Category Archives: Private Schools

A lot of big people were paying attention to Louisiana this weekend because of some big presidential primary election there. But I’m more interested in Bayou State developments from the world of K-12 education. And they look pretty big from here. Last Thursday night Republicans and Democrats in the Louisiana House of Representatives came together to approve a major educational voucher and charter school expansion (House Bill 976). The programs are mainly aimed at low-income students enrolled in schools with mediocre or poor performance on the state’s accountability system. The discussion and vote (63-42) went late into the night.

Can you believe it was one year ago today that the Douglas County Board of Education voted to adopt the groundbreaking Pilot Choice Scholarship Program? (Can you also believe that I was 5 years old then and am still 5 years old now? I need to talk to my Education Policy Center friends about this.) Time certainly flies. So rather than diving into the news of the day, it seemed fitting to feature a brief retrospective. A lot has happened since then. To refresh your memory, here are some of the highlights:

The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has released an interesting new study titled “The Fiscal Effects of School Choice Programs on Public School Districts.” Author Benjamin Scafidi took a state-by-state look at total per-pupil spending, breaking out the fixed costs from the variable costs. Here’s the basic idea. Take a state’s K-12 “expenditures on capital, interest, general administration, school administration, operations and maintenance, transportation, and ‘other’ support services” and set them to one side. Subtract these “fixed costs in the short run” — as Scafidi conservatively considers them — from the total spending. What’s left over are the expenditures tied more closely to actual enrollment, which districts have shown can be easily reduced when numbers of students leave. A voucher or tax credit given to student up to that amount safely can be considered not to have any fiscal harm on the district. On a national scale Scafidi finds:

The big news from the education reform world this week is the release of the School Choice Demonstration Project’s final reports evaluating five years of matched student comparisons between the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the Milwaukee Public Schools. What can we learn about vouchers from the results of this program? The American Federation for Children summed up the top-level findings in a Monday press release: Students enrolled in the Milwaukee voucher program are more likely to graduate from high school and go to college than their public school counterparts, boast significantly improved reading scores, represent a more diverse cross-section of the city, and are improving the results of traditional public school students, according to a comprehensive evaluation of the program released today.

Once in awhile an article comes along that makes you stand up and cheer. For me, the latest is a new Education Week column signed by “nine scholars and analysts” that lays out clearly what the research says about school choice. I was tempted to re-post the whole thing, but the big people in my life assure me that wouldn’t be right to do. So I’ll sum up. The article observes that a number of high-quality studies have been done measuring academic results for students in choice programs, somewhat less rigorous studies examining the competitive effects choice has on the surrounding public school system, and a few studies of the fiscal impacts on public schools. The clear consensus of the highest-quality research is that vouchers and tax credits show modestly positive results on all three fronts, with none demonstrating negative effects. Results for charter schools are decidedly more mixed in the academic and competitive results, with more positive impacts in the earlier grades. But the highlight and big takeaway of the jointly-authored Education Week piece is this:

While School Choice Week has me in a happy frenzy, it doesn’t leave me as much time for blogging. But in my few spare moments, I wanted to share a few timely developments fitting for this week’s big festivities: The Alliance for School Choice has released the latest version of the School Choice Yearbook… The big news? More than 210,000 students nationwide are enrolled in publicly-funded private educational choice programs, a 25 percent increase in just four years! Remember Education Savings Accounts, the cutting-edge school choice program with a superior design? Well, today a Maricopa County judge ruled that Arizona’s first-of-its-kind ESA program for special needs student was constitutional! Finally, speaking of special needs students, the Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio is about to launch its fourth voucher program, the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship! Good news on all three fronts. Before my hyperactivity takes over and my short attention span fades away, here’s one last call to invite you to this evening’s Kids Aren’t Cars movie night at the Independence Institute in Denver. Hope to see you there!

Has it really been almost three months since I told you about a new Choice Media video on the Douglas County Choice Scholarship program injunction? Well, award-winning director Bob Bowdon has triumphed again with this hard-hitting, six-minute video about the New York City NAACP’s lawsuit trying to remove a charter school that successfully serves inner-city minority students:

While I sit and wait and tap my feet for some word on the appeal of the Douglas County choice scholarship injunction, here’s some important good news for you. A very similar statewide program enacted last year in the Hoosier State has been upheld in a January 13 decision: A Marion County judge ruled Friday that Indiana’s school voucher program is constitutional. However, those who oppose the program say they’ll appeal his decision. The vouchers, approved by General Assembly last spring, redirect money from public schools to help offset private-school tuition for students in low- and middle-income families. Of course, the union and other anti-choice groups will appeal. That’s just the way it’s done. But it’s a big win for the good guys, coming five months after the same judge blocked an initial request to put the program on the same sort of injunction as the one holding back Douglas County families.

Can it be nearly a year since the first-ever National School Choice Week? You remember what a big deal I made of it then. Well, here’s fair warning that the second annual National School Choice Week is only a month away, with a great video to share in telling your friends about it: It’s getting too near to Christmas for me to write any more. Rather than get antsy and bother you with some rambling commentary, here are links to my posts last year from National School Choice Week: Hey, It’s National School Choice Week! Perfect for School Choice Week: Dr. Jay Greene’s Education Reform Agenda Wrapping Up School Choice Week: Andrew Coulson Touts Tax Credits… And More! I understand that Colorado has some big things in store for the second edition of National School Choice Week. Stay tuned…

One thing December brings is the obligatory year-end lists. If you are even a casual reader of this blog, then you should be interested in taking a moment to vote on the “Best and Worst in American Education, 2011” — brought to you by the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. Being of a decidedly reform-minded bent, the group has offered up some expected developments in their five choices for each of the “Best” and “Worst” categories. Most of the items I’ve covered at one time or another during 2011. Naturally I can’t make you vote for any particular events (or even vote at all), but I am making some strong suggestions that fans could select on my behalf as one of the most inexpensive Christmas gifts you’ve ever purchased. This is my blog, and I like to save the best for last. So which of the five choices should you recognize as the worst education event of 2011?