SCHOOL CHOICE 2.0 SET TO SPREAD
Arizona’s supreme
court allowed education savings accounts to flourish in the state last Friday
by refusing to review a lower court’s decision in the matter. Four bills now in
the legislature to expand the program have just gotten a push, and so have
efforts to expand the idea everywhere.
Education savings accounts (ESAs) add extra juicy goodness
to the voucher concept by giving parents even more control over their children’s
education tax dollars. Instead of letting parents sign a state check over to
one school, the state deposits a child’s education money into an audited
savings account parents can use for more than just tuition. They can spend on
tuition, but also augment school with education therapies for special needs,
sports or enrichment classes, tutoring, and more. This expands the incentive
for parents to control education costs and gives them the freedom to mix and
match their child’s education rather than purchasing school as a bulk product
from only one supplier. Think of it as homeschooling with wings.
Although the ESA concept is slowly spreading through
legislatures, it can multiply within existing choice schools, as well. If
charter or voucher schools wanted to adopt the concept, they could become a
sort of Genius Bar for education, consulting with families to build education
packages for each child that consist of different selections of classes and
experiences from a variety of providers, not all or even any of which are from
the school itself or even a school at all. They could be instead community
organizations like libraries and colleges or the local ballet troupe, symphony,
or engineering firm. How many parents do you know who wouldn’t jump at the
opportunity to custom design their child’s education like that?
Just think of the possibilities!
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Watchdog.org
SCIENCE: After Politico publishes
a hit piece claiming vouchers send taxpayer money to promote teaching creation
instead of evolution, several analysts debunk it. Mike McShane demonstrates
that many public schools already teach
creationism and vouchers let parents choose which version of
human origins their kids will learn. Private school students perform better on science tests
than public school students, so ending vouchers reduces
science instruction, notes Matthew Ladner.
KANSAS: Lawmakers are endeavoring
to pass a bill that would provide up to $8,000 for
private-school tuition from scholarship funds established
with donations from businesses. If passed, it would be Kansas’s first private
school choice program.
FLORIDA: A proposed expansion of Florida’s
popular K-12 tax-credit scholarships has failed, but that may not be so bad
since the bill included regulations that would have hurt school choice.
WISCONSIN: Lawmakers can’t agree on what mandates to
place on choice schools and so decide to consider the matter
in non-lawmaking committees this fall.
INDIANA: Gov. Mike Pence signs a
bill requiring the state to jettison
Common Core, making Indiana the first state to do so. The
current replacement draft looks very similar to Common Core, largely because
Pence staffers favor the Core and are running the rewrite.
TESTS: Four million kids will be unpaid, non-volunteer test
subjects for Common Core’s pilot tests, starting this week.
THE MOVIE: A free documentary about Common Core
will be live online this coming Monday. It interviews dozens of leaders on both
sides of the issue.
TENNESSEE: The governor and
advocacy groups scramble to keep Common Core
in the state after a 82รข€“11 House vote to delay it.
NEW YORK: A federal official says
New York will lose federal money
if it slows Common Core. So much for voluntary.
TEXAS: School districts in
Houston compete to get the best teachers,
offering $50,000 starting salaries and what they hope are attractive work
environments.
TESTING: High-stakes, annual exams are
headed for the dustbin, says Reihan Salam, to be replaced by
hardly noticed, frequent assessment embedded in computer programs.
STEM: The supposed science and math worker shortage
doesn’t exist.
CALIFORNIA: Asians emerge as a
force counteracting affirmative action
in higher education. Affirmative action typically hurts
whites and Asians.
MICHIGAN: A reporter finds a
clause in a teachers union contract granting special preferences
to basically every job applicant except men, white people, and Christians.
NEVADA: Teachers unions seek to raise taxes on larger businesses
to shovel more money at schools. Nevadans pay an average of $8,400 per
public-school student already.
Joy writes this e-newsletter, is
managing editor of School Reform News, and is available for speaking
engagements on Common Core and other education topics. For more
information, contact Heartland Events Manager Nikki Comerford at 312/377-4000,
email ncomerford@heartland.org.
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