Under the program, parents who sign up get a debit card loaded with 90 percent of what would have been the state's allocation to the school district for their child. They can use the money for tuition, textbooks, therapy, or college classes while students are still in high school—or the money can be saved and used to attend college full time after graduation.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
What's not to love?
Education Week recently reported on the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account:
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Conflict inevitable in school choice Big Tent
In writing and speaking about school choice, I often stress the importance of being ecumenical. There's room in the school-choice coalition for all sorts of options: private-school vouchers and tax credits, charter schools, virtual schools, homeschooling, and more.
Still, we need to recognize that conflict is inevitable. For example, Cato Institute scholar Adam Schaeffer points out that "charter schools often provide a safer, better alternative to traditional public schools. That’s good. Charter schools also destroy private schools, decrease educational options, pull private-school students into the government education system and thereby add significant new costs to taxpayers." Indeed, a new study says charter schools are siphoning students from Catholic schools. So, yes, KIPP schools are saving kids' lives, and we should be thankful for this. But we need to do it with eyes wide open.
Another example is virtual education. I'm a big fan (having hosted an entire symposium on the topic), and can see how it blends nicely with homeschooling, for example (something state Sen. Gary Stanislawski pointed out at the National School Choice Week event last month in Edmond). And yet, as the Home School Legal Defense Association points out, “tuition-free public virtual school from home” comes with strings attached.
As Grover Norquist says of coalitions generally, "We don't eliminate conflict -- we manage it." As the education policy landscape continues to change, school-choice advocates will need to do just that.
UPDATE: As if to confirm Mr. Schaeffer's point, a story in The Oklahoman informs us that a new charter school in downtown Oklahoma City will help prevent people from "making other choices" (such as homeschooling or attending a private school).
Still, we need to recognize that conflict is inevitable. For example, Cato Institute scholar Adam Schaeffer points out that "charter schools often provide a safer, better alternative to traditional public schools. That’s good. Charter schools also destroy private schools, decrease educational options, pull private-school students into the government education system and thereby add significant new costs to taxpayers." Indeed, a new study says charter schools are siphoning students from Catholic schools. So, yes, KIPP schools are saving kids' lives, and we should be thankful for this. But we need to do it with eyes wide open.
Another example is virtual education. I'm a big fan (having hosted an entire symposium on the topic), and can see how it blends nicely with homeschooling, for example (something state Sen. Gary Stanislawski pointed out at the National School Choice Week event last month in Edmond). And yet, as the Home School Legal Defense Association points out, “tuition-free public virtual school from home” comes with strings attached.
What you need to know is: (1) you are required to use books and materials that they have pre-approved; (2) their books and materials are limited and may not suit your student; (3) like books and materials used in every other public school in America, they cannot tell the truth about God; (4) like all other public school teachers, online public school teachers cannot tell your student the truth about God.
As Grover Norquist says of coalitions generally, "We don't eliminate conflict -- we manage it." As the education policy landscape continues to change, school-choice advocates will need to do just that.
UPDATE: As if to confirm Mr. Schaeffer's point, a story in The Oklahoman informs us that a new charter school in downtown Oklahoma City will help prevent people from "making other choices" (such as homeschooling or attending a private school).
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Public-school educator and administrator ...
... lists the 12 most compelling reasons to homeschool your children.
'Deborah Brown charter school seeks to expand'
Good story in the Tulsa World by Kim Archer, who notes correctly that the voices of school-choice advocates are rising in Oklahoma.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Celebrate diversity
Over at redefinED, Ashley Berner says the U.S. could learn a few things from other nations about educational diversity. And in his latest Journal Record column, Andrew Spiropoulos, OCPA's Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow, actually touches on the same theme. His piece is about the provision of social services, but applies perfectly to education as well. "The solution is not a massive increase in spending," he writes.
We must improve services, not spend more on what doesn't work. What can the government do to provide better services? It can partner with the private institutions of civil society, particularly our religious organizations, which already provide many of these services and do it more effectively than government agencies. ...
There are ways ... for government to help provide these services while minimizing the danger it will interfere with the operation of the religious group. It can refrain from providing direct funding to the religious organization and, instead, provide individuals the money to seek support from any organization they choose.
A person leaving prison, for example, should be able to choose the program that will work best for him. The religious provider has little connection to the government and should not alter what it is doing in any important way. All the government does is subsidize the person needing help. It should then let the rest of us do what it cannot -- treat people as human beings, not the clients of a bureaucracy.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Parents 'may not know what actually is best' for their children
During a House Education Committee hearing in Michigan this month, one of the benevolent shepherds in the education establishment inadvertently revealed what many educators think of we the sheeple:
Ms. Squires doubtless would be surprised to learn that parents, in addition to knowing what’s best for their children, in many cases actually educate children better than the educators themselves. As Milton Friedman observed, the explosive growth of homeschooling is "evidence of the failure of our current education system. There is no other complex field in our society in which do-it-yourself beats out factory production or market production. Nobody makes his or her own car. But it still is the case that parents can perform the job of educating their children, in many cases better than our present education system."
Even if parents don’t choose to do the teaching themselves, they are quite capable of choosing good schools for their children. But many education "professionals," especially administrators, tend to look down their noses at parents, who, after all, are mere "amateurs." These professionals have forgotten that the word "amateur" traces to the Latin amāre ("to love"), and that amateurs are people whose actions are motivated by love rather than something else. People motivated by love make it their business to “know what’s best” for the objects of their affection.
Even if parents don’t choose to do the teaching themselves, they are quite capable of choosing good schools for their children. But many education "professionals," especially administrators, tend to look down their noses at parents, who, after all, are mere "amateurs." These professionals have forgotten that the word "amateur" traces to the Latin amāre ("to love"), and that amateurs are people whose actions are motivated by love rather than something else. People motivated by love make it their business to “know what’s best” for the objects of their affection.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
School bullying leads to attempted suicide
More bullying in Broken Arrow:
And in El Reno bullying led to an attempted suicide:
As I never tire of repeating, bullied students deserve a ticket out.
And in El Reno bullying led to an attempted suicide:
As I never tire of repeating, bullied students deserve a ticket out.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
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