Opinion
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Private Schools Safer for Teachers and Students
Opinion -According to a new government report, the rate of violent crime against students is almost twice as high in public schools as in private schools. -
A Victory for Vouchers–in the School Boardroom
Opinion -It was the kind of news neither friends nor foes of the school choice movement had expected anytime soon--bannered across the front page of a local newspaper the day after the November 4 school board election in Colorado Springs, Colorado: “Reformists -
Texas Voucher Program Produces Benefits for All Children
Opinion -School choice produces benefits not only for students who make use of the voucher to transfer to a private school, but also for students who remain in the public school system, according to a new study on the outcomes of the HORIZON Program, a -
01/2004 Friedman Report: School Choice Roundup
Opinion -Colorado * Connecticut * Illinois * Louisiana * Michigan Minnesota * New Jersey * Vermont COLORADO “Educate Me. -
Education and Capitalism: an exclusive interview with Joseph L. Bast
Opinion -Although there are many major players in the school choice movement--and School Reform News has interviewed many of them over the past seven years--it was Heartland Institute President Joseph L. -
Competition, Choice, and Privatization
Opinion -Education and Capitalism: How Overcoming Our Fear of Markets and Economics Can Improve America’s Schools Herbert J. Walberg and Joseph L. Bast (Hoover Institution Press, 2003, 362 pages, ISBN: 8179-3971-7 $25.00 cloth, ISBN: 8179-3972-5 $15. -
Charter School Legislation: Data Tables
Opinion -States With No Charter Laws Alabama Kentucky Maine Montana North Dakota Nebraska South Dakota Vermont Washington West Virginia Growth of Charter Schools Year # of Charter Schools 1991 0 1992 1 1993 36 1994 84 1995 251 -
Judge Orders Billion-Dollar Tax Hike in Kansas
Opinion -In a December 2 ruling sure to haunt the governor and lawmakers in the 2004 legislative session, a Topeka judge declared the Kansas school finance system unconstitutional and gave lawmakers until July 1, 2004 to fix it. -
Key Dates in Kansas School Finance History
Opinion -November 8, 1966: Voters approve a constitutional amendment establishing a 10-member State Board of Education having “general supervision” over public schools, with the legislature required to “make suitable provision for finance of the educational -
DC Vouchers in Limbo, IRS Probes NEA
Opinion -DC Vouchers in Limbo As most Members of Congress headed home for Thanksgiving, President George W. Bush’s voucher plan for families in the District of Columbia remained stalled, one substantial step away from final passage. -
School Choice Saves a Life in Washington, DC
Opinion -Although she’d already raised two children on her own, Virginia Walden Ford found her youngest son William to be more than a handful. -
The Language Police: Fahrenheit 451 With a #2 Pencil
Opinion -The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn Diane Ravitch (Knopf, 2003; 272 pages; $24, ISBN: 0375414827) In the world described by Diane Ravitch in her new book, The Language Police, censorship is implemented not with -
Five Ways to Spend Less on Higher Education
Opinion -On October 21, 2003, the College Board once again documented the widespread impression that college costs are spiraling wildly out of control. -
Colorado Voucher Program Dealt ‘Temporary Setback’
Opinion -A Denver District Court halted Colorado’s fledgling voucher program on December 3, ruling the provision of “Opportunity Contract” scholarships for children to attend private schools violated the right of public school districts under the state -
Congressional Leaders Call for Head Start Probe
Opinion -Congressional leaders have asked the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative agency of Congress, to inspect the financial controls and monitoring practices of the Head Start program before Congress acts to reauthorize the preschool program. -
Construction Plan for Better Teachers: Deregulation
Opinion -To Build a Better Teacher: The Emergence of a Competitive Education Industry Robert Gray Holland (Praeger Paperback, 2004; 168 pages, $24, ISBN: 0897898869) Getting better teachers is one of Diane Ravitch’s recommendations for combatting The -
IRS to Audit NEA
Opinion -According to a November 24 news release from the Landmark Legal Foundation, “the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has launched an investigation into whether the National Education Association (NEA) has violated federal tax law by spending millions in -
What Dangerous Schools?
Opinion -Under the No Child Left Behind Act, parents whose children are in “persistently dangerous” public schools are allowed to transfer their children to a safer learning environment at the district’s expense. -
School Choice Continues to Build Global Momentum
Opinion -Recent weeks have brought new evidence of growing support for parental choice in a wide variety of nations. -
When Principals Can Be Entrepreneurs, Schools Improve
Opinion -If principals were put in charge of their individual schools and allowed to run them as small businesses, is it likely the schools would be more successful than if the schools and their resources were directed by a central office? -
Senate Approves Expansion of Milwaukee Voucher Program
Opinion -On October 22, the Wisconsin Senate approved a measure to eliminate the enrollment cap placed on the Milwaukee voucher program, which limits participants to 15 percent of the enrollment in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), or about 15,000 students. -
Competing Questions
Opinion -Final Vote 1A – 38 percent 1B – 35 percent 1C – 27 percent Maine Municipal Association’s Citizen Initiative (1A) The MMA Citizen’s Initiative requires the state to immediately fund 55% of the total K-12 education allocation. -
Uneducated Youth Threaten America’s Future
Opinion -Despite an increasing awareness that the U.S. -
Making the Ideal Public School the Enemy of Choice
Opinion -Choice With Equity: An Assessment by the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, edited by Paul T.
