Editor’s note: Each Saturday in November, redefinED is reprising a podcast from our archives, reminding readers that we have a wealth of audio content to complement our written blog posts. Today, we revisit a November 2016 interview with Virginia Walden Ford, an education choice advocate and pioneer, in advance of[Read More…]
Author: Travis Pillow
archivED: Revisiting a podcast with school choice and political power Howard Fuller
Each Saturday in November, redefinED is reprising a podcast from our archives, reminding readers that we have a wealth of audio content to complement our written blog posts. Today, we revisit an August 2015 interview with civil rights activist, education reform advocate and academic Howard Fuller. Ever since social justice[Read More…]
archivED: For school choice foes, a more complete history of vouchers and race
Editor’s note: Each Saturday in October, redefinED is reviving a post from our archives that speaks to the rich and sometimes surprising history of education choice in the United States. Today’s post, which first appeared in July 2017, chronicles several chapters from the movement’s rich past. In the 1900’s, Mary[Read More…]
These Central Florida charter schools strive to include all students
It was entomology day at a charter school campus in Orlando, Fla. Kindergarten and first-grade students lined the hallways, pointing and shouting as they passed around cages of bouncing crickets and other critters. Down the hall, there were rooms with physical therapy equipment. Out the back door, on the playground,[Read More…]
Moving on
Today is my last day editing this blog. After 23 years as a Floridian, six years chronicling the politics and policy of the public education system that educated me, and four and half years writing in this space, I’m moving on to start a new chapter alongside my fiancee, who teaches[Read More…]
Groups challenge Fla. charter school ballot proposal
The League of Women Voters and the Southern Poverty Law Center are challenging the wording of a Florida ballot measure that could, among other things, overhaul charter school authorizing in the state. The proposed Amendment 8 would do three things if voters approve it this fall. It would impose term limits[Read More…]
Millions in Fla. charter school funding may hinge on the meaning of this phrase
Are charter schools entitled to an equal per-student share of the funding their districts raise from voter-approved property taxes? Or can districts keep all the revenue for the schools they operate themselves? The answer appears to hinge on the definition of this phrase in Florida statutes: “Current operating discretionary millage[Read More…]
The charter school turnaround that may not have been
A small, single-gender charter school in Bradenton, Fla. is celebrating a remarkable turnaround. In two years’ time, Visible Men Academy has improved its state letter grade from an F to an A. The school’s improvement caught the attention of a local TV news station. [T]wo years ago, the school switched[Read More…]