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Dear Fellow School Reformer:
Have you ever heard a political leader suggest that shoring up the public
school system is more important than your child's education? And therefore
that you, the parent, cannot be allowed any greater freedom about where
and how your child is educated?
Would it shock you to learn that many of these same arbiters of your
child's fate habitually send their own children off to private schools?
The Atlantic Monthly reports this datum as evidence not of politics as
usual but of a great sea change in how the nation views the public
education monopoly. "In 1992, when Bill and Hillary Clinton enrolled
their twelve-year-old daughter, Chelsea, at Sidwell Friends, an intensely
selective if not especially posh Quaker school in Northwest Washington,
D.C., they weathered little criticism for their decision.
... And in 2001? It's hard, honestly, to imagine any politician's
incurring serious political damage because of a decision to send his or
her children to private school. ... The constituency for public schooling
seemed by the early nineties to be dwindling to education bureaucrats and
teachers-union lifers."
The 1990s were the time when public education "lost its hold on our
hearts," apparently. But great reform movements tend to pick up steam
after the disillusionment has already set in. Parents had been disgusted
by what the public schools were serving up to their kids
for quite some time before vouchers and charter schools came along, and
the ranks of homeschoolers swelled into the millions.
To find out what happens with school reform in 2001, pick up the February
2009 issue of Atlantic Monthly and skip to the third retrospective on the
G.W. years. Or just stay subscribed to insiderUpdate.
Yours for school choice,
David M. Brown
Editor
SchoolReformers.com
http://www.schoolreformers.com
NEWS REPORTS:
Why politicians tout public schools, but send their kids to private
ones
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by Margaret Talbot
(Because they can.) "It wasn't as though Clinton came to office
vowing to undermine public education. Things just sort of happened that
way." (2/02)
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/02
/talbot.htm
Focus on tax break as support for federal school vouchers wanes
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by Diana Jean Schemo
"The tax credit part of the bill could have a much larger real-world
impact," said Clint Bolick, litigation director at the Institute for
Justice. "It may be that extending tax credits would be a politically
easier way to advance school choice." (Site requires registration.)
(2/1/01)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/politic
s/01VOUC.html
San Diego teachers, not wanting to take it any more, may push for charter
status
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La Jolla High educators have been critical of the district's education
blueprint, calling it a one-size-fits-all mandate that has stripped the
school of its autonomy. A majority of teachers support converting the
school into a charter. Frustration with
bureaucracy is no reason to snip ties, say critics. (1/28/01)
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/
sun/metro/news_1m28charter.html
Michigan college skirts charter school limit
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by Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki
A tiny community college in the far reaches of Michigan's Upper Peninsula
may have found a way around a cap on charter schools that has confounded
Gov. John Engler and other state leaders.
While it's not unheard of for community colleges to charter schools, this
community college is different. (2/7/01)
http://www.freepress.com/news/education
/nchart7_20010207.htm
Teacher opposition threatens to derail NYC privatization effort
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"What we have now at this school isn't any good," said Pat
Thompson, a member of the PTA at MS 246. "Teachers are rude and
condescending, and we should be allowed to try something new like Edison.
That message is not getting out." (2/5/01)
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-02-05
/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-98690.asp
Board of Ed on war path against San Francisco charter school
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Edison Charter Academy has brought about dramatic change in the past three
years. It has added more than 120 students and reported decidedly higher
test scores at each grade level. The
building is tidier, the classes more orderly. It's all a mirage, say
critics. And the Board of Education is planning to revoke Edison's
charter. (2/4/01)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/04/ED15
8114.DTL
A Boston charter school that blends East and West
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by Muriel Cohen
"One of the strengths of the school is that it is built on a
foundation of Eastern philosophy, on issues of respect," said
a director of Academy of the Pacific Rim. "This gives teachers
freedom and space without the need to worry about discipline in the
classroom." (2/4/01)
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/035/
learning/Where_East_meets_West+.shtml
Vouchers and South Dakota
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by Brenda Wade Schmidt
South Dakota's private schools educate about 8,600 of the state's
elementary and high school children, typically with money from parents,
community fund-raisers and the support of churches. (2/4/01)
http://www.argusleader.com/news/Sunday
article1.shtml
School voucher plan spurs talk of political hypocrisy
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by Bill Hillburg
"There's plenty of hypocrisy in Washington," said Megan
Farnsworth,
a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in
Washington, D.C. "Members of Congress have far more money and school
choices than the general public." (2/4/01)
http://www.dailynewslosangeles.com/news
/articles/0201/04/new05.asp
Edison Schools sets sights on windy city
----------
Edison Schools, the nation's largest for-profit school manager, wants to
take over six struggling Chicago public schools next year or open a new
set of charter schools here, Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas said
Thursday. A planned takeover of New York City schools has yet to be
finally approved. (2/2/01)
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/skul
02.html
Connecticut governor makes voucher pitch
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by Lisa Chedekel
Gov. John G. Rowland, whose support for school vouchers has churned
controversy in the past, will propose using $10 million of the state
budget surplus for an urban scholarship program. (2/3/01)
http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?
eetype=Article&eeid=3944282&render=y
&Table=&ck=&ver=2.11
Charter school trials and controversies in the nation's capital
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by Laura Lang
"Charter-school founders need more than good intentions and a strong
educational vision. They also need to know how to
negotiate a complex financial system; find and manage qualified teachers;
locate, pay for, and sometimes renovate buildings probably not meant to be
schools; and -- oh, yes -- educate
kids." (2/2-8/01)
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/cover
/cover.html
North Carolina Republicans chart a repeal of charter cap
----------
"You go to a charter school and invariably the teachers are happy,
the parents are happy, the children are ecstatic -- and they're learning.
What more do you want?" asked one lawmaker. "Some of
them haven't succeeded. But have you ever heard of a public school closing
down because it didn't perform?" (2/5/01)
http://www.carolinajournal.com/Daily/0205
01.html
Bronx charter school offers a teacher plenty of room to improvise
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by Jodi Wilgoren
Like any startup, a charter school in its first year confronts many
challenges not quite anticipated by the business plan. That, in turn,
provides young staff members like Jesús Concepción at the
Bronx Preparatory Charter School the chance to reinvent themselves in
roles they had not imagined. (Site requires
registration.) (2/6/01)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/06/nyre
gion/06CHAR.html
Charter school kids turn profit
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by Adrian Hopkins
Ahwatukee Foothills Charter School second graders started their own
business and turned a profit after the first few days on the job. The
students in Dawn Anderson's class have learned how to take out a bank
loan, track profits and market their products.
(2/2/01)
http://www.ahwatukee.com/afn/education/
articles/010202b.html
Will Pennsylvania's governor push again for vouchers?
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by Martha Raffaele
"School choice is the highest priority," Fred Cabell, a
spokesman of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference said. "We'd like to
see the governor be as relentless as we are. We do not question his
commitment to the issue, and we believe he strongly supports school
choice." (2/5/01)
http://web.centredaily.com/content/centredaily
/2001/02/05/news_local/d0664bc-pa-viewing
harrisbur.htm
COMMENTARY, OPINION, AND BOOK REVIEWS:
In defense of our voucher research
----------
by William Howell, Patrick Wolf, Paul Peterson, David Campbell After two
years, blacks in all three cities who switched from a public to a private
school scored about 6 percentile points higher than comparable students
who remained in public school.
(2/7/01)
http://edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=2
1peterson.h20
Governor Perry comes to the rescue of charter schools
----------
An analysis of Texas governor Rick Perry's comments regarding charter
schools in his state of the state speech. (1/27/01)
http://www.tppf.org/pau/2001/pau012501.html
Albert Jay Nock on education
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by Wendy McElroy
According to Nock, the main problem with the American educational system
is that, in attempting to educate everyone equally, it ends up educating
no one adequately. (1/00)
http://www.fee.org/iol/00/0001/McElroy.html
BOOKS:
Publicly Funded School Voucher Programs: A Policy Analysis
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by Nathan A. Benefield
Analysis of voucher programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee and of political,
legal, and programmatic constraints facing voucher programs. 2001,
Paperback, 79 p. $19.95, or $9.00 in PDF download format.
http://www.dissertation.com/library/11211
64a.htm
Challenging Assumptions in Education
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by Wendy Priesnitz
The founder of the Canadian Alliance of Homeschoolers says the current
crisis in public education is evidence of a system that has outlived its
usefulness. The solution: abandon the myth that learning must happen in
schools. (Amazon price $12.95, paperback.)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS
IN/0920118054/freemarketnetthe
For more News Reports see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resou
rces/bycategory/news/
For more Commentary, Opinion, and Book Reviews see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resour
ces/bycategory/commentary/
For more Books see:
http://www.SchoolReformers.com/resour
ces/bycategory/books/
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