Chicago Is the Latest Example of How Public School Spending Doesn't Prioritize Students
Misused pandemic funds, luxury travel, and declining achievement reveal a crisis of priorities—one only school choice can fix.
Misused pandemic funds, luxury travel, and declining achievement reveal a crisis of priorities—one only school choice can fix.
Last academic year, DIY education grew at nearly three times the average rate it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research.
Private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling add students despite dwindling numbers of kids.
Once a champion of school choice, New York’s mayor has caved to union pressure—leaving tens of thousands of students stuck on waitlists.
The deadlocked court doesn't provide much clarity to sticky questions about the limits of religious freedom.
Government schools now spend about $20,000 per student.
Despite persistent violence in schools, very few states designate schools as "persistently dangerous."
The Court will weigh religious opt-outs and charter school discrimination. But true educational freedom means funding students, not systems.
National education freedom may depend on the budget reconciliation process.
People want choice in how they teach their kids and are happy when they get it.
School choice advocates work hard, but public school interest groups work harder.
Bad charter schools can close. Bad public schools can stay open forever.
School choice makes kids better off, whether or not they're enrolled in a traditional public school.
The paper studying Massachusetts charter schools also found that students in urban charters saw a large test-score jump.
Turned off by fumbling public schools and curriculum wars, families teach their own kids.
The Parent Revolution author on lockdowns, teachers unions, and voter rage.
The case hinged upon the idea of what a publicly funded school can teach. But parents do have a role to play in that conversation.
Pastor Joshua Robertson stepped up when his community asked for support. His efforts have more people realizing that there is an alternative to the failing school system.
Government school advocates say competition "takes money away" from government schools. That is a lie.
The charter school movement has seen many recent Supreme Court victories widening their scope to faith-based education, but some ambiguities remain.
Schools were already staffed at record levels even before COVID-19, when enrollment fell by nearly 1.3 million students.
"Governors don't get to print money," the former Arizona governor tells Reason.
Gov. Katie Hobbs hates that families are guiding their own children’s schooling.
Kids have disappeared from public schools, with most opting for a range of alternatives.
Charter schools use "fewer dollars to achieve better outcomes," write University of Arkansas researchers.
Post-pandemic enrollment isn’t likely to rebound anytime soon.
The Colorado governor finds common ground with many libertarians. But does he really stand for more freedom?
Look for these budgetary swindles at a failing K-12 system near you.
"Government in general does a lot of things that aren't necessary," says Jared Polis.
The union "has an outsized impact on working families who have no other choice on where to send their children...that power, combined with a mayor who is essentially a wholly owned subsidiary, would make them a dangerous force," says one former Chicago Public Schools executive.
When "graduation becomes close to a virtual guarantee, it also becomes pretty functionally meaningless," says one education researcher.
New bill makes a mockery of parents’ rights, school choice, and educational freedom.
"More money can help schools succeed, but not if they fritter those extra resources in unproductive ways," says one researcher.
Join Reason on YouTube and Facebook on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET for a discussion of American K-12 education policy with author Robert Pondiscio.
Educators should be responsible to parents and students, not to the government.
The governor wants to roll it back, but she doesn't have the votes.
A legal assault on charter schools will deprive families of educational options.
Expanding options empowers families and improves education in the country and the city alike.
There’s no reason to argue over lessons and policies when you can pick what works for your family.
Instead of being attached to public schools, funding follows students to learning options they choose.
"There's a new special interest group in town: parents."
Educational freedom is good for everybody but unions, bureaucrats, and the education establishment.
Perhaps the real question is whether such a school is a state actor for purposes of Section 1983. The en banc Fourth Circuit says it is, so that a skirt requirement for girls is unlawful.
Charter schools are included in the mandate that students use facilities of their birth sex, regardless of what students and families might want.
Republicans are in danger of squandering a promising opportunity for education reform on culture war squabbles.
This is what public policy looks like when a major political party plays kissy-face with public sector unions.
"People's irrational fears are taking over these policy decisions," says one parent.
State-level "gag orders" on teaching certain texts and ideas are terrible and utterly predictable in a one-size-fits-all K-12 educational system.
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