North Carolina: The legislative push is on to start a statewide tax credit scholarship program. (Associated Press)

Florida: A former state board of education chair defends the state's decision to offer free tutoring services to low-income families. (Miami Herald)

California: Expanded school choice is at the heart of an increasingly tense feud within the Democratic Party between the teachers unions and supporters of education reform. (Reuters)

Washington: Charter school supporters hope the fourth time is the charm in finally bringing charters to one of the last states left without any. (Seattle Times) (more…)

Editor's note: Vouchers, charters, tax-credit scholarships - all part of the right-wing conspiracy to privatize education, right? Doug Tuthill argues that it's the political left that should champion choice - because it's the only path to equal opportunity in education.

For progressives who believe in equal educational opportunity, the current state of school choice is problematic.  As the movie "Waiting for Superman" illustrated, limited access to school choice is exacerbating inequalities. Parents who win lotteries, have the right political connections or have the money to buy homes where they want have schooling options less fortunate or less wealthy parents don’t have.

To resolve these inequities, progressives can advocate eliminating all parental choice - and force every child to attend their assigned neighborhood district school - or they can support making school choice ubiquitous.

Leveling the playing field by eliminating all parental choice is not a viable option. This solution would mean closing down all within-district choice programs such as magnet schools, alternative schools, open enrollment programs and career academies, and choice programs that occur outside school districts, including charter schools, online learning programs, homeschooling and private schools. This approach would also require eliminating the most common form of school choice: parents buying homes in their preferred school zone. To stop this practice the government would need to assign families to school zones and then require them to purchase homes in their zones. Of course, this is never going to happen. (more…)