Category Archives: Parents

As Ed News Colorado reports today: The number of full-time students attending online programs across the state grew 12.5 percent to 13,128, or the equivalent of the 19th largest school district in Colorado. The remarkable point in the story is that 12.5 percent is the second-lowest rate of annual growth for Colorado public online programs in the last six years. Still, it’s gigantic compared to the state’s overall enrollment growth of 1.7 percent. Ed News Colorado points out one reason why the demand continues to grow:

My mom and dad like to listen to Colorado’s Morning News on AM 850 KOA in Denver. So how excited I was on Thursday to tune into the show and hear the “Your Health / Your Kids” segment with Robbyn Hart. Why? Because she was interviewing my Education Policy Center friend Pam Benigno. Follow this link to listen to the informative 1-minute soundbite about the fantastic School Choice for Kids website. Ms. Hart is correct: It is open enrollment time! So don’t waste a moment, Colorado students and parents. Head on over to School Choice for Kids right now for a free visit to learn about the education options near you and how to take advantage of them!

It’s important to recall from time to time that there are so-called intellectual elitist types out there who are uncomfortable with families exercising an educational choice they don’t agree with. Such appears to be the case with Robin L. West who wrote an article titled “The Harms of Homeschooling” (PDF) for a university publication. There isn’t much left for me to say in response to this shoddy and prejudiced piece of work. Big Journalism’s Izzy Lyman and the American Enterprise Institute’s Jay Richards already have effectively skewered it. Let me just add: As Education Next writer Milton Gaither clearly showed a little over a year ago, people choose homeschooling for a wide variety of reasons. The caricature West tries to draw is simply a figment of someone’s imagination.

A new USA Today article by education reporter Greg Toppo is featured under the banner of “Recession fuels shift from private to public schools” — more middle-class parents with less money to spend on tuition are making the switch: Private-school parents typically find that the structure of public schools takes some getting used to. In most states, funding for public schools is calculated on a per-student basis, based on average student counts during the first few weeks of the school year. If a student drops out after 40 days, the funding that student generated stays with the school — even if he or she does not return to that campus. Private schools, on the other hand, risk losing tuition payments once a student leaves. “Private schools tend to treat you more like a customer than the public schools,” [parent Angela] Allyn says. Public schools are “going to get their tax dollars whether or not you as a parent are upset. If you’re in a private school and you yank your kid out, that’s a lot of money walking out the (private school’s) door.” Many of those parents who were accustomed to selecting private education options through their own financial means […]

Christmas is right around the corner (I can hardly wait). And while it’s very easy for me to be obsessed with expanding my own Lego collection, it’s also very important to remember to give those who are in need. I like basketball a lot, and the Denver Nuggets are my pro team. That’s why I was totally stoked to see Chris “Birdman” Andersen playing Santa Claus to raise money for the Alliance for Choice in Education (ACE). As explained on our School Choice for Kids website: Families living in Colorado that are eligible for free or reduced lunch may apply for an ACE scholarship. The scholarship provides as much as 50 percent of a school’s tuition, with maximum payments of $2,000 per year for grades K-8 and $3,000 per year for grades 9-12. ACE commits to paying for four years of tuition. ACE provides more than 775 scholarships annually and has more than 150 partner schools. For more information see the ACE Web site. Now, in the eyes of teachers unions, the fact that ACE supports school choice somehow makes them “Too Extreme for Colorado”. But would they dare go after the “Birdman” and call him “anti-public education”? Would they […]

Remember the poor kids in our nation’s capital who benefit from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program? Last night D.C. Parents for School Choice Executive Director Virginia Walden Ford sent out an email alerting supporters about a new troubling development from Capitol Hill: Just an hour ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the omnibus bill that kills the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). This is devastating news, and it means that if this bill makes it through the U.S. Senate and is signed into law by President Obama, the OSP will slowly die, with no new students permitted to access great schools through this groundbreaking program. When we began the fight to save this program more than a year ago, we pledged that we would fight hard and fight long and fight to the finish. We said we wouldn’t give up–regardless of the odds. Tonight is no exception. The House passed the voucher-killing omnibus by a tiny margin. The Senate must still act. So, we have not yet been defeated in our effort. To get the full picture, check out a new Weekly Standard piece by Sheryl Blunt aptly titled “The Teachers’ Unions that Stole Christmas”:

Okay, this is hard for me to admit because you’ll probably make fun of me. Here goes: I’m afraid of witches. Yeah, they really creep me out, especially that cackling old hag on the Wizard of Oz. But I learned about something this week that frightened me about as much, and that was an attempted “witch-hunt” audit proposal by four state legislators against Colorado’s public charter schools. (Check out our GoBash blog for all the details, including a copy of the proposal and an important podcast discussion.) Democratic state senator Lois Tochtrop was correct to describe the proposal as a “witch-hunt.” I’m glad she and the four Republicans on the Legislative Audit Committee shot down the bad idea and spared the tens of thousands of Colorado charter school students and their families from an attack on their public school choice. So, okay already, can these state legislators stop trying to frighten little 5-year-old kids like me?

Every year the Center for Education Reform rates the quality of different states’ charter school laws based on their flexibility and equity. This week they released the new edition, and the news again is good for Colorado — one of only 13 states with “strong laws that do not require significant revisions.” But I’m never satisfied with a B letter grade, and neither should Colorado. As usual, there are some key improvements that can be made to our state’s charter school law: More alternative authorizing options beyond the state’s Charter School Institute Greater opportunity for charters to have autonomy from district policies over budgeting, personnel and the like Greater opportunity to access funding for the construction and maintenance of school facilities It’s great to be one of the best states when it comes to charter school laws. But as long as the District of Columbia, Minnesota, California, Utah, Arizona and Michigan stand ahead of Colorado, our work is cut out for us to provide the best in independent public school innovation that meets the needs and demands of families in our state.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports some interesting developments in that city’s nearly two decades old voucher program (H/T Joanne Jacobs). Four Milwaukee voucher schools — including the fast-growing independent Atlas Preparatory Academy — now have more than 750 students each. More than 21,000 students total are enrolled in 111 voucher schools this year. But what’s really telling: And 18 schools that were on the voucher roster a year ago were not there. It’s hard to get sentimental looking at the list. Most were small or weak. Some could not meet the tightened requirements of state law, including rules being applied full force now that voucher schools get accredited by independent organizations…. “The market is working,” said Terry Brown, who heads St. Anthony. “It’s not a perfect market,” but over time many bad schools have been weeded out.

Thanks to the Complete Colorado site, I saw this revealing article from yesterday’s Boulder Daily Camera: Boulder Valley began taking open-enrollment requests for the 2010-2011 school year this week, but the school district’s new online application system crashed within an hour of its debut — possibly because of an overwhelming number of applicants, officials said. According to the school district website, they hope to have the system back up and running in a little while — by noon local time. I’m not so interested in the technical difficulties (though some of my Education Policy Center friends have examined the quality of school districts’ online choice information), but in the reminder that open enrollment time for many Colorado school districts is here or soon will be. And whether you’re in Boulder Valley or Jeffco, on the Western Slope or Eastern Plains, or anywhere in our great Centennial State, you need to bookmark the School Choice for Kids website for all kinds of valuable information on different schools and the process of selecting the best one for your child. And may you not encounter any crashing computer systems along the way.