This week in school choice: Partisans

Are meaningful improvements in student achievement enough to make parental choice and education reform politically safe?

The battle to raise a cap on the number of charter schools allowed in Massachusetts suggests the answer is no.

The conflict concerns a relatively simple question that will appear on the Massachusetts ballot in November: should the state lift the cap on the number of charter school seats it permits to allow 12 new or expanded charters a year? But there’s nothing simple about this fight, which is ripe with national implications and likely to draw in national combatants. The stakes: If the teachers’ unions and district superintendents can stop charter schools in Massachusetts — the state that boaststhe highest performing charters in the country — then charters are at risk everywhere.

See also: The progressive case for raising the cap.

Meanwhile…

Republicans need a positive, but conservative, way to talk about education policy that doesn’t involve growing federal authority. School choice seems like a winning option. Ohio might not have been an ideal place to spread that message, though.

Don’t give up on Democrats when it comes to education reform… but it may be time to go on the offensive. Keep an eye on the DNC meetings in Philly next week.

Is this the end of ed reform, or at least the bipartisan consensus supporting it?

The problems with virtual charter schools may suggest deeper problems with the K-12 public education system, from the way schools are funded to the ways they’re held accountable. If students’ needs aren’t being met elsewhere, perhaps something needs to change.

Thinking about education innovation from a global perspective.

Calculating the fiscal impact of Indiana’s school voucher program proves difficult.

Something’s going on with Colorado charter schools. Their national NAEP results look quite good. Their state test results do, too. Chalkbeat Colorado breaks it down: Colorado’s charter schools are more diverse, performing better and paying teachers less, report shows.

A better way to think about for-profit charter schools.

A range of voices take a nuanced look at the charter school discipline debate.

Charter school parents don’t get a say in a St. Louis funding lawsuit, a judge decides.

Do Nevada’s education savings accounts undermine public schools, or the very idea of public education?

Special needs ESAs keep drawing new students in Mississippi.

The complex calculations around special needs students, private school vouchers and federal rights.

Breaking down the tribal walls: My Mom Was A Unionized Public School Teacher. That’s Why I’m A Reformer.

Tweets of the Week

After a summer hiatus, This Week in School Choice, our weekly compilation of news and analysis, is back. Please send tips, links, suggestions and feedback to tpillow[at]sufs[dot]org.


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BY Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is Director of Thought Leadership at Step Up For Students and editor of NextSteps. He lives in Sanford, Fla. with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.