Opinion
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“The More Choices We Have, the Better Off We’re Going to Be”
Opinion -As Arizona's State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lisa Graham Keegan serves as CEO of the State Board of Education and oversees the $2 billion budget of the Arizona Department of Education. -
It’s Hard to Go Back to Building Widgets
Opinion -"Just a kid from the streets of Philadelphia" who put himself through eight years of night school, A.J. "Jack" Clegg truly understands the value of education in changing the lives of city children. -
We Cannot Afford to Wait Any Longer
Opinion -While the clout of most politicians declines after leaving office, just the opposite is happening to former Democratic Congressman Floyd H. Flake. -
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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. -
Outcome-Based Education: Remaking Society One Child at a Time
Opinion -Marguerite Anna McKenna "Peg" Luksik is well known to her neighbors in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where she's actively involved in community service work, including Mom's House, a comprehensive service network she founded for single parents and their -
Restoring the Urban Advantage with School Choice
Opinion -Now in the middle of his third term of office, John Norquist was elected the 37th Mayor of Milwaukee in 1988 after serving in Democratic leadership positions in both the state assembly and senate. -
Empowering Principals the Key to Improving Education
Opinion -Nina Shokraii, The Heritage Foundation's leading education policy analyst, is School Reform News' newest contributing editor. -
Ten Ways to Improve Public Schools …That Don’t Cost a Penny
Opinion -Year after year, the tune is the same: "We need more money to pay our teachers what they are worth" or "we need more money to build a new school or addition. -
Competition in Education: Does it Make a Difference? An exclusive interview with Dr. Paul E. Peterson
Opinion -Dr. Paul E. Peterson's recent studies of voucher programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland have propelled him to the forefront of the educational choice debate. -
Ready to Learn What? Is the Key to Education Reform
Opinion -In his 1987 book, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, educator E.D. Hirsch demonstrated that literacy has two key components: the ability to read, and an assumed base of shared factual knowledge conveyed by the words being read. -
Chicago: Still the Nation’s Worst Public Schools
Opinion -In 1988, then-Secretary of Education William Bennett came to Chicago and declared its schools to be "the worst in the nation." Events since then suggest that the trend has been to even lower depths. -
Responding to the Critics of Vouchers: What about the Kids?
Opinion -School Reform News contributing editor David Kirkpatrick is uniquely qualified to speak as an advocate of school choice. -
A New Strategy for Property Tax Relief
Opinion -Another year has passed without reform of the state's system of financing schools. Republicans once again stopped a "tax swap" plan to lower property taxes by raising the state income tax, this time despite sponsorship of the plan by Governor Edgar. -
Chicago: Viewing Education through a Performance Prism
Opinion -Appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Paul C. Vallas took over as Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools on July 1, 1995. Within three weeks, Vallas had hammered out a new four-year teachers' contract. -
Idaho’s Voice for Parents in Education
Opinion -Dr. Anne C. Fox was elected the state of Idaho's Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1994. -
Death of Tax Hike Is a Victory for Kids
Opinion -Too bad Bernie wasn't here to see it. Last week, a plan to increase Illinois' income tax died in the Revenue Committee of the Senate. -
If You Love Our Children, It’s Time to Find Alternatives to Public Schools
Opinion -The country's growing private school voucher movement owes its birth and a large part of its success to J. Patrick Rooney, chairman emeritus of Golden Rule Insurance Company. -
Community-Based Schools: Educationally and Economically Essential
Opinion -African-American children in public schools are failing in record numbers, crippling their futures and limiting their careers. For some African-American parents, doing nothing about the problem was not an option. -
Unions the Major Obstacle to Market-Oriented Reforms
Opinion -Those familiar with the school reform movement, and with this newspaper, are keenly aware of the key role--sometimes positive, more recently quite negative--that teacher unions have played in school reform debates nationwide. -
Six Myths of School Finance Reform
Opinion -The Illinois General Assembly is debating whether and how to change the way the state finances its public schools. -
Where High Expectations Are Met … And More
Opinion -Twenty-five years ago, Marva Collins left a public school teaching position to open her own school, in her own home. -
PAVE-ing a Road to Parental Choice
Opinion -Michael Joyce is president of the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The Foundation is devoted to strengthening American democratic capitalism and the institutions, principles, and values which sustain and nurture it. -
Private Schools: Saving Illinois Taxpayers $2 Billion a Year
Opinion -Thank the Lord for the Illinois parents who send their children to parochial or private schools. By keeping their students out of tax-supported government schools, those parents save Illinois taxpayers over $2 billion a year.