Arizona: David Garcia, a Democrat and candidate for the open State Superintendent of Public Instruction seat, opposes private school choice so long as public schools are not “fully funded.” Garcia says he is a supporter of public charter schools (Eastern Arizona Courier).
California: Rocketship charter schools expand and modify their blended learning model to empower teachers with more flexibility and control of their classroom (Education Next).
Florida: Step Up For Students will issue more than 60,000 scholarships to low-income students this school year, allowing many more parents to send their kids to private schools (Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald). Meanwhile, school choice champion and education commissioner Tony Bennett resigns amidst a school grading controversy in Indiana (Tampa Bay Times, Miami Herald). Florida school choice supporters are disappointed to see him go ( redefinEd).
Kansas: Georgia State Rep. Alicia Morgan (D-Cobb County), a rising star in school choice and ed reform circles, visits Wichita, Kansas to discuss benefits of school choice (Kansas.com). A Kansas City charter school has been sued because it owes over $10.6 million to creditors, with much of the debt coming from buying, renovating and equipping the school building (Kansas City Star).
Louisiana: The state’s new “Course Choice” online program now has more than 1,000 students on the wait list (Education Week). More than 3,000 students enrolled in it (Politico). The Louisiana Department of Education has received more than 8,000 applications to participate in the state school voucher program this fall, up from about 3,000 last year (WAFB 9).
Maine: Gov. Paul LePage says Maine needs more charter schools (Main Public Broadcasting Network) but the state senate president disagrees, saying traditional public schools are underfunded (Boston.com). The governor continues to defend charter schools from critics (Portland Press Herald).
Massachusetts: The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has received applications to open charter schools from 10 different groups. If approved, many of these schools will be ready to open in Fall 2014 (Boston Globe, Associated Press).
Missouri: The Missouri Supreme Court approves a policy that allows children in failing school districts to transfer to public schools in better ones, but parents in whiter, more affluent, areas oppose the transfers (New York Times).
New Jersey: What will Corey Booker do for K-12 education policy? For one, he is in favor of school vouchers and his primary opponents are now attacking him for that position. (Education Week, Philadelphia Inquirer).
North Carolina: Gov. Pat McCroy signs into law a new $20 million education voucher program for low-income students (Newsmax).
Ohio: School choice encourages families to move back into Ohio cities (Fresh Water).
Tennessee: U.S. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee are teaming up to support school choice and charter schools (Education Week, The Tennessean).
Wisconsin: 48 private schools in the state applied to participate in the new voucher program. The program is capped at 500 students for the first year and only the top 25 private schools with the most voucher applicants will be allowed to participate (Journal Sentinel, Associated Press, Marshfield Herald). Not all private schools are interested in the program (Fond du Lac Reporter).
National: Sen. Rand Paul wants more school choice for poor and minority students, saying “opportunity in education is the gateway to opportunity everywhere else” (Washington Post, Huffington Post, Daily Caller). Peter Flanigan, former Nixon adviser, philanthropist, school choice advocate and board member of the Alliance for School Choice, died last week at the age of 90 (American Spectator, Wall Street Journal, New York Times).
World: We may take schooling for granted in the U.S. so it is easy to forget that not too long ago girls in Afghanistan didn’t get to go to school. Now a new Pakistani cartoon, called the Burka Avenger, is promoting education for girls while fighting corruption and religious extremism (Washington Post). School choice advocates and free marketeers around the world celebrated what would have been the 101st birthday of Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman came up with the idea for school vouchers in 1955 (Telegraph).
