 21st century, choice-centered reform.

ADF attorney Erik Stanley writes at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: My colleague David Cortmanposted a blog about the recent Supreme Court victory in ACSTO v. Winn.  As he points out, there are many great things to celebrate about that case.  I thought I would highlight one other positive development from that case . . .

Mercator.net: The high court agreed 5–4 with the arguments of Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against an Arizona program that promotes school choice.

ADF attorney Dave Cortman appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the ruling in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. | MP3 audio 5:55 mins