Opinion
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A Strategy to Improve Student Achievement
Opinion -State legislatures and Congress could place an "indelible positive stamp on the Nation's future" if, instead of mandating specific approaches to school reform (such as reduced class sizes), they mandated research into how schools can be improved, argues -
Opponents Fail to Dilute Minnesota Tax Credits
Opinion -The Minnesota legislature adjourned on April 9 without passing any of the three bills that threatened to dilute the state's new tax credit and expanded tax deduction for educational expenses. -
“What’s Recess?”
Opinion -When the Cleveland Avenue grammar school was built two years ago, it had no playground. But none was necessary because the Atlanta public schools had eliminated recess as a time-waster. Students are now confined in school with no free time from 8 a.m. -
Pennsylvania Teachers Union Attacks Local Choice Plan
Opinion -The Institute for Justice, a Washington, DC-based public interest law firm that is the nation's leading legal defender of school choice, announced on April 16 that it will defend the Southeast Delaware County school choice program against a court -
05/1998 School Choice Roundup
Opinion -California * Colorado * Connecticut Pennsylvania * Texas * Wisconsin CALIFORNIA Toy Teaches Phonics When Mike Wood's pre-school son had trouble sounding out letters seven years ago, Wood helped teach him to read by using phonics. -
Unions Oppose Privatization
Opinion -Privatization and performance contracting are two of several “deleterious programs” identified by the National Education Association, which has a specific staff member available to call "for help in fighting privatization. -
Business and Academic Leaders Join Call for Regulatory Reform
Opinion -As prospects for regulatory reform in this session of Congress fade, a nonpartisan group of business and education leaders has called for a major overhaul of the way Congress writes regulatory legislation. -
Study: Synthetic Chemicals Not Major Cause of Cancer
Opinion -Human exposure to carcinogenic pesticides is minuscule compared to the “background” exposure to carcinogens produced by nature, according to a new report from two of the nation’s leading cancer experts. -
States Protest Environmental Justice Plan
Opinion -Top state environmental officials have formally urged EPA to rescind the environmental justice interim guidance. -
Study Questions Proposed Superfund Exemption for Municipalities
Opinion -With Congress once again poised to miss an opportunity to overhaul the nation’s costly hazardous waste cleanup program, a Washington-based think tank contends that a key component of popular Superfund reform proposals is seriously flawed. -
Reg Reform Bill Wins Endorsements
Opinion -The Regulatory Improvement Act of 1998 has been endorsed by the nation’s most prominent state and local government organizations, including the Council of State Governments, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Governors Association, -
Special Report: Global Warming Benefits May Exceed Risks
Opinion -Pundits, politicians, and the press have argued that global warming will bring disaster to the world. Their dire predictions aside, there are many good reasons to believe that, if global warming occurs, we will like it. -
McIntosh, Kucinich Introduce Small Business Paperwork Bill
Opinion -In an effort to slow the avalanche of federal paperwork they believe stifles productivity and job creation generated by America’s small businesses, Representatives David McIntosh (R-Indiana) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced on March 3 bipartisan -
Never Count a Regulator Out
Opinion -The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently attempted to designate the Manistee River a Natural River. -
Michigan Rivers Act Foreshadows Dangers of American Heritage Rivers
Opinion -Since 1970, Michigan residents have been living with what many fear is the prototype for the Clinton administration’s American Heritage Rivers Initiative (AHRI): the Michigan Natural Rivers Act. -
Outsourcing Could Save $$ for Alabama Schools
Opinion -According to a recent study of Alabama schools, outsourcing noninstructional services provides an excellent opportunity to use existing revenue sources to increase funds for teaching. -
Schools Urged to Apply Business Tools to Improve Performance
Opinion -While recognizing that schools are not businesses, and educating students is not the same as making widgets in factories or processing documents in offices, an education consultant contends that schools still can learn many valuable lessons from the -
Credibility of Indiana U. Voucher Study Questioned
Opinion -Although a new evaluation of the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Pilot Program shows that 94 out of 3,000 voucher students score no better than students in public schools, a researcher is questioning the credibility of the base test scores used by the -
Thompson-Levin Regulatory Improvement Bill Wins Converts
Opinion -A strong bipartisan regulatory improvement bill is advancing in the U.S. Senate. According to one of its lead sponsors, Senator Fred Thompson (R-Tennessee), S. -
The British Are Coming … and Bringing School Reform Lessons
Opinion -Although Americans rejected certain aspects of the British system of government more than two hundred years ago, it is still instructive to compare how the two countries view the appropriate role of government in areas of common interest. -
Engineers Blast U.S. Education, Embrace Charter Schools
Opinion -The nation's education system, ill-prepared to equip today's students for the technology-oriented workplace of the twenty-first century, is in need of systemic reform, according to a special report in the April issue of the engineering trade journal IEEE -
How to Achieve Success for School Choice
Opinion -Although many consider support from politicians to be key to the success of an education reform proposal, a prominent school choice advocate warns that politicians are only one element of a successful reform campaign. -
Courts Spur Tax Revolts, Not Better Schools
Opinion -New Hampshire legislators are struggling to devise a response to last December's ruling from their Supreme Court, which found that the state's current method of funding public schools with local property taxes is unconstitutional and that the state has -
Index of Leading Environmental Indicators Dispels Popular Myths
Opinion -Though the public continues to express a great deal of pessimism and anxiety about the environment, a recently completed wide-ranging analysis of environmental trends in the U.S. and Canada shows that such fears are misplaced.