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A modest musing about parental school choice
An expansive power of parents over their own children has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court since the 1926 decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters. There, Oregon had attempted to make...
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Religious schools should be a bigger part of the solution
Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court justice, might never have blossomed in the Bronx without the help of a faith-based school, a Catholic oasis called Blessed Sacrament. Sotomayor herself says so. Asked by...
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Time for a ‘Brown’ ruling on religious discrimination in education
Charles Glenn: it’s time for a ruling on par with Brown v. Board of Education to end legalized discrimination in education on the basis of religion. New Hampshire joined other states in adopting a...
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School choice restores parental responsibility
The American school system was, from its inception, a product of intolerance for human difference. Grounded in 19th Century religious and cultural prejudice, it was artfully designed to assure no...
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A good education is a religious endeavor
Editor’s note: Craig S. Engelhardt is a former teacher and school administrator who directs the Waco, Texas-based Society for the Advancement of Christian Education. His new book is “Education Reform:...
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Peter Flanigan, a guiding light of the school choice movement, R.I.P.
Peter Flanigan Peter Flanigan, one of the giants of the education reform movement, passed away last week at age 90. The Wall Street Journal featured this tribute in its Saturday edition. Peter...
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MLK and God’s schools
Coons Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of posts we’re running this week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I grew up in a Minnesota city of 100,000...
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The unrealized dream of educational justice
Gant Editor’s note: This is the fourth and final post in our series commemorating the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Dr. Vernard Gant is director of Urban School Services with...
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Faith, school choice & moral foundations
If one wishes a profound historical-dialectical account of the fate of religion in our governmental schools – all in 200 pages – make Craig S. Engelhardt’s new book, “Education Reform: Confronting the...
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In parent choice suit, U.S. Department of Justice on wrong side of history
Editor’s note: This piece is in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s legal action against the voucher program in Louisiana. It is co-authored by Howard Fuller, board chairman of the Black...
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FEA’s political calculations mislead public on scholarship costs
As a stalwart defender of funding for public schools, the Florida Education Association (FEA) brings special expertise to the complex, sometimes arcane ways the state produces its education budget. So...
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What drives a parental choice warrior
In 1998, at a luncheon in Chicago, former superintendent, activist and now-icon Howard Fuller was on an education panel with an up-and-coming state senator. Barack Obama told the audience that vouchers...
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Mr. Gibbons’ Report Card: Never getting beyond the rhetoric while Americans...
Jack Schneider and Julian Vasquez-Heilig: Jack Schneider, an education historian and professor at Holy Cross, is correct that education and education reform are incredibly difficult policy arenas –...
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The redefinition of public – and private – schooling in Florida
The impact of scholarship programs on Florida’s private schools, recently portrayed in the Orlando Sentinel, should be seen in the context of a larger transformation of public education. It brings to...
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Throwback Thursday: The roots of charter schools
The Atlantic this week offered one of what will likely be many pieces looking back at the first quarter-century of American charter schools. One of the more noteworthy passages deals with the history...
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Throwback Thursday: Home schooling’s quest for acceptance
There’s a reason school district policies requiring home school parents to show proof of gaurdianship, or more details about their reading materials, or other information that isn’t required by state...
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Meet the Voucher Left
Despite what the story lines too often suggest, school choice in America has deep roots on the political left, in many camps spanning many decades. Mississippi Freedom Schools, pictured above (the...
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A school choice manifesto, from the left
Ted Sizer: School vouchers “could cause a kind of decentralization which would promote diversity, pluralism, responsiveness to the needs of the community being served and, indeed, even greater...
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Berkeley liberals and the roots of ESAs
Berkeley Law professors Jack Coons and Stephen Sugarman, circa 1978. This is the second post in our series on the Voucher Left. Way back in 1978, when Bee Gees ruled the radio and kids dumped pinball...
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School choice and sheer bad luck
Between the late 1970s and late 1980s, bad luck derailed three efforts to put a center-left vision for school vouchers on the statewide ballot in California. This is the fourth post in our series on...
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