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school choice and civil rights

redefinED roundup: Vouchers in Tennessee, tax credit scholarships in Mississippi & more

redefinED staff February 4, 2013

redefinED staff

Tennessee: Gov. Bill Haslam proposes a voucher that’s limited to low-income students in low-performing schools, with additional state funding for those schools to boot (KnoxNews). More from timesfreepress.com and Nashville Public Radio. Haslam reiterates that his proposal won’t affect funding for public schools (Nooga.com). Both supporters and opponents find details to criticize (KnoxNews). Haslam’s administration is also backing a bill that would cap enrollment at a virtual charter school run by K12 Inc, reports timesfreepress.com.

Florida: At a National School Choice Week event, new Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett gives some school districts credit for expanding public options such as magnet schools and career academies (redefinED).

Louisiana: The teachers union in New Orleans asks for the names of teachers in the city’s charter schools in the hopes of organizing them (The Lens).

Arkansas: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush makes an appearance during National School Choice Week, urging lawmakers to expand charter schools and other choice options and calling education reform both the civil rights and economic issue of our time (Associated Press). More from the Arkansas Press-Gazette.

Virginia: Democratic lawmakers kill a charter school bill and snub their party’s national platform in the process (Watchdog.org). More from the Associated Press. A bill to allow home-schoolers to play sports in public schools – a so-called “Tebow” bill – passes the House but must still clear the Senate (Associated Press).

Georgia: The state charter schools commission holds its first meeting since being revived by passage of a constitutional amendment (Atlanta Journal Constitution). More than 1,000 charter school supporters gather to celebrate the amendment’s passage (Atlanta Journal Constitution).

South Carolina: State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais says at a National School Choice Week event that he supports a legislative proposal for tax credit scholarships (SCNow.com).

North Carolina: An expansion of charter schools brings debate about quality (Durham Herald Sun).

Mississippi: A bill backed by Gov. Phil Bryant to create a tax credit scholarship program clears the Senate education committee (Associated Press).

Texas: A charter school chief executive testifies in a trial about education funding that low state spending is hurting charters too (San Antonio Express News). The Amarillo school district joins others in supporting an anti-voucher resolution (NewsChannel 10). Gov. Rick Perry backs expansion of charter schools and a proposal for tax credit scholarships (Dallas Morning News).

February 4, 2013 0 comment

Blog Administration Catholic Schools Charter Schools Education and Public Policy Education Politics Education Reporting Funding Grassroots Parent Empowerment Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice Tax Credit Scholarships

Key lawmaker says stars aligned for school choice push in Texas

Sherri Ackerman January 22, 2013

Sherri Ackerman

School choice in Texas is getting a big push this year from a key lawmaker who has made it a top priority.

Texas Sen. Dan Patrick

“I’m the new chair of the Senate Education Committee and this is important to me,’’ state Sen. Dan Patrick, who has served on the committee for six years, said in a telephone interview with redefinED. “Here’s an issue that I’ve decided we need to push, but now I’m in a position that I can move it forward.’’

Patrick, R-Houston, and other school choice advocates in Texas are looking to create a tax credit program similar to the one in Florida that allows corporations to redirect a portion of state taxes to a scholarship fund in return for a tax credit. Low-income families who qualify can use the scholarship to help pay tuition at private schools.

Patrick has included the measure in an ambitious education plan that also calls for doing away with the 215-school cap on charter schools; incorporating a school rating system modeled after Florida’s A-F grades; and giving students the ability to enroll in any school within their district or in another district that has space.

In the interview, Patrick called school choice a civil rights issue and a “moral right.” He also offered a feisty response to an ad campaign, launched last fall by school choice opponents, that suggested “vouchers” would jeopardize Friday night football.

“With all due respect, that campaign is idiotic,’’ he said. “Texas would cut out math before they would cut out football.’’

Here’s more from the interview:

January 22, 2013 1 comment

Blog Administration Charter Schools Education Politics Parental Choice School Choice

Joel Klein and Condi Rice say parental choice is ‘No. 1’

Jon East December 4, 2012

Jon East

At Jeb Bush’s National Summit on Education Reform in Washington, D.C. last week, two prominent education reformers from the center-left and the center-right joined to make a remarkable statement about parental choice. Asked from the audience to name their “No. 1 idea” to improve public education, former New York City school chancellor Joel Klein and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice answered with a remarkably united voice.

Their three minutes of extemporaneous remarks are well worth your time, and are available through C-SPAN.org here.

In brief, Klein spoke of the way various types of learning options, including charter schools, have helped spur improvements in New Orleans and Harlem: “About a third of the kids in Harlem in the third grade are in charter schools. What’s amazing is the Harlem District went up, and this is apples to apples, went up dramatically from when we started this intensive choice process there to now. … Not only did the charter schools outperform almost everybody, but the public schools … actually moved up significantly themselves.”

Rice spoke to how competitive pressures have produced a “catalytic” effect in higher education, and noted that only wealthier families tend to have choice in a K-12 system where pupil assignment is determined only by geography: “So the only people stuck in neighborhood schools are poor people, and that’s the height of inequality. And that’s why I’ve called it a civil rights issue.”

December 4, 2012 0 comment