Category Archives: Independence Institute

It’s been more than a week since my last update about the cost-saving, cutting-edge innovation going on in Colorado’s Falcon School District 49. Last Thursday, after the Ed News Colorado feature was republished on the Education Week site, one of the Fordham Institute’s Flypaper bloggers reacted favorably by noting Falcon’s innovation could serve as a model for Ohio schools. The secret (figuratively speaking) about the Colorado Springs school district’s innovation proposal is out. So it’s hardly surprising my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow would follow up his op-ed in the Colorado Springs Gazette with a Saturday morning appearance on the hometown Jeff Crank Show. AM 740 KVOR has re-posted the full audio from the two-hour program. The 10-minute interview about Falcon 49 starts about a third of the way into the show, right after the host plays some clips about global warming. At first, Ben thought his on-air performance was what made me so excited to listen to his interview. I hated to bust Ben’s bubble, but the real reason for my excitement was the fact that host Jeff Crank sounded like the Cookie Monster (you’ve got to listen to know what I mean). On this mushy and yucky […]

Yesterday the superintendent of one of Colorado’s smallest school districts came before the State Board of Education. Kit Carson R-1’s Gerald Keefe was there to answer questions about his district’s innovation proposal. This wouldn’t surprise you at all if you listened to one of the newest podcasts produced by my Education Policy Center friends, in which Keefe explains why he believes his rural district should be set free from some state and federal teacher policies. I doubt the proposal will breeze through, and some details may need to be worked out. As reported in Ed News Colorado, Kit Carson’s superintendent caught some preliminary pushback from one State Board member: Angelika Schroeder, D-2nd District, said, “I haven’t heard the innovation” in the plan. She suggested Kit Carson should help pilot implementation of SB 10-191.

A few weeks ago I told you about the “voucher bogeyman” fearmongering around Colorado House Bill 1048 (PDF) — which would provide non-refundable tax credits to parents or donors supporting a student’s private school tuition or home education. (And therefore, not a “subsidy” as was headlined and reported with a strong anti-choice slant on the Denver Post‘s blog. To expound further by quoting from said post might get me in legal trouble, and I’m too young to be able to afford a lawyer.) Well, the bill finally got a hearing yesterday afternoon before the House Finance Committee. A fairly long one. And ultimately an indecisive one. Education News Colorado has the best account I’ve seen: After dark had fallen and the witness list was exhausted, [committee chair Rep. Brian] DelGrosso said, “I think we have raised several questions” and that “trying to piecemeal some amendments might not be the wisest decision.” “I’m going to lay it over a couple of weeks,” he told [bill sponsor Rep. Spencer] Swalm. “Maybe you can give the committee a couple of different options.” So now it’s time to hurry up and wait again. I’m learning that’s just sometimes how it goes in the big […]

Anybody who reads this blog knows I have a big soft spot for the kids in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program — you know, the one axed by the Obama administration. Just type “D.C. voucher” or “D.C. school choice” in the search box on the right sidebar to see what I mean. So it’s no surprise that I was excited to see some leaders in Congress from both parties have decided to re-visit the issue this year by introducing the SOAR legislation to reauthorize the program. Since that has helped to lift my spirits, I’ve taken more notice of great posts like one from Matthew Tabor titled “One Woman’s Experience with School Vouchers in DC”, which brought my attention to Vivian Butler’s guest Washington Post column.

Aren’t there any child labor laws in effect here? This National School Choice Week phenomenon is great, but the good folks of the Education Policy Center have me blogging overtime. I talked about going on strike, but they just laughed and patted me on the head. How condescending!* Anyway, rather than write any more, I wanted to highlight another one of the great series of Reason TV School Choice Week video interviews. In this edition, Andrew Coulson from Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom talks about the impact of school choice on social conflict and the promise of tuition tax credits:

So what does my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow’s brand new op-ed in the Colorado Springs Gazette have to do with President Obama’s State of the Union address last night? Piqued your curiosity at all? Maybe just a tad? A couple weeks ago I told you about what’s going on in Falcon School District 49 near Colorado Springs, and the beginnings of their creative attempt to restructure the school district. Well, the Falcon board voted to move forward with the innovation plan — a decision Ben lauds and highlights in his Gazette op-ed. You can find out more about Falcon’s innovation plan by listening to an iVoices podcast with school board member Chris Wright, or by visiting a new page created on the district’s website. A main tenet of the plan is moving greater autonomy from the central administrative office to the schools in the different innovation zones. To get there, the district plans to request Innovation status from the State Board of Education — a step empowered by the creation of Colorado’s 2008 Innovation Schools Act. But what was the genesis of the groundbreaking piece of legislation? A high-need school with a bold principal (Kristin Waters, now helping […]

In the second edition of special National School Choice Week blog posts, I’m mostly going to take a break and point you to another great video in reason.tv’s topical series. Last week it was former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Today it’s Dr. Jay Greene, a preeminent education scholar from the University of Arkansas — perhaps most personally notable for saying I have “one of the best education blogs, period” — telling Nick Gillespie what’s at the top of his reform wish list: How many of you were surprised at the answer? Raise your hands. That’s what I thought. Not too many. Still looking for a way to celebrate National School Choice Week? Other than the Colorado events I told you about yesterday, you also can visit the fabulous, one-of-a-kind School Choice for Kids website to learn how you can take advantage of the education options we already enjoy.

Today I get to recommend to you a great video from reason.tv, as Nick Gillespie asks former Florida governor (and founder, board president and chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education) Jeb Bush, “What is at the absolute top of your education reform list?”:

Update: Thanks to quick help from staff at the Colorado Dept. of Education, I can tell you that Colorado public school agencies spent $7.9 million in 2008-09, and at least $6.9 million in 2009-10, on “tuition paid to private schools or non-approved agencies.” Now to figure out if that changes the nuance of CEA’s opposition to a private school tax credit program. Hey, there, don’t look now, but I think there’s something behind you… like the bogeyman!! Not really, it’s just the impression I got from reading yesterday’s Colorado Independent story titled “Colorado private school vouchers are back, disguised as tax credits.” (H/T Complete Colorado) You’ve got to watch out for those pesky vouchers in disguise. You never know what they might sneak around to do: haunt your house (Vouchergeist!), drink your blood (Vouchers or Vampires?), or worst of all, maybe steal some of your Legos! About that story in the Independent, guess what? Did you know that teachers unions and public school establishment groups are opposed to private school choice? I had no idea before reading it that groups like the Colorado Education Association or Colorado Association of School Boards might not like Rep. Spencer Swalm and Sen. Kevin […]

This morning Education News Colorado has published an important story by Nancy Mitchell on the growing number of families opting to enroll students in public education programs outside their district of residence: This fall, 66,296 students are “choicing out” of their home district. That’s 8 percent of the state’s 843,316 pupils; in 2001, the comparable figure was 3 percent. In education circles, it’s known as “inter-district open enrollment.” There’s also “intra-district open enrollment,” where students move to a public school outside their neighborhood but still within the school district. But even that description is too cut and dried.