Category Archives: Suburban Schools

I’ve been told (no, really, I have!) that for a little kid blogging about education policy, I have a lot of appeal. Embarrassing: at first I thought it had something to do with bananas. But you know I was so much younger then. Anyway, I don’t want you to slip up before I get to the main point of my post for today. It’s about a different kind of appeal, one I knew had to be coming but am so glad to see it finally happen. I’m talking about an appeal of last month’s sad district court decision to shut down the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program. Last Thursday, September 8, the paperwork was delivered to the Colorado Court of Appeals. First, from an Institute for Justice press release: “We are confident that the Court of Appeals will correct the trial court’s decision, which ignored or attempted to rationalize away existing Colorado and U.S. Supreme Court precedent that clearly authorizes the scholarship program,” said Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, which represents the Oakley, Doyle and Anderson families in defending the Choice Scholarship Program.

From the files of “I’m glad s/he’s not my state legislator,” we turn to the state of Michigan — where lawmakers are considering a plan to give families greater choice through mandatory public school open enrollment. A recent Associated Press story highlights some of the outrageous rhetoric from the opposition: State Rep. Timothy Bledsoe, a Democrat from Grosse Pointe, said he’s worried that a mandatory schools of choice program would be the “death blow” to local control of schools. “If your school board cannot control its boundaries and who is allowed to attend your schools, there just isn’t much left that Lansing can’t determine,” Bledsoe said. “The school board is left to hire and fire the superintendent and that’s about it.” A pretty silly argument all in all. Mandatory open enrollment essentially means no school can keep out students based on where they live, as long as there is a seat open and the school doesn’t have to create a special program or accommodation just for that student. Public school choice leader Colorado has mandatory open enrollment — one of the nation’s strongest open enrollment laws, in fact. In 2010-11, about 66,000 students attended a public school outside their district […]

Was it really less than three weeks ago I wondered aloud about the pending school choice rulings here in Colorado and in Indiana? While a Denver District Court judge put a (temporary) halt to the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program, a few days later Hoosier families celebrated a better result. Today Associated Press writer Tom Coyne highlights the Indiana program’s early popularity (H/T Adam Emerson): Under a law signed in May by Gov. Mitch Daniels, more than 3,200 Indiana students are receiving vouchers to attend private schools. That number is expected to climb significantly in the next two years as awareness of the program increases and limits on the number of applicants are lifted…. Until Indiana started its program, most voucher systems were limited to poor students, those in failing schools or those with special needs. But Indiana’s is significantly larger, offering money to students from middle-class homes and solid school districts. [emphasis added]

My Education Policy Center friends told you the judge’s decision last Friday to put the brakes on the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program would create a lot of chaos for families. That’s the question of the hour: What are the more than 300 students who had received scholarships (and some had already started schools) going to do? Just like families make different choices based on their students’ educational needs, so many of their fallback scenarios will be different. FOX 31 News highlights one Castle Rock family: Two of Becky Barnes’ kids were enrolled in the voucher program. Now unable to pay their private school tuition she is working hard to get them enrolled in public schools. Her first grader will go back to the neighborhood school. Her 7th grader will attend cyber school. Other families are choosing to stay at their private school and pay the tuition. Becky Barnes is one of three parents whose emergency education plans were documented today in an article by Karin Piper. Another parent was Diana Oakley, mother of Nate Oakley, for whom things seem to be working out at least for now:

Here it is Wednesday afternoon, and I can’t stop pacing the floor — well, in between playing with my Legos, that is. Pacing, playing Legos. Pacing. Playing Legos. — Pacing — Playing Legos — Blogging!!!…. Why? you may ask. Because I’m impatiently waiting for a decision from Judge Martinez about the lawsuit trying to shut down the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program. Well, I did interrupt my pacing and playing Legos long enough to catch a great Your Hub article by Douglas County’s own Karin Piper: More than 500 kids may lose in Dougco Scholarship lawsuit. You should check it out, too. If after reading Piper’s article you need to get your mind off the whole lawsuit and local voucher situation, may I recommend a piece by Innosight Institute’s Michael Horn about why digital learning will liberate teachers:

Some groups like the ACLU have their reasons for wanting to shut down the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program and take educational opportunities away from about 500 kids. Some people can’t help but be offended by other people’s choices, I guess. Here we stand one week away from the start of a legal hearing to determine whether the legal request to enjoin the choice program should be granted. But if it’s such a big deal for the ACLU and its pals to stop families from receiving Douglas County vouchers, why did they wait so long? That’s part of the strong argument raised by the Dougco legal team in their response to the motion for a preliminary injunction:

Good thing my parents don’t have any kids enrolled in Brighton Public Schools. Nothing per se against the school district northeast of Denver. But I can only imagine my mom and dad’s reaction if they got one of those tax hike-supporting political flyers in this year’s school information packet. Probably something like what one mom told Channel 7 reporter Russell Haythorn (though maybe a bit more colorful): “Education specific funding being used to push a political agenda — that’s not appropriate,” said concerned parent Stacy Petty. Agreed. And credit goes to the hard-working folks at Complete Colorado for breaking this story first. They have posted a copy of the flyer sent home to Brighton parents.

Today I’m going to step back and let someone else do the talking. You’ve probably been following the developments surrounding Colorado’s groundbreaking Douglas County Pilot Choice Scholarship Program. I’ve covered it a lot here. Since the promising program was approved in March, 500 students have won vouchers worth about $4,600 to help cover the cost of tuition at a private school families have chosen to best suit their needs. In this new video produced by my friends in the Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center, it’s a story like 13-year-old Nate Oakley’s that brings to life the need for Douglas County vouchers, and the real threat created by lawsuits filed by the ACLU and other groups: After that, what more can I say? For many kids and many parents, school choice really matters. Don’t take it away.

Ed News Colorado reports today that school districts are eager to participate in the pilot for the state’s new educator effectiveness law: Nearly a quarter of Colorado school districts have applied to participate in field-testing of new principal and teacher evaluation methods. It was “a surprise and an encouraging message” that the Department of Education received 41 applications, said Diana Sirko, deputy commissioner. “We look at is as very encouraging.” She said CDE had expected a couple of dozen applications at the most. According to the Denver Post, another CDE official indicated realistic hopes were for only about 10 positive responses from Colorado’s 178 school districts. Talk about the second local major education reform program of the year in which participation has exceeded all expectations. The more than 30 private schools that applied to be partners in Douglas County’s groundbreaking local voucher program (19 have been approved, as of this date) inundated staff who planned for about half the response. All in all, it appears to be a positive sign that a large number, and wide variety of (rural, suburban, urban), Colorado school districts want to be a part of piloting the educator effectiveness law, which garnered national attention last […]

It’s July. School is out for the summer. Education news tends to be slow. To top it all off, your local edu-blogging prodigy is spending extra time at the swimming pool, and occasionally gets wrapped up in frustrating games of Angry Birds on his dad’s iPhone. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few things worth noting. First, have you ever wanted to make a persuasive case for school choice to a skeptical acquaintance, but didn’t want to recommend a too-thick tome they’d never read or have to send a list of web links that might disappear? Then Dr. Jay Greene just might have the solution for you, announcing the publication of his new 48-page booklet Why America Needs School Choice. To get a good hint of what it’s about, listen to the new School Reform News podcast interview with Dr. Greene. Second, the grassroots group supporting Colorado’s groundbreaking local voucher program (among many other expanded educational options) has launched a new website. Check out Great Choice Douglas County, and be sure to show your support! Remember, too… visit the page created by my Education Policy Center friends for all the information you’ll need on the Douglas County Choice Scholarship […]