Parent Empowerment

Race, representation and the parental choice movement

In the face of a well-funded, organized opposition around the country, the education reform and parental school choice movements need to become more representative of the communities they aim to help. Kenneth Campbell, president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, was not alone in making that case Tuesday at[Read More…]

redefinED roundup: Catholics push for school choice, education races in ME and SC and more news

Alabama: Scott Beaulier, chair of the Economics and Finance Division at Troy University, says there is a large body of evidence supporting vouchers but the U.S. Department of Justice and others keep getting in the way (AL.com). The Alabama Education Association spent $7 million to defeat school choice and education reform[Read More…]

redefinED roundup: vouchers in TN, ESAs and scholarships in FL, tax credit critics in KS & more

Alabama: Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, says the Alabama Accountability Act, which allows students in failing districts to transfer to private schools, is a failed experiment (Anniston Star). A lower court dismisses a suit filed by students to stop the state’s school choice program (Associated Press). Alaska: A private school tax[Read More…]

Parents shouldn’t be fighting each other over school choice

Editor’s note: This post first appeared as an op-ed in the Tampa Tribune. Step Up For Students, which administers the state’s tax credit scholarship program, co-hosts this blog. Eileen Segal is a gracious Florida PTA president who welcomed to her annual conference last summer a contingent of low-income parents who[Read More…]

redefinED roundup: school choice suits in NC and GA, bishops mad in NY and more news

Alabama: A bill to eliminate the $7,500 cap limit on individual tax-credit scholarship donations advances in the state legislature (Decatur Daily). Alaska: Tony Knowles, the former governor of Alaska, says vouchers have never  improved student achievement or graduation rates, so the state should spend more money on public schools (Alaska[Read More…]

Private school in Haiti gets help from U.S. charter school company

Charter Schools USA is one of the nation’s largest for-profit charter school management companies, with 58 schools in seven states. But the Florida-based organization also has a charitable arm that’s helping a hardscrabble private school in Haiti. The Giving Tree Foundation has pledged to raise $250,000 to build a new[Read More…]

redefinED roundup: de Blasio sparks debate on charter schools, focus shifts to FL tax credit scholarships & more

Alabama: A bill advances to increase the individual tax credit for donations to private scholarship organizations (Montgomery Advertiser). Alaska: Vic Fischer, a former delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention, opposes any amendment that would allow public funds for private and religious schools (Alaska Dispatch). A bill to allow the public[Read More…]