Recently I attended the American Federation for Children’s policy summit in Washington, D.C. This event was an exciting, informative, two-day conference filled with panel discussions, keynote speakers such as Lisa Leslie and Mike McCurry, and networking opportunities with education reformers from all over the country. I left D.C. feeling similar[Read More…]
Tag: progressives and school choice
Florida roundup: charter schools, magnet schools, Bill Cosby & more
Charter schools. Florida’s first classical preparatory school, slated for opening this fall in Pasco, asks for a one-year delay so it can find better digs, reports Gradebook. A judge again rules in favor of allowing a Sarasota principal to temporarily stay as head of an Imagine charter school that wants to split from[Read More…]
Bias against for-profit education providers is off the mark
Ben Austin of Parent Revolution and Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute have been engaging in a civil dialogue on the merits of educators and parents being able to purchase instructional and management services from for-profit corporations. Austin opposes allowing parents and educators to have this option, while Hess[Read More…]
School choice in sync with Democratic values, but not Democratic leadership
Vouchers and tax credit scholarships are in line with Democratic Party support for social justice and equal opportunity, says Florida state Rep. John Patrick Julien, D-North Miami. And yet, he says, Democratic lawmakers in Florida who support those options risk getting “whipped” by party leaders who don’t. He says he’s a perfect[Read More…]
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A history lesson on educational freedom
Editor’s note: School choice isn’t just an American debate, and it’s not just at issue now. Noted school choice scholar Charles Glenn offers redefinED readers some historical context. This is the first in a three-part series. While protections for educational freedom emerged from political struggles in a few countries – notably[Read More…]
Mayor Cory Booker, school choice champ, will address Democrats in Florida
One of the national Democratic Party’s leading lights for expanding school choice, including private school vouchers and tax credit scholarships, will be the featured speaker Saturday at a local Democratic Party event in Tampa, Fla. Newark Mayor Cory Booker will be the keynote speaker at the Kennedy King Dinner, an annual event[Read More…]
‘The radical potential of school vouchers’
In this recent Los Angeles Times piece, education historian Jonathan Zimmerman (pictured here) credits Mitt Romney for offering a more ambitious education agenda than President Obama. The Republican’s voucher plan, which would let students use government funding to attend either private schools or public schools in other districts, “would take on the true sacred cow in[Read More…]
KKK vouchers? Ethnic cleansing? All sides in education debate need a breather
Sad but true: The other day, one of Louisiana’s statewide teachers unions tweeted that the Black Alliance for Educational Options, the stand-up school choice group, supports “KKK vouchers.” It subsequently tweeted, “Tell everyone you know.” (Details here.) Even sadder but true: This wasn’t an isolated event. In recent months, critics[Read More…]