Cali libertarians counter school choice plan with pitch of their own This is the latest installment in our series on the center-left roots of school choice, and Part III of a serial about school choice efforts in late ‘70s California. Part II included a closer look at U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and the game-changing voucher plan… Read more »
This week, Republicans made gains in off-year elections. Like in 2014, there are signs school choice may have helped the GOP make inroads with new groups of voters. See, for example, this National Journal analysis of Matt Bevin’s gubernatorial win in Kentucky. One of the most interesting events I attended on the Kentucky campaign trail last week was… Read more »
Florida school districts would no longer be defined exclusively by county lines, under a constitutional amendment proposed by two state lawmakers. If passed by the Legislature and approved by voters, the amendments would allow the state or local governments to create new school districts — a concept analogous, in some ways, to the Recovery School District that helped… Read more »
When Charleen Decort was looking for the right school for her daughter, she traveled around South Florida, looking at factors some parents rarely consider, like the color of the walls and the shade of the lights. When she found her current school, a predecessor of what is now Connections Education Center of the Palm Beaches, another factor carried… Read more »
School tax hike: St. Johns County voters approve a half-cent sale tax increase to pay for new schools and renovate existing ones. St. Augustine Record. WJAX. Florida Politics. School testing: Brevard County Superintendent Desmond Blackburn is canceling 192 mandatory district-level assessments tests while he evaluates the county’s examination system. Florida Today. Gov. Rick Scott should raise… Read more »
School testing: A Polk County teacher’s resignation over her frustration with testing is going viral. Wendy Bradshaw wrote, in part, “Like many other teachers across the nation, I have become more and more disturbed by the misguided reforms taking place which are robbing my students of a developmentally appropriate education.” Lakeland Ledger. President Obama’s call to… Read more »
Gates Foundation: Hillsborough County’s school district will dismantle the complex teacher evaluation system it developed six years ago with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Tampa Bay Times. School testing: This week’s Board of Education hearing reveals a perception gap among parents, school officials and business leaders on school testing and accountability. Miami Herald. Gradebook. Sunshine State News. Bridge… Read more »
This guest post is part of our continuing series on the center-left roots of school choice. It may be hard for younger readers to imagine a time when to be anti-establishment was a position of the political left. Today, of course, the left is so well-ensconced in positions of power and influence in academia, media,… Read more »
Charter schools. Palm Beach school board members rebut the idea they are “anti-charter.” Palm Beach Post. Special needs. Lawmakers may try to curtail restraint and seclusion. Gradebook. Arts. A student from a Miami charter school draws praise from First Lady Michelle Obama for her poetry. Miami Herald. Florida art teachers huddle in Naples. Naples Daily News…. Read more »
Sophia Salazar tried for nearly two decades to get her children into one of Broward County’s most sought-after school choice programs. Her oldest, now 26, didn’t win the lottery for the district’s Nova schools. She sent her second-oldest to private school. But when one of her children finally gained admission to the district’s highly regarded partnership with Nova… Read more »
