ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matthew Ladner
My background story
What I did before joining Step Up For Students
What do I do on my day off?
How to reach out?
06/24/25 | Matthew Ladner
Technocrats wear a political dunce crown
David Osborne recently predicted academic doom for red states having recently passed universal private choice programs. “This will accelerate the process of the rich getting richer while the poor fall...
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06/17/25 | Matthew Ladner
Imagine if the District of Columbia Public Schools gave peace a chance in special education
“War, huh, yeah What is it good for? Absolutely nothing” — Edwinn Starr, “War” The District of Columbia Public School system has a troubled history with special education. In reviewing...
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06/10/25 | Matthew Ladner
New Schools, facilities and the rise of the microschool
EdChoice has an interesting survey question comparing what sort of school parents would prefer (district, charter, private or home) and comparing the results to actual enrollment patterns. In...
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06/03/25 | Matthew Ladner
We don’t need no Klanducation; We don’t need no thought control
June 1, 2025, marked the 100th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Pierce v. Society of Sisters– effectively the first victory of America’s school choice movement. In...
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05/27/25 | Matthew Ladner
Thumbs up for Roosevelt students
Jason Bedrick and I published a piece at the Daily Signal about the Roosevelt Elementary School District in South Phoenix. The Roosevelt district has experienced enrollment loss for decades, and...
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05/20/25 | Matthew Ladner
Get thee behind me, Bootlegger!
Longtime NextSteps readers know that your humble author has been holding forth on the Baptist and Bootlegger problem that helped throttle the growth of the charter school movement. The term...
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05/13/25 | Matthew Ladner
Teachers give anti-ESA propaganda a failing grade
Opponents of education freedom, facing a series of legislative defeats, have responded by going off the deep end with conspiracy theories and crackpot fables. The formula works something like this:...
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05/06/25 | Matthew Ladner
Oklahoma should avoid the example of Vercingetorix
Julius Caesar led Roman forces to victory in the decisive battle of the conquest of Gaul at Alesia. Having pursued the Gauls to a fortified city, Caesar first surrounded...
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04/29/25 | Matthew Ladner
Arizona districts should lower the velvet rope for students with disabilities
Tim DeRoche featured the tale of an Arizona boy named Brayden in a Time Magazine piece on the shortcomings of open enrollment practice and law for students with disabilities: “In...
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04/22/25 | Matthew Ladner
The inevitable is always certain but not always punctual: self-driving school carpools
Back in 2017, techno-optimist Jason Bedrick made the skeptical Robert Pondiscio a bet on the adoption rate for self-driving cars in the Phoenix area: “Robert and I are putting our...
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04/17/25 | Matthew Ladner
Texas choice triumph calls for celebration and a shift for the movement
Texas school choice opponents are strong. I recall going to look up the number of lobbyists on retainer by groups opposed to choice during the 2013 legislative session, and the...
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04/15/25 | Matthew Ladner
Lessons from SNAP wargames
On Dec. 16, 2017, the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture held a committee hearing on “Pros and Cons of Restricting SNAP Purchases.” SNAP is a federally financed food assistance program...
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04/08/25 | Matthew Ladner
Open enrollment is the King Kong of Arizona district enrollment loss
If you look at enrollment trends in the Arizona districts with the largest total enrollment losses, look at the Arizona Open Enrollment report and the Quarterly ESA report, you get...
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04/01/25 | Matthew Ladner
Arizona continues to build Schools to Nowhere
In examining the 2024 NAEP results for Arizona, a rather stark picture emerged that Arizona charter and Arizona districts had strongly diverged– Arizona charter schools show academic recovery, whereas Arizona...
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03/25/25 | Matthew Ladner
Texas 2025 debate resurrects Edgewood Horizon claims
The current debate over ESAs in Texas has brought irresponsible claims about the Edgewood Horizon program back to life. A voucher program funded by philanthropists, Edgewood Horizon made all Edgewood...
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03/18/25 | Matthew Ladner
It all keeps adding up
I received some interesting responses to last week’s post where I showed some math on how few votes it could have swung control of the Arizona State Senate in the...
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03/04/25 | Matthew Ladner
Arizona legislative races may have swung on K-12 choice in 2024
Arizona’s politics might be described as “Chaotic Purple,” but 2024 elections proved quite red at the state legislative level, with Republicans making gains in both the Arizona Senate and House....
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02/25/25 | Matthew Ladner
Nation’s report card has better grades for charter schools
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) created a new measure of socioeconomic status for the 2024 exams. This is a welcome addition, and a better measure of student economic...
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