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05/01/25 | Ron Matus

For this former public school educator, starting a microschool was a dream come true

  SARASOTA, Fla. – Alison Rini thought her destiny was to be the principal at a traditional public school. She had been the principal at a charter school, the assistant principal at a Title I district school, and the assistant principal at a magnet school for gifted students.  But in...
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OUR LATEST

05/13/25 | Matthew Ladner
Teachers give anti-ESA propaganda a failing grade
Opponents of education freedom, facing a series of legislative defeats, have responded by going off the deep end with conspiracy theories and crackpot fables. The formula works something like this:... READ MORE
05/09/25 | Roger Mooney
Poetry in motion: The tale of one homeschool family using the PEP scholarship
  TAMPA, Fla.  – The poem is a father’s message to his son, that everything they do together will be a memory someday. “I’m going to love and hold you until... READ MORE
05/08/25 | Doug Tuthill
The systemic improvements public education needs are coming
Student achievement has fallen to its worst levels in two decades. Throughout public education, we see blaring sirens that our students deserve better.  At the same time, states across the... READ MORE
05/06/25 | Matthew Ladner
Oklahoma should avoid the example of Vercingetorix
  Julius Caesar led Roman forces to victory in the decisive battle of the conquest of Gaul at Alesia. Having pursued the Gauls to a fortified city, Caesar first surrounded... READ MORE
04/29/25 | Matthew Ladner
Arizona districts should lower the velvet rope for students with disabilities
Tim DeRoche featured the tale of an Arizona boy named Brayden in a Time Magazine piece on the shortcomings of open enrollment practice and law for students with disabilities: “In... READ MORE
04/25/25 | Roger Mooney
The sky is the limit: How an ed choice scholarship turned Aaliyah into a straight-A student
DeLAND, Fla.– A black sweater, white shirt, and a red tie lay on Aaliyah Tape’s bed when she returned home from a summer vacation spent with family. She knew what... READ MORE
04/24/25 | Lisa Buie
Upsides and downsides of a SCOTUS victory for nation’s first religious charter school
The story: With less than a week to go before the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments about the constitutionality of religious charter schools, supporters and opponents are making wildly different... READ MORE
04/22/25 | Lisa Buie
Ceilings and floors and Florida (Oh my!)
  Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the outcome of the status hearing on April 23.  When Utah officials defended a union-backed court challenge to its Utah Fits... READ MORE
04/22/25 | Matthew Ladner
The inevitable is always certain but not always punctual: self-driving school carpools
Back in 2017, techno-optimist Jason Bedrick made the skeptical Robert Pondiscio a bet on the adoption rate for self-driving cars in the Phoenix area: “Robert and I are putting our... READ MORE
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LEARNING SPOTLIGHTS

05/01/25 | Ron Matus

For this former public school educator, starting a microschool was a dream come true

  SARASOTA, Fla. – Alison Rini thought her destiny was to be the principal at a traditional public school. She had been the principal at a charter school, the assistant principal at a Title I district school, and the assistant principal at a magnet school for gifted students.  But in... READ MORE
04/25/25 | Roger Mooney
The sky is the limit: How an ed choice scholarship turned Aaliyah into a straight-A student
DeLAND, Fla.– A black sweater, white shirt, and a red tie lay on Aaliyah Tape’s bed when she returned home from a summer vacation spent with family. She knew what... READ MORE
04/08/25 | Roger Mooney
Taking advantage of her opportunities, Zori reaches Step 1 of her life plan – an Ivy League scholarship
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  – Zori Brown was in the sixth grade when she made a plan for her future that was concise and to the point: Attend an Ivy League... READ MORE
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IDEAS & INNOVATIONS

03/17/25 | Ron Matus

On track to accelerate as education choice expands

A unique online school focused on the needs of elite motocross competitors shows the power of education freedom. READ MORE
11/13/24 | Lisa Buie

Rising parent demand stretches Florida’s Personalized Education Program to its limit for 2024-25

Florida’s scholarship program for K-12 students who don’t attend school full-time has turned on the “no vacancy” sign. The Personalized Education Program operates as an education savings account that allocates an average of $8,000 per student for approved education-related expenses. It has reached its statutory capacity of 60,000 students for... READ MORE
03/10/25 | Ron Matus
Where kids still play in the woods
FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – Millions of students in American public schools are lucky if they get 30 minutes of recess a day. But the students at Wild Oak Explorers spend... READ MORE
12/18/24 | Ron Matus
This educator skipped the traditional teacher route and headed straight into entrepreneurship
DAVENPORT, Fla. – Valeria Oquendo didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur. “Ms. V,” as her students call her, had wanted to be a teacher since she was a teenager.... READ MORE
12/04/24 | Matthew Ladner
Surpluses are just a party, and parties…
During World War II the British kept a group of stately manors for high-ranking German military prisoners. The British treated them well in these gilded cages, giving them full access... READ MORE
11/26/24 | Lisa Buie
‘If you don’t innovate, you will stagnate’: Florida charter schools urged to evolve
Education is no longer about students sitting in rows of desks from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. And school choice, the term supporters used for years to describe the movement... READ MORE
10/15/24 | Matthew Ladner
Families adapt to the dysfunctional K-12 system — if they can afford it
Education Next published a piece recently by Holly Korbey called The Tutoring Revolution, which reads in part: Recent research suggests that the number of students seeking help with academics is... READ MORE
06/10/24 | Lisa Buie
School field trips making a comeback as education savings accounts allow more opportunities to learn by doing
TAMPA, Florida — The 22 high schoolers at Integrity Tabernacle Christian Academy donned their school T-shirts and left at dawn for the two-hour bus trip from near Orlando to ride... READ MORE
04/22/24 | Doug Tuthill
Education Choice and Learning by Doing
Some of the most valuable learning experiences happen outside the classroom. Public education is evolving to support more learning by doing. READ MORE
04/09/24 | Matthew Ladner
MatchED and the way of the future for permissionless education
In the early days of education savings accounts, several of our intrepid Scooby-gang members wrote and spoke about user reviews as the future of “accountability.” In a multi-vendor system, we... READ MORE
02/27/24 | Travis Pillow
Florida parents and educators may be building the education value networks of the future
  Despite calls for reform and waves of attempted transformation, key features of American schools have been remarkably stable for more than a century. Students spend six or so hours... READ MORE
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