National Training Workshop Scheduled for January

Published December 1, 1998

Declining to rest on its laurels after a banner year of program growth, CEO America is working to maintain the growing momentum for school choice, moving forward with efforts to expand the number of privately funded voucher programs throughout the United States.

To facilitate this expansion, CEO America will host a national training workshop to guide those persons who may wish to establish a private scholarship funds through the steps needed to launch a program in their own city. The workshop will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, January 14-16, 1999.

While Phoenix in mid-January will have its attractions and distractions, the National Training Workshop will be an intensive “nuts and bolts” conference with a special emphasis on fundraising and a lot of time for Q & A and discussion. Those wishing to attend should complete and return the response form belong along with a $95 registration fee made payable to CEO America. Since space is limited, an early response is recommended to CEO America, PO Box 330, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712.

Further information on the National Training Workshop is available at CEO America’s web site at www.ceoamerica.org, where a tentative agenda and registration form are posted, together with travel and hotel information. Troy Williamson is available to answer any questions about the conference by calling 501/273-6957 or sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Since the Last Workshop . . .

The climate for school choice has changed considerably since CEO America’s last training workshop in October 1997. Not only did the private voucher movement experience significant growth in the number of programs and students served, but many of the new programs were established in such a way as to help answer long-standing open questions about the effects of school choice on students, parents, public schools, and school districts.

CEO Horizon

The most noteworthy of these new programs is CEO Horizon in San Antonio, Texas. There, following the lead of Virginia Gilder in Albany, the first district-wide school choice program was established in the Edgewood School District. With a total ten-year commitment estimated at $50 million, CEO Horizon is offering all 14,000 children in the district a scholarship voucher worth up to $4,000 per child.

New Programs

In addition to CEO Horizon, the following new private voucher programs have opened this fall:

Alabama – Birmingham (150 students)
California – San Francisco (400 students)
California – San Francisco Guardsmen (25 students)
Connecticut – Hartford (200 students)
Florida – Miami (100 students)
Ohio – Dayton (850 students)
Kentucky – Louisville (300 students)
Minnesota – Minneapolis (80 students)
Tennessee – Chattanooga (250 students)
Tennessee – Memphis (150 students)

Children’s Scholarship Fund

Established by Ted Forstmann and John Walton with a total commitment of $200 million, the Children’s Scholarship Fund will offer matching grants to new and existing privately funded voucher programs in 38 cities across the country. These programs will award some $140 million in scholarships to at least 35,000 children for a four-year period.