Podcast

If anybody doubts the passion for educational choice in black communities, come visit Mt. Moriah Christian Fundamental School in predominantly black south St. Petersburg, Fla. and chat with its founder, Pastor Robert Ward. Ward started the private micro-school for grades 6-8 in 2011 with three students. Now it has 56. And now it’s routinely turning away children because there are waiting lists, both for the school and for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students, the largest private school choice program in America. (The scholarship is administered by nonprofits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.) “Parents are...

Arguably no state in America has redefined public education more than Florida. So how fitting that the latest lawmaker to rise to one of the key policy making slots is a former homeschooler. State Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Mt. Dora, said being homeschooled gives her unique insights into parental choice and personalized learning that will inform her world view as new chair of the House Education Committee. In this redefinED podcast, she points out she struggled to read as a child. Had she been educated in a Florida public school rather than at home – where her mom had more flexibility to...

Sen. Tim Scott has seen how hard it can be for military families to find educational opportunities for their children as they move from one base to another. His older brother was a command sergeant major in the U.S. Army. His younger brother is a colonel in the Air Force. Their experiences trying to find schools for their children helped inspire the CHOICE Act. Scott's legislation would create pilot scholarship programs on at least five military bases. "I know firsthand that a parent doesn't choose the base they go to, and therefore, can only hope and pray that the education is good," the South...

Florida State Sen. Darryl Rouson went to Catholic schools from first grade through college. He wants low-income families from his district to have the same opportunity. He's sent his own children to public schools, so he wants Florida's public school system to be as strong as possible. During a podcast interview with Denisha Merriweather, a Florida school choice alum now studying to become a social worker, Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, explains how his life experience has informed his view that supporting school choice and supporting public education are not in conflict. "I want a high-quality, fully funded public education, but at the...

Two of Virginia Walden Ford's children went to public schools and thrived. They had access to mentoring programs and classes that nurtured their talents. But it was the experience of her youngest child, William, that led her to become a school choice advocate. In middle school, he started to show signs of academic struggles. At the same time, drugs and gang activity were on the rise in the family's working-class neighborhood in the nation's capital. "I always said I would never lose my kids ... to the streets, but I knew that if I didn't do something, then the possibility that...

Over the summer, a group of Catholic schools in Harlem and the Bronx posted some attention-grabbing results. Their students took the same tests as children in New York's charter and traditional public schools. State data showed that, on average, all types of schools improved. But the Partnership Schools improved faster. For the second-straight year, the results of this experiment in urban Catholic education lent credence to the idea that— like a few related efforts elsewhere in the country — it belongs in the larger effort to improve urban school systems, particularly for disadvantaged students. "We really can be a proof point," Jill...

Congressman Luke Messer has been telling his fellow Republicans they can't just be against the federal government's role in education policy. They also need to fight for something. That's one reason Messer, R-Indiana, helped launch the Congressional School Choice Caucus. And he recently joined Denisha Merriweather, a Florida tax credit scholarship alum, for a podcast interview, in which he describes an agenda that could advance the cause on Capitol Hill. He is sponsoring the Enhancing Educational Opportunities for all Students Act. The legislation would give states the option to allow federal Title I dollars to follow low-income students directly to whatever school they attend. The bill...

Many of the people pushing for more private school choice options around the country have two goals. They want to make scholarships available to a broad range of students, including those in the middle class who don't have access to the same choices as wealthy families. At the same time, they want to make sure school choice programs prioritize the needs of the most disadvantaged children. In our latest podcast interview with Florida tax credit scholarship alumna Denisha Merriweather, John Schilling says that if the school choice movement does things right, it can achieve both at the same time. "It's definitely better...