Sparking the evolution of education choice
To progressives like Martin Luther King III and many others, school choice is an extension of the civil rights movement. His remarks to 10,000 school choice supporters at a rally in Florida last year emphasized school choice as a way to expand opportunity and embrace diversity.
Civil rights leader Wyatt Tee Walker, chief of staff to Martin Luther King Jr., is a noteworthy bridge between the civil rights and school choice movements. He helped lead the charge for the first charter school in New York.
This week, we received important reminders about the two oldest forms of parental school choice: The housing market … : [W]hen asked at a news conference in November why the city did not at least do what it could to redraw attendance lines, [New York Mayor Bill de Blasio] defended the[Read More…]
A century ago, three Catholic sisters in St. Augustine, Fla. were arrested for something the state Legislature had recently made a crime: Teaching black children at what, in the parlance of the time, was known as a “negro school.” The ensuing trial propelled a 266-year-old French Catholic order and America’s[Read More…]
National education advocates and some of Florida’s leading clergy have reflected on the words and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and what they mean for school choice movement. Their words offer a backdrop as thousands of parents, students, educators and activists prepare to rally in Tallahassee on Tuesday. In the Tampa Tribune, Rev. Manuel[Read More…]
The historic march at Selma in 1965 and the current battle over school choice in Florida have a lot in common, writes Florida civil rights icon H.K. Matthews in an op-ed in today’s Fort Myers News Press. Matthews participated in the Selma march, which is again the focus of national[Read More…]
Last month, Rev. H.K. Matthews, a civil rights leader in Florida who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma, pleaded with Charlie Crist to publicly denounce the lawsuit against the tax credit scholarship program for low-income students. Crist would not do so, but Matthews has not given up his[Read More…]
Charter schools. High-performing Plato Academy plans to expand in Pinellas. Tampa Bay Times. The district is moving to take over a foundering charter for at-risk students. Tampa Tribune. The Palm Beach Post rips Mavericks High School in an editorial. Private schools. A new Christian school in Ocala hopes to grow[Read More…]
