Alabama: More than 50 students take advantage of the new accountability law which allows students to access scholarships to attend private schools (WSFA).
Arizona: The BASIS Tucson North charter school is one of the best schools in the U.S. and the world (Education Next).
Colorado: Candidates for an open seat on the Denver school board debate last week, with one arguing that school choice harms public schools and the other saying public schools need to have the same freedoms as schools of choice (Ed News Colorado). More than 300 people protested against Douglas County school board policies including teacher evaluations and vouchers (Denver Post).
Florida: Gov. Rick Scott presents Shine Awards for excellent teaching to several private school teachers and principals, including individuals representing schools accepting Step Up For Students tax credit scholarships (Gov. Scott press release). (Step Up co-hosts this blog.)
Georgia: The Georgia Supreme Court rules charter schools do not have to help pay off district schools accumulated pension debt (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Idaho: Terry Ryan, head of the Idaho Charter School Network, wants to make Idaho the leader of rural charter school education (Idaho Press).
Indiana: A new law prohibits school districts from turning away transfer students for any reason other than capacity. As a result of not being allowed to “cherry-pick” students, some school districts are halting their open enrollment policy (Associated Press). Indiana’s voucher program received 20,000 applications from prospective students (Indiana Public Media). State Sen. Vaneta Becker blames school choice as one of the causes for rural county budget problems (Tri State Media).
Louisiana: Attorney Clint Bolick, from the Goldwater Institute and Murphy F. Bell Jr. from BAEO, are representing four Louisiana families in a motion asking the court to drop the DOJ’s anti-voucher lawsuit (Huffington Post, Forbes). The state of Louisiana has agreed to provide the Department of Justice data on the racial makeup of voucher students and the district schools they attend (Washington Post). The Department of Justice believes there will be a resolution soon (Times Picayune). New Orleans may be home to the nations greatest school choice experiment. More than 80 percent of the district’s students are enrolled in charter schools, graduation rates are way up and so is student achievement (Wall Street Journal).
New Hampshire: In its first year, the Network for Educational Opportunity awarded over $100,000 in scholarships to need-based students (Nashua Telegraph).
New Jersey: School choice champion Cory Booker is backing Barbara Buono, a Democrat and school choice opponent, for governor (The Record).
New York: Bill de Blasio, the Democrat candidate for Mayor of New York, opposes charter schools and his candidacy appears to be a “declaration of war” on charter school managers (New York Daily News).
Ohio: The state’s report card shows charter schools out performing big city public schools (The Plain Dealer). However, a report card from the Fordham Institute finds the opposite is true (The Plain Dealer). Thanks to competing charter schools, Akron area public schools are having a hard time budgeting for the school year with uncertain enrollment figures (Akron Beacon Journal)
South Carolina: Elected Republicans in South Carolina aren’t worried parents might select an Islamic private school; “You can’t discriminate against freedom” said Rep. Eric Bedingfield (Free Times). National experts weigh in on the state’s school choice program (The State).
Wisconsin: For the second year in a row, Milwaukee area charter schools outperformed the local district schools (Maclver Institute). Voucher schools are working to ensure a fair accountability system (The Cap Times). The Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction says “no more excuses” for private schools, as he wants them on the public school accountability system (Associated Press, Wisconsin State Journal).
Nation: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) says Congress will “leave no stone unturned” if the DOJ doesn’t drop its suit blocking vouchers in Louisiana (NBC10 Philadelphia, National Review, Washington Times). Council for American Private Education announces its Blue Ribbon Schools for 2013 (CAPE).
World: Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen appears to be wrong in his assertion that poor people wouldn’t know how to use school vouchers if they were given them. In India, it turns out, poor families not only know how to pick schools, they know how to pick schools that outperform the free public schools (Wall Street Journal).
