Center for Educational Excellence

The Matunis girls are just two of some 32,000 students statewide who are thriving at cyber schools. New legislation unveiled in Harrisburg, however, could do serious damage to cyber schools, hampering their ability to grow and function, and ultimately hurting the Matunis family and thousands like them.

The holidays are a great time to be grateful for the gifts we've received. And, as we remember well, fallen Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed that some Americans have received "gifts" in the form of handouts from the government.

Martin Luther King Jr. believed that, "unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." If correct, then no stronger love or enduring truth can personify his dream than between a caring parent and their needful child.

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering legislation to reform the state charter school law. This legislation may include a "parent trigger" to convert failing schools into charter schools.

I've long been convinced that Thomas Jefferson was exactly right when he wrote, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." The teachers I had as a boy changed my life, and because of them, I became a teacher myself. Today, as a father of four, I know more than ever that education matters immensely – not just for our children, but for our civilization.

The fiscal year 2012-13 state budget increases the Educational Improvement Tax Credit by $25 million to $100 million and creates a new $50 million tax credit for Opportunity Scholarships—effectively doubling in size the amount of money available to provide scholarships to help students escape violent and failing public schools and attend safer and better private schools.

Children attending Pennsylvania's worst academically performing public schools are more than 5-times as likely to fall victim to acts of violent crime according to research released today by the Commonwealth Foundation.