Candidates Stump For School Choice
World Magazine, NC, April 29, 2008
If Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, Americans will have two presidential candidates who are open to school choice measures.

Schooling the Reformers
American Spectator, VA, April 30, 2008
This was just the latest defeat for school reformers. They also lost a battle in Idaho to develop a teacher performance pay plan…

If Cleveland Schools Can Team With A Charter School, Why Not Others?
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH, April 30, 2008
Gov. Ted Strickland and school superintendents take note: Public schools and charter schools need not be mortal enemies.

Against Odds, New Orleans Schools Fight Back
New York Times, NY, April 30, 2008
Dozens of new charter schools, a flood of idealistic young teachers from elsewhere around the country — now as many as 17 percent of the total here .

Charter Schools Win Battle Against Audits
New York Sun, NY, April 30, 2008
A state judge in Albany ruled yesterday that Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office is permanently prevented from issuing audits of charter schools, saying the office "lacks the authority" to do so.

Better Education Options Needed
The Chattanoogan, TN, April 29, 2008
It is estimated that by 2015, that the current 38% of private and home schoolers will increase to 47%. Allowing Charter schools, and providing a voucher program of some type would be a start for more options.

School-Choice Bill Misunderstood By 30
Muskogee Daily Phoenix, OK , April 29, 2008
A recent letter signed by 30 superintendents of eastern Oklahoma school districts (Phoenix April 24 Opinion Page) was critical of Senate Bill 2093, the New Hope Scholarship Act.

Twenty-five years after "A Nation At Risk," the general consensus seems to be that the tide of mediocrity continues to lap at our toes. The Washington Post’s Mark Fisher writes that, 25 years later, our school children continue to be underserved by "dumbed-down, boring textbooks; thin courses; inexperienced teachers," resulting in a persistent achievement gap and college-bound students who must be remediated.

"What to do? We’ve tried all manner of cheap ways to fix the problem, anything we can think of that can be accomplished with existing structures and personnel." Ah, yes - well, what NOT to do. Fisher finds comfort in the one-to-one successes of those who take "end runs around the bureaucracies" to do the right thing, the rigorous thing, for kids.

Perhaps he had in mind Friendship Collegiate Academy, a charter school in Washington, D.C., which was honored by the College Board as one of three "outstanding high schools that have successfully improved the academic environment and helped students achieve equitable access to higher education despite social, economic and cultural challenges."

Friendship Collegiate Academy exemplifies Fisher’s one-to-one success - but a success made possible by the implementation of systemic reforms that enable broad ‘end runs around the bureaucracy’ - reforms that demand both choice and accountability, and put students ahead of systems. Reforms grounded in these "Top Ten" offered on the occasion of CER Newswire’s 10th Anniversary.

Equal Funds For Charter Schools
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA, April 29, 2008
The public tax dollars funding these schools do not belong to the local school boards, but to the taxpayers who expect it to be spent for their kids.

McCain’s School Choice Opportunity
Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2008
So when politicians have to choose between a teachers union and some African-American mom who would like to take her son out of a failing public school, guess who usually wins?

Vouchers And Special Education
Washington Times, D.C., April 29, 2008
In response to the disappointing educational experiences of these students, five states have now adopted voucher programs specifically tailored to disabled students.

Vouching for Vouchers
Washington Post, D.C, April 29, 2008
In making education his top priority, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has been guided by one principle: Children trump politics.

Chester Upland Schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, April 29, 2008
The state, too, is trying to be more supportive. But they must do more, faster, if they expect to stop the exodus of children and dollars to the charter schools.

Benoit Joins Assembly Republicans In Calling For School Choice
California Chronicle, CA, April 29, 2008
Assemblyman John J. Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes) and other Assembly Republican colleagues today joined education reform advocates in announcing a package of innovative and groundbreaking education reform measures…

Charter Schools Grow Stronger In Pa.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, PA, April 28, 2008
More than a decade after charter schools became legal in Pennsylvania, it is safe to say the schools, once considered experimental and still sometimes controversial, are here to stay.

Honest Data on High School Dropouts
New York Times, NY, April 28, 2008
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings took a welcome step in the right direction by issuing new rules for how those rates are calculated.

Twenty-Five Years Later, A Nation Still at Risk
Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2008
Today marks the 25th anniversary of "A Nation at Risk," the influential Reagan-era report by a blue-ribbon panel that alerted Americans to the weak performance of our education system.

Charter Schools: Equal Funding, Equal Accountability
Orlando Sentinel, FL, April 28, 2008
The movement that began with Florida’s charter-school legislation in 1996 has become a positive influence for many improvements in the public-school system.

School Voucher System Raises Lots Of Questions
Mansfield News Journal, OH, April 27, 2008
Those who attack an Ohio voucher plan that pays for students in troubled schools to enroll in private or parochial schools are missing the more important issue.

Support Scholarships For Poorest Students
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, April 27, 2008
State lawmakers should back program to give school vouchers to students in the state’s poorest cities.

The Archdiocese’s Open, Honest School Plan
Washington Post, D.C., April 27, 2008
Ultimately, the decision was to continue with a smaller Catholic consortium; to seek conversion of seven schools to high-quality charter schools run by an independent group…

Her Dream, Branded as a Threat
New York Times, NY, April 28, 2008
Things have not gone according to plan. Only one-fifth of the 60 students at the Khalil Gibran International Academy are Arab-American.

Considering Catholic Education by Jeanne Allen
Washington Times, D.C., April 25, 2008
With Pope Benedict XVI safely home from American soil, many reflect on how his charge that we raise our children to seek peace and justice can occur without the institution of Catholic schools.

A Nation at a Loss
New York Times, NY, April 25, 2008
Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of "A Nation at Risk," a remarkable document that became a milestone in the history of American education - albeit in ways that its creators neither planned, anticipated or even wanted.

Bush Calls Closing Faith-Based Schools ‘Crisis’
D.C. Examiner, D.C., April 25, 2008
As President Bush lauded advances in faith-based education in the District Thursday, D.C. Catholic schools continued to struggle with enrollment and expenses that threaten to erode recent gains.

Tax Credit Scholarships
The Times of Trenton, NJ, April 25, 2008
Despite the importance of these issues, legislators continue to turn a blind eye toward real reform. Instead, they pass meaningless legislation and a new funding formula that will perpetuate wasteful spending …

They Love The City, But Not The Schools
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO, April 25, 2008
But that romance has been put to the test because of doubts about the city public school system. The Braggs and others aren’t sure they can afford to stay, because they’ve decided appropriate schooling comes with a crippling expense.

Charter School Funds Spread Thin
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, HI, April 24, 2008
Hawaii’s charter schools, already preparing to get less state money per student next academic year, will have to share their budget with yet another school that gained approval to open its doors.

Education Survey Reveals ‘Head-Scratching’ Results
One News Now, MS, April 24, 2008
The survey — conducted by Ellison Research — asked Americans to rate the overall quality of education students get from public schools, home schooling, charter schools, and three types of private schools: non-religious, Catholic, and Christian.