Monday morning education news
Hope everyone had a great weekend. While some Virginia students are already headed back to school, we’re still about a week away for most families. So as we enjoy the final days of summer, here are a couple quick headlines to start the morning.
- Philadelphia Magazine: Is This the Best School In Philadelphia?: Cynics say urban education is hopeless. With some old-fashioned ideas, North Philly’s KIPP School is proving them wrong.
- iSurf Hopkins: School choice would bring quality – and accountability
- Hartford Courant: School Year Begins Today: Amid Hopes for More Success
- NOLA.com: State: 19 seek charter schools
- WNED-AM 970 News: Hoyt Calls on Paterson to Push School Reform
- Jacksonville.com: Duval charter schools give students new outlooks
Giuliani, Pawlenty talk school choice
School Choice Virginia Chairman, Delegate Chris Saxman, traveled to Chicago last week for GOPAC’s healthcare summit. While there, he had the opportunity to talk to several leaders from around the country on the topic of education and school choice. We asked Delegate Saxman to give us a quick update.
SCVa: We know that the summit was focused on healthcare, but we understand that you did get a chance to talk to at least a few folks about school choice.
Saxman: Yes, we had some time at lunch and between sessions, and I had a chance to talk with both Governor Pawlenty and Mayor Giuliani about education reform issues.
SCVa: Can you give us a quick recap?
Saxman: Giuliani basically said that vouchers are a key reason why higher education does so well and K-12 does not. Lack of public-private collaboration and no choice hurt education.
Pawlenty echoes comments from Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton that school choice is the #1 civil rights issue of the 21st century and said that forcing someone to go to a bad school is “disgraceful.”
He told those in attendance (as reported by Politico.com):
“We have an educational system in the United States that isn’t cash for clunkers, it’s clash for flunkers,” he said. “This idea in this country that anyone is forced to go to a bad school is disgraceful.”
“This is the civil rights issue of our time,” he said, describing the plight of inner city schools and urging the state lawmakers in the crowd to address the lower performances of schools in some of their states more depressed areas. “It is a disgrace and it is a moral imperative…we need to rise up and fix this.”
SCVa: Any other thoughts?
Saxman: It was great talking with both of these guys. You can tell that they both believe in school choice- we need more leaders in every level of government who are willing to stand up and fight for education reforms that will give parents greater access to educational options. We need leaders willing to stand up to the status quo and challenge the system to do what is right for our kids and their future.
Quick morning updates
The Virginia legislature is back in Richmond today for a special session. While originally called to deal with a Supreme Court opinion dealing with evidence in legal cases, the Governor has now announced a further budget shortfall and the need for more than $1 billion in budget cuts.
More tributes to Mrs. Rose Friedman, a tireless school choice and freedom advocate, who passed away yesterday.
And an interesting article in the Washington Times, “Don’t look for the union label.”
Maybe there can be too much of a good thing. That appears to be the lesson to take from two kinds of school choice — charter schools and education voucher programs — that have enjoyed increasing success in recent years. As voucher programs come of age and charter schools proliferate, they are both threatened by the tedious mandates and workplace rules they were created to circumvent.
And the implacable enemies of school choice, teacher unions, have supporters between a rock and hard place. They say they will give up their old hostility, but there’s a catch: First schools must be unionized and regulated by government.
Whose side is the government on?
Debates over school choice aren’t just taking place here in the US, but countries all around the world are looking at reforming education by injecting school choice into the equation.
An interesting read about some of the debate in the UK appeared in today’s Spectator blog, Responding to the opponents of “Swedish schools.”
While the whole piece is worth a read, I particularly liked this line:
Existing schools have a tough enough job as it is without losing pupils to new entrants. Yes, and we have to ask whose side the government should be on: that of the parents, or the local authorities who fear competition?
It raises a really good question. Indeed, whose side should government be on? The side of parents (and taxpayers), or the side of entrenched bureaucracies? Politicians love to talk about being “for kids” or “for families,” but are they really?
Whose side is government on, really?
Rose Friedman
We are deeply saddened to learn today of the passing of Rose Friedman at the age of 99. Rose, like her late husband, Milton Friedman, was a talented and influential economist and a tireless advocate for freedom, especially in the area of education. The school choice movement has lost a brilliant and passionate advocate today, but her work will undoubtedly continue to have a lasting impact on freedom in this country and, in fact, the world.
The Friedman Foundation- the organization established by the Friedmans in 1996 to promote parental choice in education- today has a remembrance statement posted on their website, recognizing the life and work of Mrs. Friedman.
They share some highlights of Mrs. Friedman’s professional, as well as personal life:
Her most important contribution was the 1980 book Free to Choose, which she co-wrote with her husband, and the accompanying ten-part PBS series. Both were highly successful – the book topped the bestseller list for five weeks – and had a profound impact on the public understanding of freedom. At a time when the nation’s confidence in its founding ideas was at an all-time low, Free to Choose played a decisive role in restoring America’s faith in liberty.
Rose Director met Milton Friedman in 1932 when the two were seated next to each other in alphabetical order as graduate students at the University of Chicago. In their memoir of their lives together, Two Lucky People, Milton acknowledged Rose as having been a crucial partner in nearly all his economic and public policy work. And, in addition to her many other accomplishments, Rose had the distinction of being the only person ever known to have won an argument against Milton Friedman.
Thank you, Rose Friedman, for your enduring commitment to freedom and for inspiring so many to stand up for educational freedom around the world. You will be missed.
