New Funding Reports Try to Sound the Alarms, But Simply Don’t Add Up
Are you interested in new K-12 “research” that creates new ways to measure funding, obsesses over inputs, rests on logical leaps, AND challenges its own claims? Well, then I have a couple reports for you! The headlines create such drama: Washington Post, “Inequitable school funding called ‘one of the sleeper civil rights issues of our […]
Union Interns Unionize Against Union
I’m pretty jaded for a five-year-old. Not much surprises me when it comes to edu-news. But sometimes, just sometimes, I see a headline that really catches my eye. Usually, that moment is followed by me checking the calendar for dangerous dates (remember April Fools’ Day?) and ensuring that I’m not looking at something like The […]
Nevada Joins Ranks of ESA States, Adds Momentum to Educational Choice
A few months ago one of my Education Policy Center friends created one of the first-ever Freedom Minute videos on “The Education Debit Card.” Remember? It’s everywhere you want to learn or Don’t leave home without it. The Education Debit Card is a catchier name for Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Dubbed the “iPhone” of school […]
New Study on School Funding Assumes Its Way into Trouble
Sometimes I just want to get nerdy. I don’t mean kind of nerdy, like when we throw around phrases like “statistical significance” and call it a day. I mean really, truly nerdy. The kind of nerdy that involves using words like “exogeneity,” which is so obscure a term that Microsoft Word tells me it isn’t […]
Students’ Walk in the PARCC Gets a Little Shorter
It wasn’t too long ago that we were in the midst of a high-stakes game of legislative testing chicken. The Great Testing Debate of 2015 eventually ground to a (sort of) conclusion that involved reducing the amount of testing overall and creating a pilot program to look into new possibilities on the testing front. Yes, […]
Stop Dumping Paperwork on Charter Applicants, and Focus on Success
Now that Memorial Day is past, and the unofficial start of summer has arrived, it’s time to start thinking about taking that fun family vacation. For me, it has to include going to the beach, or at least staying cool at a splashing fun water park. While I would enjoy swimming at the lake or […]
Thompson Board Stands Firm on Bad Contract; Union Backers Go Haywire
Yesterday I prepped you for the big vote and showdown at last night’s Thompson school board meeting on whether to accept the proposed union contract update. I told you it could go one of two ways: Either the return to the drawing board 1) resulted in some reasonable solutions to board director concerns that could […]
Thompson Gears Up for the Final (?) Battle
We’ve talked an awful lot about Thompson School District recently. And why wouldn’t we? The district and its reform majority are, after all, at the very forefront of Colorado’s ongoing—and increasingly nasty—education reform wars. The board’s attempt to build a smarter, better union contract that does right by both its students has been met with […]
Tuesday Twofer: More Legal Victories for School Choice
This year has been a big year for school choice, and a decidedly bad year for teachers unions. First, a red tidal wave surged across the country in the 2014 elections despite record union spending in an effort to stop it. Then, the school choice aftershocks started. Alabama became America’s 43rd charter state, Nevada passed […]
A Friday Reminder of What Kids Can Do
It’s been a while since we’ve had a good, fun Friday post. All that serious edu-business just keeps getting in the way. But take heart, my friends, for today is once again a Happy Friday. As I was perusing the normal news, an interesting story caught my attention: A Colorado Springs student is about to […]
Two New Scholarship Tax Credit States Help Bolster Choice Equation
Earlier this week, I gave you the review of K-12 education issues in the Colorado legislative session like no one else can. Today, I just quickly wanted to look at a few developments in other states. While our own Centennial State gets closer and closer to taking a big step forward for school choice, a […]
5/12/15
Education Policy Center Newsletter May 12, 2015
In this issue
— Legislature Crosses the 2015 Finish Line
— No Love Lost in Loveland Union Negotiations
— Independence Institute Stands up to Jeffco Bullies
— Ed Center Keeps Eye on School Choice Ball
— Little Eddie Stays Busy
