Education is the first stepping-stone on the path to success, but Pennsylvania students face severe inequality among public school districts. Thousands who can’t afford private school are trapped in failing schools or situations that aren’t the right fit. The solution to this crisis is school choice. By offering families options outside their zip code-assigned district schools, students are better able to find their path to success. Charter schools, tax credit scholarships, education savings accounts (ESAs), homeschooling, and other types of education choice must become a priority in Pennsylvania.

Education

Voices of school choice … and how to get involved

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 18, 2008

The REACH Foundation has a new “Voices of School Choice” profile on its website. This one is about Katie, who writes about how the choice of going to cyber…

Media

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Education

“The end of civilization as we know it!”

  • August 7, 2008

Enjoy this bit of British humor from an old British TV series that illustrates some of the absurdity behind the anti-school choice movement. “Oh, very droll Prime Minister…” Youtube…

Media

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Education

Public Education vs. Public Schooling

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 3, 2008

Neal McCluskey on the difference between “public education” and monopoly of government-run schools: Fortunately, there is a term that does strongly imply a system in which government provides…

Media

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Education

Should have studied Chemical Engineering at Dartmouth

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 3, 2008

WSJ.com has some interactive data on salaries of graduates by college, as well as by major. I was suprised that the median mid-career salary for my alma…

Media

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Education

Less than 60% of black males graduate in PA

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 31, 2008

The Schott Foundation has a new report out on black male graduation rates – in public schools – and the gap between black and white performance. In PA,…

Media

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Education

Georgia Charter School Success

  • July 29, 2008

Our sister think tank, Georgia Public Policy Foundation, highlights the success that charter schools are enjoying in the state. 85% of the state’s 71 charter schools met Adequate…

Media

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Education

Change He Can’t Believe In

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 25, 2008

Steve Chapman writes how Barack Obama – the “candidate of change” – rejects school choice (as policy, though he doesn’t practice what he preaches), despite its success. Obama…

Media

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Education

Construction Woes

  • July 23, 2008

A few schools in Pennsylvania are experiencing a money crunch–not because property taxes are too low, but because of school boards’ Edifice Complex. The Bethlehem School District and Danville…

Media

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Education

PHEAA Must Phace the Phacts.

  • July 17, 2008

The Board of Directors of PHEAA (Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Association) too umbrage with our highlighting that government agency’s misuse and abuse of taxpayer dollars.  Our response is…

Media

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Education

School Choice Works

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 15, 2008

American’s for Tax Reform has a short primer on the success of school vouchers, scholarship, and tax credit programs: There have been a total of ten studies of…

Media

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Education

Obama on School Choice: For or Against?

  • July 14, 2008

The Cato Institute blog reports that Barack Obama told members of the American Federation of Teachers he is opposed to school vouchers, when referring to the “tired rhetoric about…

Media

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Education

For Autism, Try Vouchers, Not Mandates

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 11, 2008

John LaPlante points out on SPN Blog that instead of health care mandates, autism advocates should be pointing to tax credits or scholarships for autistic children. As opposed to…

Media

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Education

Preschool Study: No Evidence of Lasting Benefits

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 9, 2008

Adam Schaeffer writes on Cato-at-liberty that a recent study of universal preschool only shows what critics of government-run day care have been saying: that they offer only short-term…

Media

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Education

PSEA Hissy Fit

  • July 8, 2008

Too many public schools have a Liberace complex and feel no compunction against splurging taxpayers’ hard-earned money. So kudos to the Pleasant Valley School District for trying to lowering…

Media

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Education

School boards have no control over teacher salaries?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 8, 2008

Tony Phyrillas laughs at school board members complaining about not having control over things like teacher salaries – you know, the salaries school boards establish (typically through labor contracts)…

Media

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Education

Voucher Valedictorian

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 7, 2008

Andrew Coulson comments on an NRO article highlighting a DC Opportunity Scholarship recipient who just graduated at the head of her class at Archbishop Carroll High School. The…

Media

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Education

Philadelphia private school managers a failure or success story?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 3, 2008

The Fordham Institute blasts a Philadelphia Inquirer story calling the Philadelphia public school’s removal of six private managers a “blow to the experiment”: Kristen Graham of…

Media

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Education

Cyber School Funding Formula: The Wrong Mixture

  • July 1, 2008

State Rep. Karen Beyer, along with the Rendell administration, lobbyists for the teachers unions, and the school boards association, has been doggedly seeking to reduce funding for Pennsylvania’s public cyber…

Commentary

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Education

Shady Accounting at the Pennsylvania Department of Education

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • July 1, 2008

Allegheny Institute’s latest policy brief reveals how the Pennsylvania Department of Education classifies federal monies as local tax revenue. “By making it appear that the local revenue…

Media

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Education

The Liberace Complex?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 27, 2008

The York Daily Record has a story on the South Eastern School District paying $97,000 for – wait for it – a grand piano. I may have to…

Media

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Education

Academic progress? Think again

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 25, 2008

A new study by the Center for Education Policy claims significant improvement in student achievement across the country. The Cato Institute discounts the study…

Media

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