What do Bridgeport, Connecticut Mayor Bill Finch and South Carolina State Senator Robert Ford have in common? Both are Democrats and both are now supporting school vouchers. In March, State Senator Ford, an African-American Democrat, joined conservative legislators in sponsoring a sweeping private school choice plan for kids in the …
The U.S. Department of Education’s released a report today presenting the finding of an academic evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. It found that, after three years, students who were offered vouchers to go to private school through the program had made statistically significant gains in reading achievement. Specifically, …
The University of Notre Dame recently announced that it would be welcoming President Obama to speak at its graduation in May. Among the questions that should be asked as President Obama’s speech approaches is how the administration’s views about private school choice—and specifically, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program—may conflict with …
Yesterday, the teachers unions and the ACLU celebrated a victory: the Arizona State Supreme Court ruled that two school voucher programs serving special needs students and foster children were unconstitutional under state law. Of course, this victory for liberal interest groups is a big setback for some of the most …
The Washington Post ran a terrific editorial this morning, urging Congressional leaders to reverse the effort to terminate the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program that’s helping 1,700 low-income students attend private schools in the nation’s capital: We would like Mr. Obey and his colleagues to talk about possible “disruption” with Deborah …
As Congress considered the unprecedented federal spending increase on education programs, Members should take the time to check out the American Legislative Exchange Council’s new Report Card on American Education. The report examines the condition of public schooling in the states and offers policymakers lessons from the experience of our …
Congressional leaders recently proposed an unprecedented $142 billion spending increase for education—the largest in history—in the so-called “economic stimulus” package. That’s nearly double the annual budget of the Department of Education. But liberals on Capitol Hill included language in the legislation to make sure that not a dollar of that …
President-elect Barack Obama is set to nominate Chicago Public School CEO Arne Duncan to be the next Secretary of Education. Mr. Duncan is known as one of a handful of innovative, reform-minded big city schools chiefs. How that will translate to the national level remains to be seen. Conservatives should …
