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In case you didn’t know, Chile has what we call a universal school voucher system. That is, it funds public education by allowing public funds to follow students to whatever public or private schools they choose, and it has operated this way since 1981. As school choice programs gain steam across the United States, it’s […]
Lawmakers in Tennessee are currently considering legislation to create a modest school voucher program. Students from low-income families assigned to the “lowest-performing” district schools who had been enrolled in that school or were entering a Tennessee school for the first time would be eligible for scholarships worth up to the amount of per-pupil spending at […]
The Friedman Foundation team put in our votes for this year’s school choice yearbook superlatives, and these are our winners. Check them out and tell us how you would have voted in the comments. Most Empowering Nevada Education Savings Accounts Our team weighed purchasing power and the ability of parents to use their funds […]
Education has been at the forefront for Indiana citizens and lawmakers ever since the second term of former Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration. Indiana legislators have given various education issues a turn on the front burner over the years—funding levels, funding formula reform, test-based accountability, school choice, third grade reading, teacher evaluation, and more. But what […]
Wisconsin has a long and rich history of school choice, with tens of thousands of families having availed themselves of the opportunities to choose by enrolling their children in private schools. However, a legitimate concern for citizens is whether Wisconsin school vouchers will siphon resources from K–12 public schools, especially given that a vast majority of […]
Today the Colorado Supreme Court delivered a disappointing decision for hundreds of Douglas County students by ruling the first locally established school choice program in the country—the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Pilot Program—unconstitutional. About the Program The Douglas County Board of Education unanimously voted to create the program in March 2011, enacting the first and […]
School choice skeptics often raise concerns about the students who are “left behind” in traditional public schools when statewide school vouchers are enacted. What will become of those kids whose parents, some claim, weren’t savvy enough, sufficiently motivated, or simply didn’t have the time or resources to apply for a private school voucher? And what […]
This week’s Friday Freakout is a blast from the past, bringing up an old, spooky scare tactic against school choice still used today (though with different masks). The freakout comes from 1993, in the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Witch school could bring toil and trouble.” That story noted how a “coven of witches” said they would […]
Students transferring to private schools using publicly funded vouchers saved participating states more than $1.7 billion over a 20-year period. Here’s how: From 1990 to 2011, students in six states and Washington, D.C., received $2.8 billion in voucher funds to attend private schools of choice. In making that choice, those students also relieved public schools […]
Today’s freakout comes to us from the comments section of the The Washington Post piece “Amicus brief on empirical data about school vouchers”. The article itself explains Douglas County, Colorado’s school voucher pilot program, which allows up to 500 students (out of 66,000 in the district) to receive an education voucher. The ACLU of Colorado […]