Ryan’s report notes the reality that many still
prefer to ignore: inflation-adjusted spending per pupil has nearly tripled over
the past four decades with largely stagnant achievement to show for it. Not
only does federal education spending typically accomplish nothing, it may even
harm kids. The report notes research showing daycare vouchers aimed at getting
single moms into the workforce can actually end up making them worse moms and
their kids less healthy; Head Start may actually make some kids worse at math;
and for every $1 they get in Pell Grants, some colleges increase tuition $4.
Yes, that’s a quadrupling of college tuition, thanks to federal help.
Ryan’s document is only the latest demonstration
that the War on Poverty has failed while helping enslave future generations to
crushing debt. How ironic--and typical of federal meddling--that programs
intended to help children and the poor accomplish the opposite.
It would not be prudent, however, to immediately
root out federal programs and leave nothing in their stead. Even many entities
one would think are private-sector substitutes for government action, such as
nonprofit organizations and business, are captured by liberal ideology,
rent-seeking, and cronyism. Government programs have been steadily emaciating
civil society and free association for now a hundred years. The answer for
those who love freedom and our neighbors is to follow the tradition of
Nehemiah, whose little band rebuilt their homeland with one hand and held swords
in the other to repel invaders.
What does that mean, practically? As Paul David Miller writes, “Alexis
de Tocqueville believed that the way to sustain and renew democratic
civilization, was to encourage face-to-face human relationships. It is trite
and cliché but true: the first step in saving democracy in America is to go to
school, get and stay married, spend time with your children, and go to
church. The solution is to devolve power
away from the federal government, diffuse it among states, individuals, civil
society, and the market, but also to strengthen its exercise through our
participation.”
Some second steps might be forming parent-school
associations actually responsive to parent concerns, councils for literature
and math teachers that elevate content and excellence, organizations
representing conservative school board members, vibrant new schools, teacher
preparation programs that jettison political activism for knowledge and
experience, and more. Many such efforts are already underway. The more, the
faster, the better.
MORE INFORMATION: The Washington Post,
The Federalist
IN THIS ISSUE
·
ARIZONA: Bills to expand the state’s pioneering education savings
accounts are moving forward in the House. Proposals include
expanding the choice program to military children, siblings of kids with
special needs, and special-needs preschoolers.
·
DC: President Barack Obama again decides to use
poor and mostly black kids for political gain by axing the District’s vouchers in
his new budget proposal.
· NEW YORK: The new mayor is attacking charter
schools that successfully educate poor and minority children.
·
LEGISLATION: In February, ten states considered school choice bills.
Half of these are education savings account proposals, and three are tax-credit
scholarship proposals.
·
CALIFORNIA: A ballot initiative would prohibit businesses from running charter schools
and require charters to comply with open records laws. Fewer than ten charter
schools in the state are for-profit entities, according to the California
Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Common Core Watch
·
INDIANA: Folks on both sides agree: The state’s new draft standards are junk.
They are meant to replace Common Core but essentially layer more,
incoherent mandates atop Common Core.
· CCSS ALTERNATIVES: It’s not that hard to give kids
a good education. Here’s how.
·
MISSOURI: The House education committee approves a bill to repeal Common Core.
“This is not an anti-standards bill,” says the Show-Me Institute’s James Shuls.
“It’s a bill that disputes the idea that
a world-class education must come from a centrally imposed standard.”
· TESTING: Why the coming Common Core tests will likely not be very good,
and how they could be improved. The real problem? Political correctness and its
small band of enforcement harpies.
· FLORIDA: A panel recommends the state choose tests from the American Institutes for
Research to measure Common Core standards.
·
WASHINGTON: After meeting with U.S. Education
Secretary Arne Duncan, Gov. Jay Inslee agrees to tie teacher evaluations
to student test scores to keep the state's No Child Left
Behind waiver.
· ILLINOIS: Thousands of parents are opting their children out
of state tests this week.
· CALIFORNIA: A new bill would prohibit education software and apps from sharing,
permanently storing, or selling personal student information.
· MATH WARS: A retired military man turned math
teacher almost singlehandedly started the “math wars” of the 1990s, says
teacher and author Nakonia Hayes. Hear John Saxon’s story.
· CALIFORNIA: Why the Ninth Circuit Court is wrong in
letting a school ban students from wearing the American flag on
Cinco de Mayo. Teaser: “Part of being an American citizen is
learning to tolerate speech that you don’t like.”
· DEMOCRATS: The intra-party split on education politics
has reappeared, as teachers union forces and pro-charter Democrats duke it out
in New York and elsewhere. These writers say this fight is coming to the 2016
presidential primaries and towns everywhere.
Thank you for reading! If you need a quicker fix of
news about school choice, you can find daily updates online under the Ed News Roundup. And if you’d like to encourage
Heartland Institute Research Fellow Joy Pullmann to ‘keep up the good work’ on
education issues, please consider making a contribution today. You can
earmark your gift by selecting education at the bottom of the online form,
under “optional questions.”
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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