In a momentous move in March of this year, a Colorado school board voted to implement its first private school choice program. The program allows up to 500 children in Douglas County to attend a private school of their choice. Now, hundreds of students are being blocked from receiving these scholarships due to the decision of a state district judge from Denver to halt the voucher program, claiming that it violates the state constitution. The county school board is planning to appeal the decision. John Carson, president of the Douglas …
President Obama is a school choice success story, and 38 percent of those in Congress have sent a child to a private school. So why are they denying the same choice to low-income parents in our nation’s capital? The Obama administration and Congress have put the successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program on a path to elimination. The program provides scholarships to 1700 low-income students to attend private schools. Students are making academic gains, and parents are satisfied now that their children finally can attend safe and effective schools. Ten days …
The Keeping Children Safe Act might sound laudable in name, but it represents the most recent intrusion of the federal government on local public and private schools. H.R. 4247, which passed the House last week by a vote of 262 to 153, prescribes federal regulations on seclusion and restraint disciplinary procedures used by teachers to control violent students. While the intentions may have been to protect children, the compliance requirements make the legislation another unnecessary and unfunded federal burden on states and local schools. The bill contains an unprecedented mandate …
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is fed up with President Barack Obama and his administration. The 43-member caucus, led by Representative Maxine Waters (D-Ca), says that Barack Obama is not listening to the needs of African Americans on the important issues of the day. The nation’s first African American president, a candidate who carried 95 percent of the African American vote (versus 4% for his opponent) in the 2008 presidential election, is alienating the African American lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and the lawmakers are threatening to do the unthinkable, vote …
Yesterday, state lawmakers in Indiana passed a scholarship tax credit program—making the Hoosier state the latest to offer private school choice. Under the plan, people or corporations who make donations to non-profits that award tuition scholarships will be eligible for a 50-percent tax credit off their state bill. A total of $2.5 million in tax credits will be awarded. The program has the potential to help hundreds of families choose the best school for their children. A recent analysis by the Friedman Foundation found that this program also has the …
