Category Archives: School Choice

Update, 3/27: For more perspective on the magnitude of yesterday’s court victory, read this redefinED commentary by Institute for Justice attorney Bert Gall, who argued the Indiana case. I’m feeling just a little jealous of Indiana today. Just a little now–this is Colorado after all. I’m not talking about the fact that the Hoosiers made it to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, while neither the CU Buffaloes or CSU Rams made it past their second March Madness contest. Although the results on the basketball court haven’t helped, it’s actually news from a different kind of court that gives me extra smiles today: The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice hailed today’s ruling from the Indiana Supreme Court, which declared the state’s school voucher program constitutional. The announcement ends a nearly two-year-long review of the nation’s largest voucher initiative, for which more than half of the state’s student population qualifies. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld the program by a vote of 5-0, ruling “the voucher program expenditures do not directly benefit religious schools but rather directly benefit lower-income families with school-children by providing an opportunity for such children to attend non-public schools if desired.”

While the big school finance reform legislation at the Colorado State Capitol explores reshuffling the dollars in a 20th century system — and dashing my youthful hopes along the way — other states continue to plow ahead with the idea of course choice. Students are enabled to customize their education by choosing courses regardless of school and district boundaries, mainly through the use of digital technology. Well, count Florida among the states seriously looking at revamping a system to promote flexibility and reward student mastery, rather than just continue to fund learning based on seat time. With Utah and Louisiana already pioneering in this area, it’s great to hear redefinED’s Ron Matus talk with national blended learning guru Michael Horn about the new world where the change might lead us and speculate how it might unfold:

It’s time to send Colorado home with another report card (figuratively, I mean — not sure how you would do that literally). Back in January I pointed out the release of 3 national education policy report cards. Colorado got a C from Student First for some key teacher and choice policies, a B from the Center for Education Reform for the quality of our charter school law, and a D from the National Council on Teacher Quality for our educator preparation system. Not to be outdone, yesterday Digital Learning Now released the 2012 Digital Learning Report Card. As usual, with this sort of thing, there are two kinds of news to share. Since we’re heading into the weekend, let’s end with the good news and go with the bad news first: Colorado earned a D-plus. Some of our state’s key shortcomings?

Update, 5:10 PM Extra audio added. So some of you may have been missing me since a couple days ago when I asked a dozen questions regarding the major school finance bill, SB 213. Many of my questions remain unanswered, and the first committee vote on the bill itself isn’t slated until this afternoon. But a couple interesting conversations sprung up around the first question I asked: To what extent does the legislation provide for true course-level choice? Especially since it won’t go into effect unless voters approve a billion-dollar tax hike this November. That’s when I saw a document handed out by state senator Michael Johnston‘s office to explain the bill. On page 3 in the left-hand column it lists “High School Voucher for 9-12” as a component of base funding in the newly proposed formula. Well, you can guess that perked up my hopes, the idea that a new school finance system might offer students breakthrough opportunities to take a portion of their funding and choose courses from private schools or other providers. At Tuesday’s nine-hour marathon hearing, dozens of witnesses came before the Senate Education Committee. Senator Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley) surprised one of them, CEA executive director […]

A little over a week ago I told you about the brilliant blindside hit for Alabama kids in failing schools and other school choice supporters. Not only did they sack the quarterback for a loss, but the reform team defense forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown! Well, the coaches for the education establishment didn’t like the call, I guess. Because about the same time I posted the good news, they filed a restraining order to stop the tax credit scholarship legislation from going into effect. I don’t think true football fans would wait more than a week after the red challenge flag hit the field for the referees to make up their mind, but yesterday’s response from the Alabama Supreme Court actually came pretty quickly for the legal system.

A few years ago, a great movie called The Blind Side was released, portraying the real-life story of a poor, homeless young man who thrived on the football field under the care of an adopted family. Michael Oher went on to be a college All-American and last month a Super Bowl champion offensive tackle as a member of the Baltimore Ravens. It was good news not from Baltimore, but from the home of the college football national champions, that truly blindsided many observers last week. Seemingly out of nowhere, Alabama legislators overwhelmingly passed a bill that included the adoption of tax credits for donating to scholarships that free kids from failing schools: “I truly believe this is historic education reform and it will benefit students and families across Alabama regardless of their income and regardless of where they live,” said Governor [Robert] Bentley said in a press conference Thursday night. “I’m so proud we have done this for the children of this state and especially the children who are in failing school systems and had no way out. Now, they have a way out.”

I am going to be catching my breath all day, I’m so excited by this fantastic news from the Colorado Court of Appeals today: DENVER—The Independence Institute, Colorado’s leading pro-freedom policy voice, praised today’s decision to restore a groundbreaking school choice program previously struck down by a Denver judge. The Colorado Court of Appeals today overturns an August 2011 ruling that permanently enjoined the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program. A majority of the three-judge panel ruled that plaintiffs “failed to carry their burden of proving the unconstitutionality of the CSP beyond a reasonable doubt” and that they lack standing to make their case. (A copy of the opinion is posted at https://bit.ly/WjOq3S.)

A powerful research report released today from a big study confirms what anyone paying attention to the urban charter school movement already should have noticed. KIPP produces big gains for students: KIPP middle schoolers learn significantly more than comparison students, concludes a report by Mathematica Policy Research on 43 schools in 13 states plus the District of Columbia. Three years after enrollment, the average KIPP student gained an extra 11 months in math, moving from the 44th to the 58th percentile, and eight months in reading, moving from the 46th to the 55th percentile. Science gains equalled an extra 14 months and social studies an extra 11 months. Following up on research released in the summer of 2010, Mathematica confirmed earlier findings that KIPP doesn’t benefit from attracting more gifted students than those left behind in surrounding schools. Mike Feinberg, the cage-busting co-founder of the national, no-excuses charter school network, notes among other findings:

I tend not to get into all the icky Valentine’s Day stuff (flowers, pink hearts, greeting cards), except to the extent I can stuff my face with candy. Even so, some events that transpired yesterday at the Capitol nearly broke my heart. Ed News Colorado reports on the Thursday afternoon state senate committee hearing that resulted in the sad and awkward — but given political realities, not terribly surprising — death of two tax credit bills that would have increased students’ educational options. Senate Bill 131 would have provided up to a $500 credit for families who pay for an outside “education or academic enrichment service.” The only downer on SB 131 was the small negative impact forecast for the state budget. Also going down on a 4-4 vote, Senate Bill 69 would have provided a direct credit to families paying private school tuition (up to 50 percent of state per pupil revenue) or home school expenses (up to $1,000). The Colorado Education Association lobbyist expressed skepticism at the nonpartisan fiscal analysis showing the proposal would save tax dollars, claiming instead that research of an Arizona program showed a negative impact on that state’s treasury.

A few weeks ago an article by the I-News Network (“an independent, nonprofit journalism project that creates long-form investigative reports, in partnership with major daily newspapers and has recently accepted significant funding from wealthy Democrat activist Tim Gill”) portrayed Colorado minorities as victims of inadequate tax funding of education: Regardless of which way the causal arrow runs, poverty and education are intertwined across the range of societal distress. Several experts said the state’s pullback in funding education over the past two decades has narrowed the path for escaping poverty. Between 1992 and 2010, according to Census data, Colorado plunged from 24th to 40th on overall state spending per student for K-12 education. When compared to per capita personal income, Colorado ranked 45th among the states on K-12 spending. Today The Gazette in Colorado Springs published a powerful response from my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow: