December 2007 School Reform News

The December issue of School Reform News reports on the November 6 referendum on Utah's universal voucher program, which was defeated by a well-funded national teachers union campaign of misinformation. Also on page 1:

• Three members of the board of directors of the Show-Me Institute, a free-market think tank, helped make Missouri the latest state to strike down a lawsuit claiming inadequate funding for education.

• Newark's public schools took their first steps back to local control in mid-October.

• The 2007 edition of "The Nation's Report Card" yielded mixed results.

Also in this issue: NCLB reauthorization, state aid to school districts, textbooks, teacher sexual misconduct, the Wisconsin Covenant, charter schools, choice in Tuscaloosa, vertical equity funding, site-based school management, and distance learning. Steven Milloy reviews two children's books on global warming; Jim Waters reviews Feds in the Classroom by Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute; and Matthew Ladner reviews Not as Good as You Think: Why the Middle Class Needs School Choice by a team of Pacific Research Institute scholars.