Category Archives: Parents

Just the kind of glum news you (don’t!) want to hear before your weekend gets rolling, from the Wall Street Journal: A Louisiana district court judge ruled Friday that the state’s school-voucher program is unconstitutional, dealing a blow to one of the nation’s most expansive efforts to let students attend private schools at taxpayer expense. Judge Tim Kelley, a Republican, ruled that the program, created and championed by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, illegally diverts tax money intended for public schools to private and religious schools instead. Very sad to see the educational fate of thousands of students in private schools up in the air. Those of us in Colorado who waited more than a year for an Appeals Court hearing — and especially those Douglas County families who had everything turned upside down by the August 2011 injunction — feel the pain. Here’s hoping that Governor Bobby Jindal and all the great supporters of school choice in Louisiana are able to get things turned around, sooner rather than later. And here’s hoping that things turn out better in Indiana, where the nation’s most thriving private school choice program is before that state’s supreme court. Don’t know about you, but I’m […]

According to a school district dispatch yesterday, Douglas County’s visionary, cutting-edge work in performance-based educator pay and evaluations has received a key nod of community support: The Castle Rock Economic Development Council (EDC) has endorsed the Douglas County School District pay-for-performance program. “We know excellent schools are one of the top reasons that companies choose to locate in Douglas County,” said Frank Gray, President, Castle Rock EDC. “We applaud DCSD for their ongoing commitment to excellence and we believe pay-for-performance will continue to improve our schools.” The Douglas County Pay-for-Performance plan is something that my Education Policy Center friends and I are keeping a close eye on. District leaders are working hard and quickly to break the mold and upgrade how educators are evaluated and compensated, including a system of market-based differential pay based on teacher job descriptions. Except a more detailed report in the months ahead.

I’m on pins and needles today. Not because all the turkey and football is only three days away, but because this afternoon is an important hearing that could affect the future of school choice in our state. The Colorado Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments concerning the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program and the injunction issued by a Denver judge in August 2011. My friends from the Education Policy Center and from Great Choice Douglas County will be on hand for the hearing. But in case we all need to be reminded, the ultimate direction of this case will have a significant impact on plenty of real students and their families:

A few weeks ago I shared with you about a “parent trigger” debate triggered by the release of the movie Won’t Back Down. In that discussion, New Schools for New Orleans’ Neerav Kingsland argued that “the best parent trigger is parent choice between non-governmental school operators.” Yesterday another division erupted in the “parent trigger” discussion between two supporters of the concept and the legislation. Conservative ed reform guru Rick Hess says liberal supporters lost him when they “needlessly attacked for-profit charter providers in a cheap effort to score political points.” Apparently, it’s okay to empower parents to choose to turn around their children’s failing school, but then limit their choices to operators who won’t seek to make some money along the way? In a state next door to Kingsland’s, we learn that 35 failing schools are eligible to be converted by a parent petition through Mississippi’s new “parent trigger” law. Meanwhile, parents at California’s Desert Trails elementary are getting ready to select an operator for the school’s conversion process. As Hess points out, Parent Revolution executive director Ben Austin would not be inclined to let those parents choose an operator who happens to be a for-profit entity. Families should have […]

Last week I was excited to tell you about the special screening and premiere of the new education reform film Won’t Back Down, that has created quite a stir of teachers union protests. (They should protest, writes National Review‘s Rich Lowry, noting “the calculation of their self-interest was exactly right.”) Not here in Colorado, though, at least as two of my Education Policy Center friends tell me. They went to Thursday screenings in two different locations. One of them, Ben DeGrow, wrote a review of the film for Ed News Colorado. For some reason, I don’t think he’ll mind if I quote quite liberally from his piece titled “Movie’s vital message: ‘We will not wait!’”:

I’m getting too excited to wait much longer. Tonight is the special Colorado screening of Won’t Back Down, the new feature movie about empowering parents to improve failing schools. Put simply, it brings the “Parent Trigger” reform concept to the big screen. So as you look forward to catching the movie, either tonight or when it premieres this weekend for general audiences, you might appreciate some thoughts from a couple of prominent education reform voices to chew on first. It started yesterday with New Schools for New Orleans’ Neerav Kingsland, who argues that “maybe we shouldn’t support Parent Trigger laws at all” and “the best parent trigger is parent choice between non-governmental school operators.”

Four months ago, while introducing you to the education policy blueprint of a major party presidential candidate, I noted that one of the hardest areas in which “it might be hard to make a contrast” between Obama and Romney is K-12 education. Every time one of these major national elections comes up, serious questions and debates take place about the federal government’s role — like the seven-part video series on Choice Media TV with Joe Williams and Jay Greene. In the last installment, the question comes up about the deep potential and widespread problems with fraud and abuse in the federal Title I program for low-income students. Greene responds with the vital idea of attaching the Title I dollars directly to needy students rather than filtering them through wasteful bureaucracies — a great idea touted here before. But beyond that kind of choice, mobility and empowerment, what other reform ideas could be part of a conservative agenda for the federal role in education?

So you may have heard the Education Policy Center’s Ben DeGrow has started hosting a weekly K-12 education half-hour radio segment on AM 1310 KFKA in northern Colorado, every Wednesday at 10 AM. Earlier today he had a great conversation with a parent and taxpayer from Adams 12 in suburban Denver. Joe Hein was one of two speakers at a September 5 school board meeting who had to be escorted out for their own protection from teachers union protesters who didn’t appreciate a different opinion on the school board’s difficult budget cut decision. Protesters said the Board is violating the collective bargaining contract by asking teachers to make the same retirement contribution that other Adams 12 employee groups have to make. From the Colorado Watchdog: District taxpayer Joseph Hein, who has attended numerous board meetings this year, mentioned the extra burdens parents have taken from recent cuts made to transportation and middle school sports. He then gently urged the District 12 teachers in attendance to listen carefully to the board’s response. “You guys are part of the solution, as well,” he said, while union members waved signs from the crowd. Watch his brief remarks for yourself. To me, they appear […]

About a month ago, I pointed out to you the somewhat disturbing views about parents held by certain figures within the education establishment. Well, here’s going way out on a limb to guess the same crowd won’t be lining up in excitement to watch the new movie Won’t Back Down: The feature-length film starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis and Holly Hunter is a story about parents who take charge of transforming their children’s failing inner-city school. In other words, it’s a real Hollywood movie with a powerful education reform message that should resonate with American families facing challenging educational circumstances. Maybe it can pick up where Waiting for Superman left off.

Progress in education reform, like so many other areas, is never final. Just as bad policies can be undone, so can good policies. Simply put, we can’t rest on our laurels. I’m sure that Idaho superintendent Tom Luna and the team behind his Students Come First program are well aware of that reality now. Last year I told you about the yummy tater tots of education reform coming out of the Gem State — a few key pieces of legislation that, among other things, spurred some great innovative local pay-for-performance projects. But a report this week from Education News’ Julie Lawrence, the teachers union and other reform opponents collected enough signatures to put the reform items on the ballot for voters to reconsider: