docketED
Your guide to the intersection of school choice, the courts and the constitution.
Utah education choice champions look to state Supreme Court to find the floor and save ESA program
In the 1949 Looney Tunes short “Mouse Wreckers,” two mind-manipulating rodents named Hubie and Bertie try to chase award-winning mouser Claude Cat out of his home by driving him crazy. They bang him on the head with a fireplace log, throw a stick of dynamite on Claude’s nap cushion, and... READ MOREUpsides 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 MORECeilings 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 MOREUtah scholarship lawsuit threatens ‘a rich blessing’ for families
Maria Ruiz is at the hospital again. She’s with her husband, Carlos Dominguez, who is still receiving care to help him recover from health issues after suffering a stroke in...
READ MOREBootleggers don’t find religious tolerance convenient or profitable
In 2022 I wrote a piece here at Next Steps declaring myself President of the “Religious Charter Schools Should Be Permitted, Mandatory and Non-existent” club. Every other group under the...
READ MOREFather fighting to save South Carolina scholarship program calls decision ‘an opportunity to stand up for my children’s education’
When Constantine and Aliona Shulikov left the former Soviet Union as children to escape religious persecution three decades ago, public education there was one-size-fits-all. Students attended assigned cookie-cutter government schools...
READ MOREPalmetto state parents fight to regain power to send their kids to private schools
Two South Carolina parents are fighting to reclaim the power to direct their children’s education after a state Supreme Court ruling ripped it away only weeks into the new school...
READ MOREBillionaire awards a new version of the Yass Prize, this time to help an entire state
The big news: Yamilette Albertson Rodriguez could hardly contain her excitement. A Philadelphia billionaire whose name she had never heard before had donated $900,000 to cover tuition for her three...
READ MORESCOTUS sidesteps families’ challenge to Michigan’s restrictive Blaine Amendment
The big story: After delivering a one-two punch to Blaine Amendments, the nation’s highest court decided not to take aim at Michigan’s version. Zoom in: This week, the U.S. Supreme...
READ MOREArizona Mama Bears versus the Blob of Bureaucratic Goop
Years ago, education reformers coined the phrase “Big Learning Organization Bureaucracies aka the BLOB” to describe the collection of groups associated with the K-12 status quo. Recently the Arizona...
READ MORE‘I was in shock’: South Carolina education choice ruling sends mom scrambling
For a decade, Yamilette Albertson Rodriguez served her country as a Marine sergeant. She spent seven months deployed in the Middle East where she fought to stem the tide of...
READ MORE