New regulations passed by the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care will now require all child care providers – public or private – to follow new strict guidelines covering everything from academics to child hygiene. The Boston Herald reports that the new regulations are part of the state’s plan to place day care centers under the auspice of Massachusetts Department of Education. In a typical government-knows-best mentality, Early Education Commissioner Sherri Killins told the Boston Herald: I don’t believe there’s anything frivolous or overburdening in the new regulations. We’re …
According to the Fox News White House blog: The White House says that the President has decided to give the approximately $1.4 million prize accompanying his Nobel Prize to charity. They have not made a decision on which charity or charities will receive the money. Here’s an idea for the President: He could give the 216 low-income kids back the scholarships that his administration took away from them earlier this year. On April 6th of this year, after Democrats in Congress voted to end the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Secretary …
Students who entered and won a lottery to attend a charter school in New York outperformed their peers who entered the lottery but did not win a spot and instead enrolled in a traditional public school. According to new research by Stanford Professor Caroline Hoxby, which is highlighted today in both the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, students attending charter schools in New York outperform their peers who remained in traditional public schools in math and reading. New York Charter school students, which typically come from disadvantaged …
The House is expected to vote today on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, which would end the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, transferring student lending exclusively to the federal Direct Loan and Perkins Loan programs – effectively ending federally subsidized private lending. While the proposed legislation will drastically change the dynamics of the student loan industry, it will also expand the federal government’s role in early childhood education – to the tune of $8 billion. The SAFRA establishes an $8 billion Early Learning Challenge Fund …
In socialist Sweden, universal school choice allows every parent to choose the best school for their child. The voucher program, which has been in effect since 1992 and was created to tackle the kind of problems plaguing the U.S. educational system, provides families with the opportunity to send their child to any type of school they like – public, private, religious, or even for-profit. Stuart Butler, Heritage Vice President of domestic policy studies, explains in Washington Times: These independent schools, like the public schools, get a voucher payment for each …
It’s back-to-school for American families, and the Obama administration is marking the occasion with an unprecedented venture. In a move that steps far beyond the role of the federal government in education policy and shows a disregard for the guidance of parents in their children’s political formation, the Department of Education has released lesson plans for teachers in grades pre-K-12 to accompany an upcoming speech on education by President Obama on September 8th. The lesson plans – one plan for pre-K-6 students and another plan for students in grades 7-12 …
Last week, Congress rushed to infuse an additional $2 billion into the “Cash for Clunkers” program on the grounds that it is wildly popular. “I’d like to see that program extended…I hope we can get it done,” stated Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). “I think the last thing any politician wants to do is cut off opportunity for somebody who wants to get a rebate to buy a new automobile,” stated Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Durbin and LaHood were not alone in their sentiments. According to the Associated Press, Vice President …
D.C. families filled a Senate conference room on Thursday to applaud Senator Joseph Lieberman’s (I-CT) introduction of a bill reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. The Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act would reauthorize the program for another five years, and allows new students to continue to enter the program over that time period. Senators Lieberman, Collins (R-ME), and Voinovich (R-OH) unveiled the bipartisan bill alongside former Mayor Anthony Williams, and former D.C. City Councilmember Kevin Chavous. If passed, the SOAR Act would reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program, …
New York City principals and parents have resourcefully devised a way to better equip their children’s local public schools to meet their needs. For years, some public schools in Manhattan have raised money from parents to hire additional teaching assistants to aid lead teachers in the classroom. The aides, who are independently hired, serve as lunch monitors, art instructors, and after-school teachers, and cost the schools a little more than half that of a unionized assistant. But after receiving complaints from the teachers union, the Bloomberg administration has nixed the …
The massive 1,018-page health care bill introduced by House Democrats is full of bad policy ideas, and they’re not all even about health care. One troublesome provision calls for a home visitation program that would bring state workers into the homes of young families to improve “the well-being, health, and development of children.” Lawmakers have essentially inserted the “Education Begins at Home Act” – which was introduced in 2008 and again this year by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) – into the health care bill under …
