Civil rights and school choice champion Howard Fuller today released a statement through the American Federation for Children supporting a proposal to expand the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program to other cities in Wisconsin. In recent weeks, Fuller has reacted strongly against a plan from Gov. Scott Walker to eliminate the income threshold[Read More…]
Parental Choice
Is the Detroit school system worth saving?
The Detroit Free Press explores the ideas driving reforms in Detroit’s academically and financially troubled school district, including a plan to charter up to 45 schools and close nearly two dozen more, and asks the difficult question: Is the school district, as we know it, worth saving: Some families say, yes,[Read More…]
Fighting the NAACP’s opposition to school reform
When 2,500 Harlem protesters yesterday challenged the NAACP’s involvement in a lawsuit against school closures and charter school expansions in New York City, they joined a growing chorus of confusion that fails to grasp why the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights group continues to fight school reforms that disproportionately[Read More…]
Facing a harsh truth when fighting for a bipartisan cause
Two different reporters contacted me this week, asking why I contribute so much to candidates who support education options for low-income children. Please allow me to share part of my answer to them, because it speaks to one of the real-world limitations we face as we expand public education choices[Read More…]
Where ed reformers should focus
The most interesting comment I heard at this week’s American Federation for Children conference in Washington, D.C., came from Ed Kirby, who heads up projects at the Walton Family Foundation. After listening to GreatSchools CEO Bill Jackson and me talk about the information parents need to make good schooling choices,[Read More…]
The American Federation For Children and Malcolm X
Let’s be clear. The American Federation For Children spends significant sums of money to elect candidates who support educational options, and it usually does so in direct competition with teacher unions. But those who dismissed the AFC 2011 National Policy Summit as either politically or philosophically monolithic are playing some[Read More…]
Writing a $500 check
To hear former D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee tell it, even a politically charged issue such as private options can be brought into focus through the eyes of a caring mother. Rhee, now one of the nation’s most celebrated education reformers, told the American Federation For Children’s 2011 National Policy[Read More…]
The Church of England and Parental Choice
The Economist this week explores parental choice in England, which the magazine asserts “is a keystone of the government’s education policy.” But this year, the nation’s education secretary wants to overhaul the “rule book” for how those choices are governed; a third of secondary-school age children in London failed to[Read More…]