“Let Me Rise”
Please take the time to watch this amazingly powerful video prepared by the Heritage Foundation on the fight to save the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program- and in fact the fight to give every child the type of educational opportunities they deserve.
Will you make a difference?
With yesterday’s events in DC, I didn’t have a chance to post this article in the Washington Times from Dan Lips at the Heritage Foundation: “A back-to-school wake-up call.“
In the article, Mr. Lips examines the cost of public education in this country, but also points out that we don’t always get the bang-for-our-bucks that we should expect (and even demand) from our investment.
The typical child entering first grade this year can expect taxpayers to spend more than $100,000 on his or her education through high school. (The Department of Education reports the average annual per-pupil expenditure in U.S. public schools is now more than $10,000.) But the data show that, all too often, our six-figure investment in every child’s future doesn’t guarantee a quality education.
What we particularly liked about this article is that Mr. Lips gives parents a homework assignment: get involved. Parents cannot expect special interests (like teacher’s unions) to fight for what is best for their kids. Instead, of hoping that elected leaders and education bureaucrats will “do the right thing,” parents must themselves become educated- and make sure their voice is heard- if they really want education reforms that will make a real difference in our children’s education and our future.
As kids go back to school, here’s some homework for adults for the upcoming school year. Become informed and make your voice heard in debates about education. Learn about what we’re spending on our public schools and what we’re seeing in terms of student performance. Follow what is happening in the state legislature and on the local school board.
Write a letter to the editor and make your opinions known. Challenge your elected representatives and demand that they put the interests of kids ahead of the special interest groups.
It will take hard work. But if enough people get involved and demand serious reform, we can fix the chronic problems that plague our nation’s public schools. The future of millions of children — indeed, of the nation itself — depends on it.
We invited you to get involved today. Help make a difference for your children- and for all our children. They are counting on us.
Why do families want school choice?
Dan Lips, senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, writes on “Why D.C. Families Want School Choice,” in the National Review Online.
Parents understandably want to be sure their children are safe in their schools, and the Heritage Foundation along with the Lexington Institute, published a report examining crime and violence at schools in D.C.
In the NRO article, Mr. Lips writes,
The lack of safety in D.C. public schools has been cited by parents as a main reason why they want to be able to choose their children’s schools. Looking at the numbers of violent or criminal incidents reported at some of the District’s public schools help us see why.
It also helps us understand why the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw scholarships from the 216 students who had recently been admitted to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program was so devastating for their families. According to our analysis, many of these 216 students are now being assigned to attend public schools with high rates of crime and violence. For example, five of these students were assigned to go to Anacostia Senior High, where 60 violent incidents (6.3 per 100 students) were reported, including 47 reports of simple and aggravated assaults. Three students were assigned to go to Ballou Senior High, where 46 violent incidents (2.2 per 100 students) were reported to the police, including 8 robberies (seven involving firearms or knives).
Even Chris Matthews Supports Saving School Choice in D.C.
We have talked about the battle to save DC’s school choice program before. Now, from the Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry, we find this great post and video clip from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews interviewing Michael Steele and discussing school choice in DC.
In the interview, Chris Matthews expresses his support for keeping the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, stating that, “These opportunity scholarships should be maintained.”
Florida’s success
Florida has served as a leader in the area of educational options, and the results are paying off- for students and for taxpayers.
As Virginia Walden Ford notes in this post for the Heritage Foundation’s blog, The Foundry:
And now growing evidence shows that school reforms that incorporate school choice can deliver real progress. One place where this is becoming increasingly clear is Florida, a state that is a national leader in offering families school choice options. In Florida, a decade of aggressive education reforms has led to remarkable progress in improving students’ academic achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Since 1998, Florida students have improved by 32 percent in the percentage of 4th grade students scoring “basic” on the reading exam as well as a 54 percent increase in those scoring “proficient.”
What’s most inspiring about this story is that the greatest academic gains have been made by Florida’s African American and Hispanic students. For example, Florida’s Hispanic students now outscore the statewide average of all students in 15 states on the 2007 fourth-grade reading exam. Florida’s African American students also beat the statewide average of all students in Louisiana and Mississippi, and they are close to passing other states.
Ms. Walden cites the new Heritage study that shows just how Florida has achieved this success. Hopefully, Florida’s success will help other states, like Virginia, provide the same kinds of opportunities for all students, so that they may all have the opportunities to avhieve success.
Can we get some real choices here?
Ah, back to school. And parents and students have lots of choices to make. Bus or carpool? Red notebooks or blue? Crayons or colored pencils? New shorts or jeans? White sneakers or navy? Soccer or football?
Important stuff, right?
Too bad most parents don’t get to make the most important choice about how and where to educate their children.
Lindsey Burke from the Heritage Foundation wrote this op-ed on how “Parents deserve real school choice.“
Americans expect choices and are, in general, savvy consumers. In turn, the U.S. market meets this expectation and supplies its citizens with an abundance of choice.
Restaurants provide food selections from around the globe, the cereal aisle at the grocery store has more options than a sugar-seeking child could ever hope for and the TV provides more than 100 channels from which to choose.
When it comes to education, Americans are also accustomed to a plethora of choices, at least during the back-to-school shopping season.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were more than 24,000 family clothing stores, more than 26,000 shoe stores and in excess of 9,000 department stores in 2005.
Parents have enormous purchasing power when it concerns outfitting their children, updating their electronics and filling their backpacks with all the necessary supplies for school.
The National Retail Federation estimates that more than $20 billion will be spent on back-to-school shopping this year, with the average family spending around $594.24. Imagine if parents had the same kind of purchasing power over the $519 billion that will be spent on public elementary and secondary schools during the 2008-09 academic year. With national per pupil expenditures exceeding $10,000 per year, parents should have a say in how their money is spent.
