I have my reasons for doing so. But today’s entry will be easy on both of us (unless perhaps you’re a legislator or other policymaker). The Friedman Foundation has done it again, releasing last week a thorough and thoughtful study of state regulatory impacts on private schools — before and after choice is enacted. So easy because author Andrew Catt’s research led to the development of this:

Writing at Jay Greene’s blog, Greg Forster sees the big takeaway regarding the solution for government regulation of school voucher programs as one simple weird trick:

Programs can largely nullify the effects of these regulations by adding some additional funding to cover compliance costs.

He has a good point to make, but there is definitely more to consider. Though the evidence is hardly overwhelming, I tend to see an advantage to expanding choice for students through scholarship tax credits. Which makes it a good thing my Education Policy Center friends have put their heart and soul into the Colorado Kids Win proposal. Check out the site, and the videos. And if you really want to get your geek on, read the paper, too.

Short, sweet, direct. Time to chew on some of the important research material summarized in the slides, making yourself a little bit smarter and policy makers somewhat more capable of helping craft a program that helps students the most while balancing concerns for educational quality with worries about excessive regulations.

All with an eye toward: How can we make it work to benefit more Colorado students?