Democrats made it through their week-long national convention without talking much about their plans for public education. Like at the Republican convention the week before, most talk of school choice and educational opportunity happened off the main stage. Still, there were some signals about the shape of education politics to come.
Who would hold sway on education in a Hillary Clinton administration?
National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García says:
"She's going to listen to a lot of people. But we're going to be in her ear first, talking about things like what English-language learners need, what students in special education need, and what a test measures and what it doesn't measure," Eskelsen García told me as she bounced from one event to another here.
Ben LaBolt, former National Press Secretary for Obama for America, replied: "The Clinton campaign has said they're going to have a seat at the table for everyone in the party who works in education. That means reformers will have a seat at the table, that means the unions will have a seat at the table." The important thing, he quipped, is that "the unions don't get all the seats at the table -- just one of the seats."
And what about President Barack Obama's legacy of support for charter schools?
Now, a party’s platform is very different from how that party’s nominee, if elected, would actually govern. But to the extent the platform represents Hillary Clinton’s views — and on the campaign trail, she’s shown some signs that it may — she should think again. Charter school populations mirror the Democrats’ base of low-income and working-class African-Americans and Latinos. Attacks on the schools they send their children to are not what they want or need from the political party they call home.
Regardless what happens in the political arena this year, the education reform agenda remains a powerful force.
School choice is here to stay because families want a say in where their children go to school. We are now arguing about the best ways to offer families choice, not whether empowering families is a good idea.
ESAs in court
State Supreme Court hearings on Nevada's landmark education savings account program fired up people on both sides of the school choice debate.
They rallied both in support of and against Senate Bill 302, a controversial bill that Republicans passed last year to create the state’s new education savings account program, gathering on the courthouse steps as attorneys prepared to deliver oral arguments before the Nevada Supreme Court.
“Our children deserve better than this,” said ESA supporter Jennifer Hainley. She said she wants to use the program to transfer her son from a Clark County school which lacks “the right learning environment.”
Thousands of other parents play the waiting game while the legal battle winds on.
See our coverage of the hearings here, and more from Cato at Liberty, KUNR and the Las Vegas Sun.
Tim Keller of the Institute for Justice, which represents parents in one of the cases, weighs in here. (more…)
Earlier this month, charter schools turned 25.
What should the next 25 years look like?
First, we can’t imagine a future for chartering that spurns the no-excuses model and its variations — nor should it. Millions of poor and minority youngsters still need better school options, and this should remain a sturdy pillar of the charter sector. Making existing schools in this sector better — too many of them cannot yet claim to deliver a high-quality education—and replicating the best of them to serve more kids are important priorities. Infusing what they’ve demonstrated into district schools is important, too.
The question is whether American education would be better off if the charter sector had more pillars. We’re convinced that it would.
Second, restoring the broader vision of what chartering can do — without either forfeiting or complacently settling for its impressive accomplishments to date — requires resourcefulness on the part of policymakers, funders, and leaders of the charter movement itself. It’s a no-brainer to suppose that the future will simply extend the present, but it takes intelligence and a measure of courage — and considerable dollops of resources — to conjure a future that’s more than that.
It should include more (and better) specialized charters created in systematic ways: schools that focus on STEM, career and technical education, high-ability learners, special education, socioeconomic integration, and other realms within the K-12 universe that cry for better options than what’s there today.
Parents and educators, not bureaucrats, should control schools. But voters should have a say over how school systems in their communities operate. That's a lesson from the first 25 years, as Andy Smarick writes:
We assumed that school results would be much better, and school politics much reduced, if we dramatically decentralized the system by handing authority to families, educators, and civil society. Teachers could start and lead schools, nonprofits could operate and support schools, and parents could match their kids to the programs that fit them best. We could rid ourselves of all the campaign nastiness and government sclerosis that comes with embedding public education within a political system.
But a curious thing happened along our righteous, electorally watertight path to greater choice: People decided that they liked democracy, too.
So today, in cities with too few options, families clamor for more choice. Charter waitlists overflow, and advocates lobby for new voucher, tax-credit, or ESA programs. At the same time, in cities where charter sectors have blossomed (e.g., New Orleans, Detroit, Newark), communities are demanding more democratic control. How to balance the two has turned out to be one of the most interesting and difficult quandaries in schooling today.
Charter school advocates and educators are gathering now in Nashville. We'll be there, providing coverage Monday through Wednesday. We expect to hear more on these and other points about the future of chartering. (more…)
This week, charter school advocates called out some on their own side — specifically, virtual charters — for widespread underperformance. The ensuing debate revealed a tension that arises under the new definition of public education.
Todd Ziebarth, senior vice president of [The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools], said choice is critical but shouldn’t be unfettered, “While the market dynamics and competitive dynamic [are] important … at the end of the day it’s not enough — it’s sort of a necessary but insufficient thing.”
Among other things, the groups calling for change want states to ensure students who enroll in virtual charter schools are prepared to succeed in them, and to force virtual charters to justify the per-pupil funding they receive. They did not say they want to eliminate full-time virtual schooling, which can benefit some students.
Still, pushback from virtual charters and their allies was swift.
Policies that restrict parent choice, or create perverse incentives for schools to turn away at-risk children or others deemed not to likely to succeed, should be rejected. They have no place in the school choice movement.
Families often choose online schools because they are fleeing a school or situation that wasn't working for their child, or for other reasons – bullying, special needs, medical issues, social or emotional challenges, safety concerns, academic problems, etc. For many families, online schools are the only available public school choice they have.
Does this debate pit the prospect of unfettered choice, despite dismal results for many students, against regulations that raise thorny questions of their own? Or is there a third way — perhaps one that involves setting clear standards for online learning providers, giving parents better information about how they perform compared to other schools, and creating education savings accounts that encourage parents to economize, instilling a new form of financial accountability?
Meanwhile... (more…)
We hear these talking points over and over: Private school choice doesn't improve student performance. It drains money and other resources from public schools. It promotes racial segregation.
But, as a new report released this week shows, they tend to fall apart under empirical scrutiny. The fourth edition of "A Win-Win Solution" looks at a wide range of quantitative studies on the impact vouchers and other private school choice programs have on public finances, student achievement, desegregation, and even the attitudes of students who receive publicly supported scholarships.
It shows that, in the vast majority of cases, the impact is positive.
Some of the findings are underwhelming. For example, the effects of private competition on public schools, while almost always positive, tend to be quite small. Why is that? Do public school leaders have the autonomy to compete effectively, or are they hamstrung by bureaucracy? Do parents have the information they need to choose meaningfully among schools?
Meanwhile...
It's time to get over the left-right divide in education reform. Why the conservative perspective matters — even to reformers who disagree. Coalition building should be about addition, not subtraction.
What if state constitutions guaranteed a right to educate, and to be educated?
(more…)
This week, a judge ruled Nevada's education savings accounts, one of the newest and most far-reaching educational choice programs in the country, are constitutional.
A Las Vegas judge on Wednesday ruled Nevada’s controversial new school choice bill does not violate a constitutional ban against the use of taxpayer money for religious purposes.
In an order dismissing a lawsuit challenging the legislation, District Judge Eric Johnson upheld the constitutionality of Senate Bill 302 as a program “neutral with respect to religion” because parents — not state actors — decide whether they will use an education savings account, or ESA, to pay for tuition at private and religiously affiliated schools.
Johnson also ruled a provision in the Nevada Constitution that charges state lawmakers with encouraging education “by all suitable means” permits the ESA program in addition to the public school system.
Yes, constitutional provisions forbidding public funds from being used to religious purposes can create a legal barrier to educational choice, but this latest victory proves they aren't always a fatal one. Nor is a certain legal precedent set in Florida.
The legal battles in the Silver State aren't over, though, and for now the program remains in limbo.
Meanwhile...
An interesting alliance between conservative federalists and teachers unions pushes back against federal funding equity regulations. What does this have to do with the new definition of public education? It's about structuring education funding around students and their needs, rather than the system and its needs: (more…)
Democracy matters
With the governor's signature, it's now official. New Orleans public schools overseen by the Recovery School District will soon return to the control of their local school board.
Proponents of the bill, including many charter-school advocates, are calling it a “reunification” of New Orleans schools, putting the locally elected Orleans Parish School Board back in charge of the city’s schools but leaving actual control of individual operations in the hands of school leaders. They say it is an important step in closing the wounds left by the state takeover without sacrificing the autonomies that they say have been essential for driving academic progress.
New Orleans has embraced the new definition of public education. In the coming years, we'll learn how well its model works under local democratic governance.
Some fear the move could be a mistake, but here's a key question for the future:
The bill outlines clear powers for the school board, superintendent, and existing schools, but less ink was spilled on ensuring there is a continually pipeline of new (and hopefully innovative) schools. I think this amongst the biggest risks in NOLA over next decade: will the incumbents of the system (government, charter schools, non-profits, etc). utilize their hard and soft power to block new entrants?
Meanwhile...
Louisiana's private school voucher program still faces a political threat. Despite progress, this remains the case for school choice programs all over the country.
Information is power for parents. And often, they need more of it.
It’s true that parents often fight back when their children’s schools are going to be closed. And why not? In most cases, they’re losing their current option without being offered a replacement. They are told to go find a new school. Often, the alternatives are not much better than the old schools, and they may be a lot less convenient. It’s not a trade. It’s a one-sided loss—and a huge headache. ...
Instead of asking parents if they want their children’s schools to remain open, we should ask them whether they would choose to stay if they had other options. Then we should give them other options.Here’s something that happens fairly often for us at EdNavigator, where we provide high-touch educational support to families in New Orleans. We sit down with a parent for an initial get-to-know-you conversation. When we ask whether they are happy with their current schools, they say yes. ...
But then we ask a follow-up question: Would you like to stick with this school, or do you want EdNavigator to help you explore your alternatives? Many times, even “satisfied” parents are very eager to know what’s out there. Ten minutes later, they have decided to participate in OneApp (the universal enrollment system in New Orleans) to seek a new school.
ZIP codes remain destiny in NYC:
"After more than a decade of universal school choice, a child's community district is still highly associated with his or her likelihood of graduating high school in four years," the study said.
The data-mapping project by researchers Kristen Lewis and Sarah Burd-Sharps provides the first look at New York City high school graduation rates based on where students live, rather than where they attend school. It poses layers of questions about how much a high school choice system can improve outcomes for low-income students by freeing them from their neighborhood high schools.
Ohio's struggles with charter school reform aren't over.
The bipartisan legislation to improve the sector was widely heralded, and some went so far as to declare the problem “fixed.” But implementing the law in a way that will improve the quality of Ohio’s charters will hinge on creating a tough new accountability system for the organizations that sponsor charter schools. That task falls to a state Department of Education that is still recovering from a charter school-related scandal.
Also crucial is whether the powerful charter-school lobby succeeds in efforts to water down the reforms. Large for-profit charter operators have donated significant sums to Ohio politicians, but generally their schools have produced poor academic results for students.
Meet the Buckeye state's new schools chief, who will be tasked with sorting this out.
Denver charter schools make progress amid political peace. Charter school parents make their presence felt in Newark.
Teachers unions (predictably) say charters drain money from traditional schools. Is that really what matters?
Florida's teachers union tries to make a similar argument, in appellate court, against tax credit scholarships. Parents, clergy and activists show support for the program. And the state capital's newspaper agrees with them.
Education savings accounts: The way of the future for parental choice? A new way to spur innovation? Not so fast?Some key questions.
Nevada's legal battle over its ESA program inches closer to a state Supreme Court ruling.
Miami-Dade's superintendent gets recognized for promoting magnet schools.
"It’s time to admit we don’t know what we’re doing when it comes to educational technology."
School choice is good, but the goal needs to be academic excellence.
New evidence on school choice's effects.
The new federal education law can promote school choice, encourage weighted funding, and expand course access.
Tweet of the Week
"If it's not being led by the people who are most affected, it's not a movement." @MsPackyetti#NSVFSummit
— The Hechinger Report (@hechingerreport) May 11, 2016
Quote of the Week
You can’t avoid democracy forever, nor should you.
- Neerav Kingsland, on New Orleans charter schools' return to local control.
This Week in School Choice is redefinED’s weekly roundup of national news related to educational options. It appears Monday mornings on the blog, but you can sign up here to get it Sunday. Did we miss something? Please send tips, links, suggestions and feedback to tpillow[at]sufs[dot]org.
We should all be paying attention to a charter school referendum in Massachusetts.
In short, Bay State charters, particularly those in Boston, are among the best in the nation at raising student achievement. But a legislative cap prevents them from growing to serve the tens of thousands of students on their waiting lists. Now a new group is taking the issue of raising the cap directly to voters.
Justin Cohen explains the takeaway.
[T]his is a good reminder to educators, particularly reformers, that politics matter. If results and demand were sufficient to win the argument, the unimpeachably good charters in Boston would be able to grow and flourish. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, as politics, money, and power matter when talking about public schooling.
Those seeking educational change must continue to supplement their piercing logic with an imposing political ground game, which hopefully will mean creating even more room for parents and communities to take greater leadership over the education agenda.
In other words, he argues it's time to organize. In Massachusetts, teachers unions already are.
Meanwhile...
New Orleans' public school system will gradually return to unified, local, democratic control. Shavar Jeffries argues it's time.
This week, an appeals court overturned what had been a legal victory for nine public school children suing to change teacher tenure laws and dismissal procedures in California.
Why does this matter to people who care about school choice? For one thing, it's a setback, though far from a fatal one, to efforts to advance students' legal right to an equitable, high-quality education.
Prof. Jack Coons had more on this point after the trial court first ruled in parents' favor:
Though I consider California’s tenure system an abomination, it is an integral part of the global structure of a basically moribund system.
Its dissolution would be laudable but in fact would introduce similar new hurdles for equity. By empowering the administrator, we substitute one form of tyranny over the child for another. With the continuance of the frozen management structure, choice and retention of teachers may be no less random than today. The judgment of incompetence is both difficult and distasteful. The temptation is strong to avoid decision and assign the teacher to some harmless cloister. Still, I would be glad to see tenure go.
But the scene is tragi-comic, especially given the rational alternative available. I refer to the state’s empowerment of parents to make their own choice among schools, choices which, in a roughly consistent way, identify the good school and its good teachers. That judgment is one the parent makes strictly by the standard of this particular child’s best interest, not for the sake of a school district’s professional correctness.
Judge Treu’s decision may be a step in that direction. Though only obliquely, it raises the core question: who, in the end, is the proper locus of authority over the child. Vergara “empowers” the administrator-stranger, who may be simply another wrong place to locate this prerogative.
Meanwhile...
Charter schools: Segregation problem or segregation solution? Or is that beside the point?
There are good things happening in American public education. Perhaps we shouldn't care whether they can scale.
Anti-charter legislation dies in Louisiana. Pro-charter legislation is signed in Mississippi.
Gov. Rick Scott expands public-school open enrollment in Florida. The impact could be muted in choice-heavy South Florida.
The trouble with treating education like a civil rights issue.
The benefits of black-led charter schools.
A charter school tries its hand at restorative justice. Arkansas explores district-charter collaboration. Nevada gets serious about recruiting charters to low-income neighborhoods.
More on that charter school earnings/attainment study.
Quote of the Week
I have to do this to make his dreams happen. If he’s passionate about it, then I’m going to do whatever it takes in rain, sleet, snow, bus and bike. I’m going to make it happen.
— Detroit mom Monique Johnson, describing her son's extraordinary commute to find a better school.
Transportation deserves more attention from the school choice movement. Students also need more quality options close to home.
Tweet of the Week
Maybe opponents of school choice should consider this point..
This Week in School Choice is redefinED’s weekly roundup of national news related to educational options. It appears Monday mornings on the blog, but you can sign up here to get it Sunday. Please note, however, that we'll be taking the next two weeks off while our editor gets some much-needed R&R.
Did we miss something? Please send tips, links, suggestions and feedback to tpillow[at]sufs[dot]org.
This week, new research underscored the importance of giving the public access to useful information about schools.
Our initial results (published in ADB’s Key Indicators) provide suggestive evidence that more than any other indicator, countries where both parents and students have access to quality information about student learning outcomes and school quality have higher average skills at age 15 (Figure 1). These investments were neither explained by a country’s income nor educational attainment of those aged 15-65.
Notably, greater educational financing (as a percentage of GDP) was not a significant predictor of improved skills. While this educational benchmarking exercise is only a start, it tends to underscore that financing alone is unlikely to help countries deliver better skills.
A ways to go
Maryland will soon have a small voucher program. But it could still beef up its school choice options.
Maryland law requires charter school teachers to hold the same teacher certification as teachers in the traditional public schools. Moreover, charter teachers in Maryland are considered part of the public school system and are included in the collective bargaining agreements negotiated by teachers’ unions. Although charter schools exist in Maryland and educate about 18,000 students per year, these laws and others have made the state unattractive to larger charter operators who feel they’re too restrictive.
Among the numerous advantages of charter schools is the ability for students from a wide range of social strata not to be limited in their choice by geographic location. While the $5 million in grants will help low-income parents and students choose their schools based on quality rather than location, the provision does not expand the choices available to middle-income families. Middle and high income families are still only able to choose through two mechanisms: buying a house in neighborhoods with good schools or enrolling in a private school.
Meanwhile...
The American higher education system is built on a mix of charter and private institutions. Does that work?
A call to end the conflict over charters in Washington State.
A study finds non-test-related benefits to attending a charter school, and draws a curmudgeonly riposte.
Montana debates charter school expansion. Mississippi debates rural charters. Colorado charter schools push for equal funding, as do charters in Ohio and Connecticut.
New research with data from Broward County, Fla.: Talented black and Hispanic students go undiscovered by gifted programs.
The case for beefing up school choice in D.C.
Quote of the Week
The courts are a terrific shield; they are not always a very effective sword.
-Barack Obama, visiting the University of Chicago's law school.
The president makes a point for education litigants — from charter school advocates going to court in New York to teachers unions suing to stop charters in Washington State and reform critics who just wrapped up a trial in Florida — to consider.
Tweet of the Week
https://twitter.com/kportermagee/status/718572501937307649
This Week in School Choice is redefinED's weekly roundup of national news related to educational options. It appears Monday mornings on the blog, but you can sign up here to get it Sunday. Did we miss something? Sends tips, links, suggestions and feedback to tpillow[at]sufs[dot]org.
An archaic definition of "common schools" posed an existential threat to charter schools in Washington State. The Legislature crafted a bipartisan fix to keep them in operation.
Late this week, Gov. Jay Inslee let the measure become law without his signature.
For many charter-school parents, Inslee’s announcement came as a relief after months of rallies, letters and phone calls.
“It’s been such a difficult climate, because this is an issue that I think has become polarizing,” said Shirline Wilson, whose son attends Rainier Prep in the Highline School District south of Seattle. “I’m just thrilled that our fight is over.”
Melissa Pailthorp, the mother of a ninth-grade student at Summit Sierra in Seattle’s International District, said the lobbying efforts were worth it.
“All of us had to ask ourselves, ‘Does this make sense for our kids?’ ” Pailthorp said. “Our kids have learned a lot from this. They have all said they feel strongly about staying in their school. Why would we deny them that? We knew we were gambling, but that it would be well worth it.”
In addition to changing charter schools’ funding source, the legislation expands the membership of the state commission responsible for deciding which charter schools can open. That commission now will include the chair of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction (or others they may designate) to provide more oversight from elected officials.
Washington thus avoided becoming the first state to outlaw charters.
Meanwhile...
Charter schools: The hot new celebrity accessory? Sean "Diddy" Combs announced plans for a charter in Harlem. Of course there's a Florida connection. Danita Jones, an Orlando educator we highlighted here, will be principal.
It's been a long time coming, but private school choice finally got a bipartisan "BOOST" in Maryland.
And (modest) tax credit scholarships are coming to South Dakota. Different groups track this differently, but by our count there will soon be 24 states with some form of private school choice available statewide.
A Montana judge ruled students should be allowed to use tax credit scholarships at private religious schools.
New York's new state budget may benefit charter schools and community schools at the same time.
Lawmakers traded proposals to lift the charter cap in Massachusetts.
The GOP bashed Bill Clinton, alleging inconsistency on charter schools.
A report showed Miami-Dade and its charter schools are beating the odds (something we've explored in the past). But the report and its methodology faced criticism on several fronts.
This top charter school isn't quite so "no-excuses." Neither is this one.
School choice and "The Voice."
Innovation and the Catholic school renaissance.
Public school parents support private school vouchers in Louisiana.
Two ed reform advocacy heavyweights are set to merge.
The overwhelming whiteness of U.S. private schools.
Desegregation and deeper racial ills.
Expanded public school choice in Florida would have implications for athletics.
More black families explore home schooling (a trend we examined here).
Quote of the Week
It shouldn't take a lottery to get in a school that's doing great things
- Award-winning Seattle principal Mia Williams, on education reform legislation Gov. Inslee did agree to sign.
Tweets of the Week
.@kevinpchavous: 50 yrs after Gov. Wallace was forced to allow desegregation, many of the same schools are failing. https://t.co/TK43dk4izQ
— The 74 (@The74) March 31, 2016
It's official! Today we welcome a strong new #charterschool law, result of hard work of students, families, advocates and #waleg champions
— WA Charters (@WA_Charters) April 3, 2016
This week in school choice is our weekly compendium of news, notes and happenings from around the country. It appears early Monday mornings on our blog, but you can subscribe here to get it on Sunday.
