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insiderUpdate
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insiderUpdate.html
Items in this update:
o FROM THE EDITOR: Takes a licking and keeps on ticking
o House panel votes to kill federal private school vouchers
o Voucher friends win round in Florida
o Private groups look to run schools
o Gates conceives high-tech charter schools
o Britain's Tories say: use vouchers to open private schools to poor
o Congress moving on bigger federal role in schools
o Public school teachers who support school choice
o Private schools in Britain: Here to stay?
o NY state asked to approve three charters
o New Ingredient in a Voucher Plan
o The shame of San Francisco: if it works, break it
o A bold stand for parental choice
o Ending the discrimination against disabled homeschoolers
o The key to education reform is 'Parent Power'
o Book review: 'Charter Schools in Action'
o School choice vs. school choice
o $500 federal education tax credit could help millions
o Parent Power: Why national standards won't improve education
o Grading our schools 2000: annual report to parents and
taxpayers on school performance in North Carolina
o Children's Scholarship Fund - Charlotte
Dear Fellow School Reformer:
The federal "honeymoon" for school choice, such as it was, is
over.
We reported weeks ago that according to Washington insiders, any federal
voucher proposal from the Bush administration was regarded as dead on
arrival. These same unnamed insiders had also stipulated that the
administration was obliged to go through the legislative motions anyway,
so as to cater to the President's school-choice constituency (that would
be you). Now the papers are reporting that a House panel has definitively
ended the misery of the school-choice portion of the Bush plan. The parts
of the Bush education scheme still alive and kicking seem to be the parts
that increase federal monitoring and spending without increasing
educational freedom.
Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court has declined to kill the voucher
system in that state as demanded by the educrats there.
We have argued all along that the school choice movement is a local
movement and will continue to make robust progress at local and state
levels, whether in the form of vouchers, tax credits, homeschooling or
charter schools. For every setback reported there are always a couple
steps forward -- thanks to the persistence and ingenuity of parents and
other concerned citizens.
Yours for school choice,
David M. Brown
Editor
SchoolReformers.com
http://www.schoolreformers.com
NEWS REPORTS:
House panel votes to kill federal private school vouchers
----------
President Bush's school voucher plan suffered a near-fatal blow when a key
House panel stripped the proposal to allow the use of federal tax dollars
for private school tuition from education legislation. (05/03/01)
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/article
s/A35723-2001May2.html
Voucher friends win round in Florida
----------
In a victory for school vouchers supporters, the Florida Supreme Court has
refused to consider a challenge to the constitutionality of the state's
2-year-old vouchers program. The ruling does not end the legal battle over
the program. But it gives supporters a boost in their efforts to use tax
dollars to send children to private schools. (04/26/01)
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/0
42601/met_6014083.html
Private groups look to run schools
----------
by Susan Snyder
In a new approach to improving Philadelphia's deficit-plagued public
schools, prominent developer
Kenny Gamble and the private company Edison Schools Inc. are considering
teaming up in a possible takeover of a
dozen schools in South Philadelphia. (04/26/01)
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001
/04/26/local_news/PTAKEOVER26.htm
Gates conceives high-tech charter schools
----------
Colorado's High Tech High will have individual student workstations
equipped with the latest technology and locked file cabinets. "I
remember being in high school, sitting in class, bored out of my
mind," said David Greenberg, who'll lead the effort to create the
first of four small high-tech charter high schools across the
state. "I think we can do better." (04/26/01)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm
n/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_37332
9,00
.html
Britain's Tories say: use vouchers to open private schools to poor
----------
The Conservatives say they'd pay £3,000 towards the cost of a child's
place at a private school if returned to power. The party has said the
money -- roughly what is spent on a child's secondary education in the
state sector -- would be targeted at low-income families. (04/27/01)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/education
/newsid_1300000/1300281.stm
Congress moving on bigger federal role in schools
----------
Legislation is moving forward in Congress to give D.C. much more oversight
of student academic achievement around
the country -- and to severely limit local autonomy in education matters.
Opposition to the power shift is based within the president's own party.
(04/26/01)
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/0
4/26/fp1s1-csm.shtml
Public school teachers who support school choice
----------
by David W. Kirkpatrick
Recently some reform-minded teachers -- from Detroit to Vermont to Florida
-- have begun trying to organize. Sadly, many supportive teachers request
anonymity because of possible bullying from their union or colleagues.
(04/20/01)
http://www.educationnews.org/alexis_de
_tocqueville_institutioPublic%20School
Private schools in Britain: Here to stay?
----------
Like any commercial survivor, the independent schools have been very adept
at reinventing themselves. As mere
tradition and social exclusivity lost its appeal, the independent sector's
unique selling points became small classes and good exam results.
(04/27/01)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/educatio
n/features/mike_baker/newsid_130000
0/1300397.stm
NY state asked to approve three charters
----------
Applications for three new charter schools were submitted to New York
State officials after being approved by the
Board of Education. Fourteen charter schools operate in New York City, six
of which were converted into charters
from existing public schools. Another six are already scheduled to open in
the fall. (Site requires registration.) (04/28/01)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/28/nyre
gion/28CHAR.html
New Ingredient in a Voucher Plan
----------
Like a few other places, Seattle is experimenting with unrestricted parent
choice and flexible school design.
But it has added an important element. The amount of district money a
student brings to a school is based on
how hard that student is to educate. (Site requires registration.)
(05/02/01)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/02/nati
onal/02LESS.html
COMMENTARY, OPINION, AND BOOK REVIEWS:
The shame of San Francisco: if it works, break it
----------
by Joan Walsh
An ideological crusade aims to close a charter school reportedly working
miracles with poor black and Latino
students. Why? In the end, it's impossible not to conclude that the
district's attempt to revoke the school's charter -- despite its sudden
fixation on Edison's so-called contract violations -- is a political
vendetta. (03/29/01)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/
03/29/edison/index.html
A bold stand for parental choice
----------
After hearing Colorado's public school system plead poverty for years amid
disappointing performance, Steve Schuck, the prominent local businessman
and activist, has issued Springs-area schools a daring challenge to shape
up --
without it costing a dime. He and like-minded supporters will foot the
bill. (04/15/01)
http://www.gazette.com/archive/01-04-15
/daily/opin1.html
Ending the discrimination against disabled homeschoolers
----------
We believe that the intent of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) was never to exclude some homeschoolers while allowing other
homeschoolers to
receive the special needs services. Nor do we believe the intent of IDEA
was to force parents to undergo elaborate mediation and due process
procedures even though they do not want any government-funded special
needs services. (03/01)
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/
200104270.asp
The key to education reform is 'Parent Power'
----------
by Sheldon Richman
Sheldon Richman criticizes the Bush education reform proposal for leaving
too much power in the hands of the federal government. Giving power back
to parents, says Richman, is the proper solution. (05/01/01)
http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-01-01.html
Book review: 'Charter Schools in Action'
----------
by Andrew Coulson, reviewer
"There is at present no better source of information for someone
wanting to become familiar with the concept and
practice of charter schooling," writes market education expert Andrew
Coulson. (04/01)
fee@free-market.net
http://www.fee.org/iol/01/0104/finn.html
SCHOLARLY AND IN-DEPTH STUDIES:
School choice vs. school choice
----------
by John C. Goodman and Matt Moore
"This paper makes the case for replacing our existing school choice
system with one that is better, one that creates a level playing field on
which schools compete for students, and students and their parents
exercise their own choices." (04/27/01)
http://www.ncpa.org/bg/bg155/bg155.html
$500 federal education tax credit could help millions
----------
by Darcy Ann Olsen, Carrie Lips, and Dan Lips
"[T]he
parental choice and scholarship credits [currently under consideration]
would enable roughly 2.3 million
new students to attend a school of their parents' choice at a savings
across the states of $14 billion." Available in Adobe PDF. (05/01/01)
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-398es.html
Parent Power: Why national standards won't improve education
----------
by Sheldon Richman
This report looks at the national education standards debate and concludes
that "freeing parents to be fully responsible for their children's
education is the only
way to make schools truly accountable." Available in Adobe PDF.
(04/26/01)
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-396es.html
Grading our schools 2000: annual report to parents and taxpayers on
school performance in North Carolina
----------
"Despite recent progress on standardized tests, North Carolina still
lags behind in tests of how well it prepares its high school students for
college." Worse
yet, about 40 to 50 percent of students lack even basic skills, with that
percentage rising dramatically among
black students, the ones most ill-served by government schooling.
Available in Adobe Acrobat. (09/00)
lockefoundation@free-market.net
http://www.johnlocke.org/Policy_Reports/
Grading2000.pdf
INSTITUTES, ORGANIZATIONS, AND CLUBS:
Children's Scholarship Fund - Charlotte
----------
Children's Scholarship Fund-Charlotte is a partnership between national
CSF and the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation. CSF-Charlotte focuses on
raising funds and awarding scholarships to disadvantaged children in the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg area and surrounding counties.
wandaboyd@smartschools.org
http://www.csfcharlotte.org/
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