A Costly Disconnect

Once again, a group of Californians is attempting to qualify a statewide ballot initiative intended to dramatically increase parents’ ability to enroll their children in the school of their choosing, whether public or private. And once again, the effort is almost certain to sow disappointment, invite recrimination, and result in failure. It could

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For Every Action…

More than 30 states currently offer some form of ‘educational choice’ programming that includes private schools. Some states offer school vouchers. Some have gone a step farther by funding education savings accounts whose proceeds can be used to pay for private school tuition and other qualifying education expenses. Other states offer various education tax…

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Be Careful What You Wish For!

With projected tax revenues once again exceeding initial expectations and unprecedented amounts of federal funding flowing to California’s public schools, one would think that members of the Golden State’s public education establishment would be contentedly licking their chops. But as anyone who has been paying attention is aware, nothing could be farther from the…

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Not So Fast

With so much attention devoted to yesterday’s gubernatorial recall election, relatively few Californians are aware of efforts underway to place an ambitious and sure-to-be-controversial school choice initiative before the state’s voters in 2022. The proposed amendments to the state constitution would establish state-administered education savings accounts (ESAs) for every child eligible for enrollment…

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Fare Thee Well, Madam Secretary

Four years ago, had President-Elect Donald Trump seen fit to ask me to name the 10 individuals I would most hope to see nominated to become the nation’s next Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos would not have come to mind. My exclusion of Ms. DeVos would have had less to do with an evaluation…

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