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American Enterprise Institute

‘Cold water’ for boosters of education savings accounts?

Travis Pillow May 12, 2016

In the vision laid out by their strongest supporters, education savings accounts have the potential to revolutionize public education, giving parents direct control of funding and allowing them to assemble customized educational programs for their children, buying services from private schools, public schools, home-school curriculum providers, and more. Plain-vanilla school choice could start to seem passé. Parents could save money left over at the end of the school year for future expenses, including college, giving them a greater incentive to shop around and economize.

Eden

That’s the theory. On Wednesday, during an American Enterprise Institute event that billed ESAs as “the new frontier in school choice,” Max Eden of the Manhattan Institute said he wanted to throw some “cold water” on it. The programs might work for some students — like those with special needs — who tend to qualify for larger weighted per-pupil funding, and for whom the benefits of a fully customized education are obvious. But when it comes to their potential to totally transform the broader education system, Eden said he was skeptical.

“There’s a sense throughout [the nine papers presented at AEI’s event] that this will explode in numbers and in scope, and I’m very skeptical of that,” he said. ESAs may be more likely to create “a marginal system that will provide marginal support to relatively marginalized students.”

In the end, he said, “The prime benefit of ESAs may help make the world even safer for charters.” If more legislatures pushed for them, that might broaden the window of political possibility for educational choice. And ESAs could provide new options for children, like those with special needs, whom charter schools often struggle to serve well. “I don’t know that I see [ESAs] being an explosive and revolutionary thing,” Eden said.

Matthew Ladner, a senior policy adviser to the Foundation for Excellence in Education who’s been a leading proponent of ESAs as a concept, said Eden made some valid points.

May 12, 2016 0 comment

Charter Schools

Lowering the paperwork barrier for charter schools

Travis Pillow May 27, 2015

Travis Pillow

A recent report by the American Enterprise Institute, which we highlighted here, argued burdensome charter school applications were creating needless barriers for new schools.

Critics, including some charter school authorizers, pushed back, saying the report went too far, and that its recommendations would weaken charter school oversight.

Since then, Mike McShane, one of the lead authors of the report, has answered his critics.

Districts and other charter school authorizers might want to know about proposed charter schools’ marketing plans, to get a sense of whether it will attract enough students to become financially viable, he writes. But will a charter school’s answer to that question really help regulators predict its success?

Much better resourced organizations can’t get market analysis right. Don’t believe me? Well head to your local 7-11 and try to pick up a Crystal Pepsi, a Pepsi Blue, a Sprite Remix, a Dr. Pepper Red Fusion, a Citra, a Vault, a Surge, a 7-Up Gold, or a Coca-Cola Blak. And that is just the market for carbonated soda. If you think a charter board can do better with something as complicated as demand for schooling options, I’ve got some oceanfront land in Missouri to sell you.

May 27, 2015 0 comment

Charter Schools

Setting a high bar for charter schools, without unnecessary burdens

Travis Pillow May 21, 2015

Travis Pillow

Charter schools were first conceived as a bargain. Teachers (or, in the case of some of Florida’s oldest and most successful charters, parents) would receive the freedom to start new schools and experiment with different educational models. In exchange, they would face greater accountability for their academic results.

That bargain is threatened by a “paperwork pileup,” a new report by the American Enterprise Institute argues. Charter schools are startup enterprises. The more hoops they have to jump through during the application process, the fewer promising new schools will be launched. Every page added to a charter school application puts those teachers or parents at a greater disadvantage.

In practice, however, the charter bargain has become fairly one-sided. Charter school authorizers often include hundreds of tasks in the application to open a charter school, creating an onerous and lengthy process that risks freezing out potential school operators. To be sure, many application tasks are well within authorizers’ rights to require, but others are unnecessary and unduly burdensome for applicants. This is a real problem for the groups of teachers that Shanker envisioned, who might lack the time or resources to tackle these outsized applications and create new educational options for students.

In short, the report focuses on what has become a timely topic in Florida: How do you set a high bar for prospective charter schools, without creating needless barriers?

May 21, 2015 0 comment

Private Schools School Choice Tax Credit Scholarships Testing and Accountability Vouchers

How regulations affect private schools’ participation in choice programs

Travis Pillow January 21, 2015

Travis Pillow

A new survey suggests excessive regulation of school choice programs could cause some private schools not to enroll students who use vouchers or tax credit scholarships.

The report released this morning by the American Enterprise Institute is the result of what its authors call “the largest and most in-depth survey of its kind.”

The think tank hired a team of University of Arkansas researchers, who polled leaders of hundreds of private schools in Indiana and Louisiana, which have voucher programs, and Florida, which is home to a tax credit scholarship program administered by nonprofits like Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.

Of the three states, leaders in Florida’s private schools appear to be least troubled by state regulations, and most likely to participate in its scholarship program.

“It is imperative that policymakers develop the best mechanisms possible to facilitate successful programs,” the authors write in their conclusion. “Policies meant to burden private schools, starve them, or regulate them into the public school mold are inconsistent with school choice theory and could ultimately hurt the students these policies are designed to help.”

Charts use data from the report, but were produced by redefinED.

More than half the schools accepting Florida’s scholarships cited the possibility of the program ending one day as a “major concern.” Half were also greatly worried about whether the size of scholarship payments would continue growing to keep up with their increasing costs. The surveys were done last spring, amid a contentious debate over regulation and expansion of the program, but before it was challenged in court.

On the other hand, more than nine in ten schools accepting vouchers in the other two states were at least somewhat concerned about paperwork requirements and the prospect of future regulations. Florida’s schools shared those concerns, but not at the same magnitude.

January 21, 2015 1 comment

Catholic Schools Charter Schools Private Schools School Choice

New schools needed: How to make school choice markets work

Travis Pillow January 13, 2015

Travis Pillow

For the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of mostly disadvantaged students have enrolled in private school choice programs, usually seeing some improvement in their academic outcomes while saving taxpayers money.

But the programs have yet to create the kind of systemic transformation sought by proponents of market-based education reform. As Michael McShane writes in the opening chapter of New and Better Schools: the Supply Side of School Choice (which he edited): “Arguing that performing marginally better than struggling public schools is a victory is defining success down.”

The volume, released late last year, and an earlier symposium at the American Enterprise Institute, reflect a growing sense among school choice proponents that simply giving students access to private schools that may previously have been out of reach won’t, on its own, create the kind of quality and efficiency improvements they say the education system urgently needs.

For the forces of creative destruction to drive real improvements in education, the thinking goes, more high-quality schools need to open — the faster, the better. Creating an environment where new private schools can thrive will require new forms of school financing, new teacher education programs to train a new breed of entrepreneurial educators, and a new approach to school regulation.

Whether you agree with the framing analysis or not, the volume may offer a window into the parental choice debates of tomorrow. Contributors contemplate schools financed by investors who only get paid if they improve student outcomes, private school networks that draw lessons from the best public charter schools, and programs that give parents accounts they can use to shop not just among a range of different education providers to create a customized learning plan for their children.

January 13, 2015 0 comment

Blog Administration Common Core Education Politics Policy Wonks redefinED chat School Choice

Rick Hess on school choice, Common Core and for-profits in education

Ron Matus September 9, 2013

Ron Matus

Hess

For those who dismiss the potential upside of for-profits in education, Rick Hess asks them to consider virtually every other aspect of their lives.

“Think about other big investments people make: their house, their car, their tablet or smartphone,” wrote Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, in a live chat on redefinED today. “If you told folks that they could get a house or car made by a nonprofit, they wouldn’t think it was better – odds are, they’d look at you like you were nuts.”

“Fact is, in most of American life, something being a for-profit is generally regarded as a good thing – and government-provided services are frequently regarded as mediocre, or suspect. It’s not immediately clear to me that it ought to be expected to be different in education.”

We asked Hess to join us because he has co-edited a new book on for-profits in education, “Private Enterprise and Public Education.” But over the course of an hour, he weighed in on a wide range of topics. Among the highlights:

On Jeb Bush, his presidential ambitions and Common Core: “Jeb’s got a remarkable track record on education. But, especially in GOP primaries, his full-throated backing of Common Core could trump the rest.”

On President Obama and his administration’s lawsuit against vouchers in Louisiana: “It’s a good move if Obama is trying to score points with the teacher unions and traditional education establishment, or if he’s trying to extend the reach of the federal government in education. It’s a bad move for the affected kids in Louisiana or if he’s interested in trying to claim bipartisan support for his education agenda.”

On Florida, Common Core and PARCC: “I think it’s likely Florida will drop PARCC. Will be interesting to see what follows. … This is the fascinating thing about the Common Core; for it to deliver on its promise, a ton of stuff has to go right. For it to not deliver, only a couple little things have to go south.”

On a criticism school choice supporters should take to heart: Don’t dismiss suburban parents who don’t want their schools to invite in low-performing students through choice plans. “Choice advocates have denounced such parents and communities, and even implied they’re racist. It might be useful to recognize that they’ve worked hard, played by the rules, and sought to provide their kids a good education … Empathetic reform would start by taking these issues seriously, and asking how to frame a win-win agenda.”

You can replay the chat here:

September 9, 2013 1 comment

Bipartisanship Blog Administration Charter Schools Education and Public Policy Parent Trigger Parental Choice School Choice Virtual Education

Howard Fuller: Don’t be knee-jerk about for-profits in school choice, ed reform

Ron Matus March 15, 2013

Ron Matus

Fuller

Count legendary school choice activist Howard Fuller among those who don’t have a problem with for-profit entities in education reform.

At the Black Alliance for Educational Options symposium in Orlando on Thursday, Fuller, who is BAEO’s chair, told several hundred participants at a first-timers orientation that “you also need to not have, at least in my opinion, a knee-jerk reaction to for-profits.”

“At the end of the day, judge something by what it does,” he said. “Don’t start by judging the label.”

The participation of for-profit companies is often raised by critics in parental choice debates on everything from virtual and charter schools to parent triggers and tutoring providers. It’s also an issue to some extent within the choice community. A few months ago, Rick Hess from the American Enterprise Institute and Ben Austin with Parent Revolution engaged in a back-and-forth on the issue after Austin suggested nonprofits are more likely to put children first.

Fuller weighed in after letting attendees know BAEO supports effective public private partnerships. Here’s the full text of his remarks, as best as I could hear them:

March 15, 2013 0 comment

Blog Administration Education Politics Parent Trigger Parental Choice Policy Wonks Progressives and ed reform School Choice

Bias against for-profit education providers is off the mark

Doug Tuthill January 3, 2013

Doug Tuthill

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 is a supporter.

While Ben Austin (pictured here) is clearly well intentioned, his argument is based on ideology and politics, and not good public policy.

Austin’s advocacy of parental empowerment derives from his belief that public education too often puts adult needs over the needs of children. He thinks giving parents more influence over how their children are educated will move students to the center of educational decision-making. But Austin opposes allowing parents to contract with for-profit corporations because he thinks these companies will be more concerned with profit than children’s needs. A summary of Austin’s position was recently posted on the Parent Revolution blog: “Because we believe children need to be put first in every decision, it is far better to have non-profit organizations – accountable to parents, taxpayers and a stated mission – than a for-profit organization, which by definition is accountable first and foremost to investors and shareholders … ”

Hess argues that for-profit corporations already provide billions of dollars of products and services to school districts every year, and if parents decide a for-profit company can best meet their children’s needs, they should be allowed to work with it.

I agree with Hess. While Ben Austin is clearly well intentioned, his argument is based on ideology and politics, and not good public policy. Parents should be free to contract with providers that best meet their children’s needs.

The ad hominem aspect of Austin’s argument is troubling. While I was doing my holiday shopping this year, the gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity of the salespeople I talked to was irrelevant, as was their employer’s tax status. What was relevant was the quality and price of the products or services they were selling. I suspect Ben has these same priorities when he shops, and he likewise does not consider a corporation’s tax status when he purchases products and services for his family and friends.

January 3, 2013 0 comment