Education
Pa. Senate Committee Advances Lifeline Scholarships for Students in Failing Schools
Harrisburg, Pa., May 7, 2024 — Today, the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee advanced Senate Bill (SB) 795, a bill to establish Lifeline Scholarships for children in failing schools. Sponsored by state…
Read More: Pa. Senate Committee Advances Lifeline Scholarships for Students in Failing SchoolsPennsylvania’s future is in the hands of the next generation. Parents and students—not activist agendas—should drive the Commonwealth’s education policy. While policymakers have been entrusted with ensuring the next generation receives a quality education, parents should be empowered to choose the quality education that meets their unique child’s needs. Charter schools and tax credit scholarships are integral pieces of school choice, but more reforms are needed to make school choice a reality for all Pennsylvania students.
Education
New York Times Editorial Uses Faulty Data To Slam Charter Schools
News release from the Center for Education Reform… New York Times Editorial Uses Faulty Data To Slam Charter Schools Washington, D.C., May 10, 2006 – The New York Times in…
Media
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Substitute teaching goes private
In Michigan, the Grand Rapids Public Schools have figured out a way to save the taxpayers money–contract out for substitute teachers. It saves $$$ from having to be socked…
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Lawmakers must cure loan agency’s identity crisis
My PHEAA commentary in the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
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65% Solution? Reduce School District Size
Analysis of school district spending by size by in the EIA Communique. The finding is that larger districts spend a lower percentage on classroom instruction (and more in adminstrative…
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Philly Schools Need Improvement
Jay Greene in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.
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PHEAAs Split Personality
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) has a split personality complex, complete with an uncanny ability to assume different identities at a moment’s notice. One day, the student loan…
Commentary
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Scholarships as tax relief
Read Matt Brouillette’s commentary in today’s York Dispatch.
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Educating From the Bench
Judges order legislators to spend more on schools, and taxpayers see less in return. Dr. Jay P. Greene in today’s Wall Street Journal.
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New Report on High School Graduation
A new report from the Manhattan Institute, released today, attempts to calculate real (as opposed to reported) high school graduation rates, using a consistent methodology across states. They found…
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Philly quadruples number of teachers fired for lack of performance
Before you think there is a major focus on teacher quality in the Philadelphia School District, the quadrupling of the number of teacher fired for performance was from 2 in…
Media
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PHEAA says receipts would reveal secrets
PHEAA refuses to disclose what they are spending their money on, the Patriot News reports, citing “trade secrets.” Far be it from me to suggest that taxpayers and…
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PSBA takes issue with my referendum commentary
Equal time was given to Tim Allwein of the PA School Boards Association to offer a rebutal to my commentary in last Sunday’s Patriot-News. Fair game. It should…
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Let Common Sense Prevail on School Construction Projects
In the current debate over school property tax reform in Pennsylvania, all of the plans under consideration in Harrisburg focus solely on the revenue side of the school finance equation…
Commentary
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School Vouchers are Improving Education in Milwaukee
Summary by National Center for Policy Analysis of a article in the New York Times.
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Cyberschools have districts edgy
Times-Tribune article on the growth of Pennsylvanias’ Cyberschools. The bottom line: students do better when parents are able to choose which school is best for them.
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Black Flight
Excellent Wall Street Journal article on what is happening in Minneaopolis where African-American families in the city’s poorest neighborhoods are choosing to leave their assigned public schools in large…
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How schools lock themselves into raising taxes
Article on USATODAY.com explores how health care and other benefits promised to public teachers’ unions will cost school districts a fortune over the coming years. Anyone who thinks…
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Exceptions are rule for Act 72
The Times Leader points out the “referendum in name only” aspects of Act 72…which are also present in the various bills winding their way through the General Assembly. For…
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The PHEAA raises: Another pay-jacking
More on the lobbyist/legislative operative who is now the highest paid state employee … in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
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A government big enough to give you everything you want …
There is a theory (articulate in a piece by Mark Bauerlein) that left-wing academics are engrossed in large scale group think, that when large numbers of the radical left…
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Read More: A government big enough to give you everything you want …Education
PSBA: “Limit School Spending for Cyber Schools”
The Pennsylvania School Board Association has finally come to agree that school spending should be limited to what it actually costs to educate a child: Patriot News – Districts…
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