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SchoolReformers.com
insiderUpdate
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insiderUpdate.html
Items in this update:
o FROM THE EDITOR
o Teachers union demands school choice...???
o House GOP tosses voucher bill into ring
o In NYC, kids used as anti-charter messengers
o Charter school fights for life
o Florida House passes bill on school vouchers
o Florida debates expanding its voucher program
o School vouchers continue in Ohio amid uncertainty
o Tax credit proposals proliferate
o Tax credits face same challenges as vouchers
o Policy bans private students
o Pennsylvania schools try private firms
o Edison leads in reform
o Charters chug ahead despite all
o Arizona charters yield greater gains in reading
o Uncle Milton's revenge: competition is good
o Are school vouchers un-American?
o Are public schools hazardous to public education?
o Miles for Kids
o Do charter schools improve test scores? Arizona results
o Are vouchers or tax credits the better path?
o Pro-school-choice organizations
o Montessori Connections
Dear Fellow School Reformer,
Oh, the irony. Union leaders and public officials are notorious for their
demands that the public education system be upheld, nourished, and
protected at all costs -- even at the cost of choice for parents and
education for kids.
But the educrats still want to be able to send their own kids to private
schools -- and often do. Yes yes yes, public education is an inviolable
institution, sure ... but their kids need the best.
Now a California teachers union is up in arms over legislation that would
force teachers to send their kids to public schools only, as a condition
of their employment. "We consider the bill unconstitutional and
discriminatory," said Mike Myslinski, a spokesman for the California
Teachers Association.
Agreed: any such legislation is, of course, horrible, and would set a
horrible precedent. It has no place in a free society. Further restricting
the parental rights of even a small group of citizens is no way to punish
educational hypocrisy. (And, it should be noted, not all public school
teachers are in fact opposed to school choice. The teachers unions present
a more monolithic front than actually exists.)
This is one battle the teachers unions should win. And who knows? Once the
unions are on record as being officially in
favor of school choice, maybe they'll find themselves obliged to salute
school choice across the board, for everyone.
We await the sequel to this episode with baited breath.
Yours for school choice,
David M. Brown
Editor
SchoolReformers.com
http://www.schoolreformers.com
NEWS REPORTS:
Teachers union demands school choice...???
----------
by Wyatt Haupt
Legislation that would require public school teachers to send their
children to public schools drew sharp criticism from the California's
largest teachers union. (03/22/01)
http://www.nctimes.com/news/2001/20010
322/zz.html
House GOP tosses voucher bill into ring
----------
Republicans on the House education committee introduced legislation that
embraces President Bush's plans for more testing and more flexibility, and
for providing educational vouchers to students in persistently failing
schools. (03/28/01)
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slu
g=28esea.h20
In NYC, kids used as anti-charter messengers
----------
by Carl Campanile
Teachers and other school workers are using children to get their parents
to vote against Edison Schools Inc. taking over their schools, Edison
officials and supporters charged yesterday. "I thought we all agreed
that the children wouldn't be solicited and not receive any material. We
lived up to that," said Edison vice president Marshall Mitchell.
(03/27/01)
http://www.nypostonline.com/news/regional
news/27487.htm
Charter school fights for life
----------
by Louise Knott Ahern
When California charter advocates say that Riverside County is hostile to
their cause, they point to the experiences of Indio Charter School as an
example. (03/26/01)
http://www.inlandempireonline.com/news/sto
ries/032601/indio26.shtml
Florida House passes bill on school vouchers
----------
By a comfortable majority, the Florida House has passed a bill that would
give parents of students at crowded public schools tax money to attend
private schools. The bill faces rougher sledding
in the House. (03/23/01)
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032
301/met_5724234.html
Florida debates expanding its voucher program
----------
Two years after Florida lawmakers approved the first statewide voucher
program in the country, the debate over using tax dollars to send students
to private or religious schools is raging again in the Sunshine State.
(03/28/01)
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?sl
ug=28fla.h20
School vouchers continue in Ohio amid uncertainty
----------
by Kim Cobb
For the parents of nearly 4,000 Cleveland children using tax-paid vouchers
to pay for private schools, simply finishing the school year is a big
relief. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the controversial
Cleveland Scholarship program can continue operating while supporters seek
review by the U.S.
Supreme Court. (03/24/01)
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nat
ion/858277
Tax credit proposals proliferate
----------
A summary of recent tax credit proposals in the U.S. Congress and in
several states: Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Virginia.
(04/01)
http://www.heartland.org/education/apr01/p
roliferate.htm
Tax credits face same challenges as vouchers
----------
by George A. Clowes
The tactics are familiar: Label, obstruct, litigate, and regulate. While
some school choice advocates see tax credits as less
vulnerable to regulation than vouchers, legislators are considering
placing new limitations and regulations on education
tax credits in Arizona and Minnesota. (04/01)
http://www.heartland.org/education/apr01/t
actics.htm
Policy bans private students
----------
by Dave DeValois
An all-conference soccer player and a sprinter who ran in the state track
meet last season are among the students who would be banned from competing
for Ankeny High School next year because
of a new policy that bans private-school or home-school students ages 16
or older from participating in any of the district's
academic or sports programs. (03/23/01)
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c
4780927/14170969.html
Pennsylvania schools try private firms
----------
by Michael A. Fletcher
Pennsylvania education officials announced plans last night to transfer
control of an entire school system to three private firms in the hope that
competition and the profit motive can
improve student achievement. (3/22/01)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/educatio
n/A45100-2001Mar22.html
Edison leads in reform
----------
by Deborah Simmons
There's more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes. Each year
scores of educators are realizing that a "one size fits all"
philosophy of public education does not necessarily support successful
learning environments (03/23/01)
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-colum
n-2001323184247.htm
Charters chug ahead despite all
----------
by Kate Zemike
Charter schools are built on a basic contract: The state grants them the
freedom to educate as they wish; they promise to improve student
achievement. If they fail, they lose their charters. (3/25/01)
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ed
ucation/stories/xrevchart_20010325.htm
Arizona charters yield greater gains in reading
----------
by Mark Walsh
Arizona students enrolled in charter schools for two or three consecutive
years showed stronger gains on reading tests than their counterparts in
traditional public schools, according to a new study. (03/28/01)
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?s
lug=28charter.h20
COMMENTARY, OPINION, AND BOOK REVIEWS:
Uncle Milton's revenge: competition is good
----------
by Nick Schultz
What school choice proponents are arguing that "private schools are
all good"? There aren't any. So it does little good to recognize this
point as "crazy" when no one is making it. Voucher
proponents simply want parents to have greater flexibility and choice in
where they can send their kids to school -- public or
private. (03/21/01)
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/
comment-schulz032101.shtml
Are school vouchers un-American?
----------
by Gary Rosen
A lengthy discussion from Commentary Magazine concluding that "both
politically and morally, the almost frankly reactionary character of the
anti-voucher position is growing less tenable by the day."
(02/00)
http://www.findarticles.com/m1061/2_109
/59270719/p1/article.jhtml
Are public schools hazardous to public education?
----------
by Andrew Coulson
After 150 years of experimentation and decades of disappointment, is it
not time that we consider alternatives to the public
school system? (04/07/99)
http://www.schoolchoices.org/roo/edwee
k1.htm
EVENTS:
Miles for Kids
----------
July 4, 2001
The Children's Scholarship Fund offers private scholarship to needy
families, more than $2.3 million in Chicago alone. This event is a 30-mile
run by CSF PR exec Curt Mercadante on July 4th to
raise $92,000 for CSF. Find out how to sponsor him and help give kids who
need it most real educational choice.
curt@milesforkids.org
http://www.milesforkids.org/
SCHOLARLY AND IN-DEPTH STUDIES:
Does charter school attendance improve test scores? The Arizona results
----------
by Lewis Salmon et al.
Report tracks the scores of 60,000 students over 9 years. (Downloading the
PDF report from Goldwater's home page
requires free Acrobat Reader.) (03/01)
http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/
Toward market education: are vouchers or tax credits the better path?
----------
by Andrew J. Coulson
Compares voucher and tax-credit programs on the basis of how well
they manifest the necessary conditions for market education and the extent
to which they allow all families to participate in that market; and
concludes that tax credits are the better alternative. (Full report in PDF
format.) (02/23/01)
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-392es.html
DIRECTORIES:
Pro-school-choice organizations
----------
Directory of organizations that support market-based school reform.
http://www.heartland.org/education/apr01/
directory.htm
Montessori Connections
----------
A portal for those interested in Montessori-style education and sending
their children to Montessori schools. Includes a Montessori school locator
(just click on your state), teacher and parent resources, a classifies
section, links to school Web sites, publications, and oodles more.
administration@montessoriconnections.com
http://www.montessoriconnections.com/
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