I was wrong.
For 15 years I have dedicated myself to empowering low-income families to choose the best school for their kids. I was the strongest advocate for parental choice you would ever meet.
But I was wrong.
For almost two decades I swatted away false arguments from choice opponents. "There’s no evidence students do well in choice programs." No, the consensus of studies show they do. "Creams the best low-income students away from public schools." Sorry, studies show just the opposite.
But the scales have now fallen from my eyes. I have to leave the movement. Why?
I just learned that vouchers will mean the end of high school football. Yes, that's right - giving low-income parents choices will mean the end of that great American tradition - and I just can't tolerate that.
You see, high school football used to be the most important thing in my life. When I was 15 and my father told me our family was moving from Iowa to Florida, my only question was, "Does the high school have a good quarterback"? When I was 17, the only thing I wanted for my birthday was a case of Gatorade (three practices a day, in full pads, in the summer in South Florida). Some of my fondest memories are of taking the field for the Fort Lauderdale High School Flying L's. Yes, that was our team name.
Given this background, I hope my fellow choice advocates will understand my abdication.
A group called Save Texas Football has just come out with a video explaining how choice will kill high school football in Texas. As I watched it, I was so impressed by the quality of the message and the production, I said to myself, "There's no way a grassroots, amateur group did this." Sure enough, the group behind the video is Progress Texas, a 501C4 advocacy group that is run by veterans of Texas Democratic politics. C4s don't have to reveal their donors, but I'll buy you a hot dog at this Friday’s game if the major funder of this group isn’t the Texas teachers union. (more…)
Texas: State lawmakers talk vouchers and hear about expanded learning options in Louisiana and Florida (KVUE.com). A judge rules that a charter school support group's concerns can stay in a lawsuit over state education funding. (Austin American Statesman)
California: A local school board won't allow a school to be converted into a charter school, even though that's what parents using the state's parent trigger law wanted. (Education Week)
Florida: The superintendent of the state's biggest school district says the educational environment is now driven by choice. (redefinED)
Indiana: The state's public school districts are marketing themselves with billboards and door-to-door campaigns in an effort to persuade parents to steer clear of vouchers and private schools. (Associated Press)
New Hampshire: The state's "Blaine Amendment" becomes an issue in the race for governor. (Concord Monitor)
Michigan: A community debates as a charter school operator begins to run all of its schools. (Detroit News)
Missouri: An appeals court rules that a judge was wrong in ordering charter schools to pay millions to the Kansas City School District. (Associated Press)
Pennsylvania: A private foundation will manage 20 financially struggling Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. (Education Week)
Washington D.C.: Despite growing enrollment, charter schools are overshadowed by traditional public schools in funding and other matters. (Washington Post)
New Hampshire: The state legislature overrides Gov. John Lynch's veto of a tax credit scholarship bill. (Manchester Union-Leader)
North Carolina: School choice leaders throw in the towel on a legislative proposal for tax credit scholarships. (Associated Press) A judge rules that a virtual charter school cannot open, siding with the state board of education, which had refused to consider the proposed school's application. (Raleigh News & Observer)
New Jersey: Gov. Chris Christie says it's unlikely that a school voucher bill will move in the state legislature this year. (NJ Spotlight)
Florida: Faced with declining enrollment and increased competition from school choice, the Broward County School Board wants to open its own charter schools. (South Florida Sun Sentinel) Meanwhile, the state Charter School Appeal Commission sides with four of five charter school applications rejected by the Palm Beach County School Board. (Palm Beach Post)
Pennsylvania: A well-funded political action committee and the Philadelphia Archdiocese are pushing hard to expand the state's tax credit scholarship program. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Texas: The state's main charter school group filed suit against the state, charging it with short-changing charters on facilities funding and arbitrarily capping the number of charters that can open. (Houston Chronicle) (more…)
