Washington State democrats and teachers unions are fighting to STOP school choice. Idaho recently took steps to support choice. Today we bring you an article from Mountain State Policy that you may find interesting....if you are wondering what neighbors are talking about. Wyoming residents are speaking loudly in support of school choice. In the first two weeks that residents could apply to receive $7,000 allotment per student under the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act--signed into law March 4 -- the Wyoming Department of Education received 3,484 applications, which includes 164 for Pre-K. Wyoming is one of multiple states this year, including Tennessee and Texas, that … [Read more...]
Is it time for a school-choice program in Washington State?
This article comes to us from City Journal.org and it's about New York State. Why change NY to WA? Because there are a lot of similarities between the two states politically and urban/rural mix of residents. Texas recently took a major step in this direction. So, read the article and substitute WA for NY and see what you think. It’s Time for a School-Choice Program in New York The school-choice movement scored a major win last week, when Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law a $1 billion universal school-choice bill. Now, every Republican-controlled state has enacted school choice, and choice programs in one form or another operate in 35 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto … [Read more...]
Wyoming Becomes 15th State To Enact Universal School Choice
Published in the Federalist The act grants families an education savings account of $7,000 per student per year to allocate toward approved K-12 educational expenses. On Tuesday, Wyoming became the 15th state to enact universal school choice into law with Gov. Mark Gordon’s signature on the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act. The Cowboy State joins a rapidly growing group of states that have passed laws giving all (or nearly all) families statewide choice concerning their children’s kindergarten through twelfth-grade education. Those states are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and West … [Read more...]
Is School Choice a Free Market Solution?
This article was published at Real Clear Wire Proponents of school choice often use the term "free market" to woo conservative voters and politicians. I've been helping families choose other education options for decades. One of the first things we teach in debate class to tens of thousands of students each year is that a proper definition of terms is critical to success. Understanding the definition of a free market is vital in evaluating if state-sponsored choice will achieve its goals. Is school choice a “free market” solution or something else? School choice activists have defined a free market as when the government gives everyone the same amount of money to spend at any … [Read more...]
Abolishing The Department Of Education Is Just The First Step In Fixing American Schools
The original article was published in The Federalist and written by Auguste Meyrat Last week, Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon, co-founder of the World Wrestling Entertainment company, the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, and two-time nominee for the U.S. Senate, as his secretary of education. While Democrat critics will deride McMahon’s lack of education experience, many conservatives will see this as her greatest asset. Unlike current Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, an equity-obsessed educrat from Connecticut, McMahon will approach her duty with the necessary pragmatism and detachment that true reform requires. Like any successful … [Read more...]
Inside America’s Education Revolution
From the Free Press. It's a 2 minute read. Many of the greatest American success stories started in a public school classroom. Presidents like Harry Truman, LBJ, and Ronald Reagan. Legal giants like Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, and Steve Jobs. But is our school system the great engine of meritocracy it once was? Consider the following: Two-thirds of fourth and eighth graders aren’t proficient in reading, according to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a.k.a. “The Nation’s Report Card.” Absenteeism nearly doubled between 2019 and 2023. Between 2018 and 2023, … [Read more...]
School Choice Is Usually a Conservative Issue. Not in Kentucky
From the Free Press Oct 31, 2024. The article is long and provides in depth information about their situation...some of which may be useful to you. LOUISVILLE, KY—More Grace Christian Academy is located inside a small, run-down church in the West End, the poorest neighborhood in the biggest city in Kentucky. In 2021, at the height of Covid school closures, Cecil Blye opened the school, named after the nearby church where he serves as pastor. There are about a dozen kids, almost all black, from first through twelfth grade. By the time most of them started at the school, Blye told me, they were at least two to three grade levels behind. He said none of their parents pay the school’s $100 … [Read more...]
We Have Already Passed Peak Public School
This article appeared at Reason Magazine and was partially published in one of our earlier blogs. As families continue to defect from government-managed K-12, teachers unions are tightening their squeeze on the Democratic Party. As back-to-school week wheezes into gear for the nation's 54 million or so children between the ages of five and 17, a startling, post-COVID reality is becoming more apparent, even if the implications are still too big to process. It is this: Though the U.S. population continues to grow, the number of kids attending public K-12 schools will likely never again reach its 2019 peak. The rise of homeschooling—from around 2.8 percent of the school-aged population … [Read more...]
Louisiana passes Universal School Choice
The original article can be found at The Washington Policy Center Today the Louisiana legislature passed the LA GATOR program, offering an Education Savings Account (ESA) to all Louisiana students. The law now goes to Governor Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign. With his signature Louisiana will become the twelfth state in the nation to pass universal school choice, joining Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia. As EdChoice President and CEO Robert Enlow declared “This is an exciting moment for Louisiana families, who are no longer constrained by zip codes, but empowered to seek the best educational path for … [Read more...]
Will School Choice Win Out In Tennessee? Lawmakers Have Two Weeks To Finalize ‘Education Freedom’ Act
As we've pointed out there are a number of "school choice" programs across the US and more coming. There will be a citizen referendum in Washington State coming soon so this article is timely. The original can be read at: The Daily Wire Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee is determined to make his state the latest to overhaul its education system to embrace school choice, but with a deadline to get it done just a few weeks away, several hurdles remain. With two weeks remaining before the legislative session of the Tennessee General Assembly comes to a close, lawmakers in the state House and Senate have put forward two very different versions of Lee’s proposed school choice … [Read more...]