Good to See Douglas County Leaders Stand Up Against Shameful Anti-Choice Lawsuit

A few months ago the big GOOD news was the Douglas County Board of Education unanimously adopting the groundbreaking pilot voucher program. This week the district completed its second round of applications and filled the last 21 of 500 slots for families to receive support toward approved private school tuition.

But the SHAME of the week goes to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Interfaith Alliance, and Douglas County’s “Taxpayers for Public Education.” These so-called “civil liberties” groups have combined to file two legal complaints that attempt to stop the new Choice Scholarship program.

As Education Policy Center director Pam Benigno told CBS 4 Denver about the groups behind the lawsuit:

They’re taking away from about 500 kids the opportunity to find the best school that fits their needs.

She also put it well in the Independence Institute’s official press release response to the lawsuit, issued on June 21:

What’s exciting for Douglas County parents is they have a genuine range of options. Parents can choose between different kinds of religious and non-religious schools. Unfortunately, some people find certain choices offensive.

To be specific, 19 schools along the Front Range, both inside and outside Douglas County, are participating in accepting Choice Scholarship students. They include 14 religious schools of various stripes and 5 independent schools. Hopefully, more schools continue to come on board as the program grows.

On the other hand, the GOOD news is that Douglas County board members and district officials have come out strong to defend the program. And the public interest law firm Institute for Justice has announced it will intervene in support of parents who stand to benefit from the local expansion of school choice.

A long legal fight may loom ahead. We certainly hope the lawsuit fails, in the interest of advancing parental freedom and educational excellence.

Spring continues to unfold, bringing the latest and greatest school choice development, this time from the Hoosier State. The Foundation for Educational Choice lauds the very GOOD news of the Indiana legislature’s passage of the “nation’s most expansive voucher program”:

The legislation establishes a new school voucher program, expands Indiana’s preexisting tax credit scholarship program, and institutes a tax deduction for families with children already enrolled in private school.

The non-means-tested $1,000 tax deduction for private and home school expenses was added by the Senate and won approval from the House in a 55-43 vote today, confirming little Eddie’s hopes of “an even bigger victory for parental choice and educational freedom.” It represents just one more part of major legislation that more greatly empowers low- and middle-income Indiana students to attend a chosen private school.

Governor Mitch Daniels has pledged support for the legislation and will sign it into law shortly. Daniels, along with many other elected officials and private sector and grassroots leaders, deserve a hearty congratulations for making such a GOOD move on behalf of Indiana students and families.

The news comes one day after a more modest but still significant private scholarship tax credit program for Oklahoma’s low-income students passed a last key hurdle on its way to becoming law. The stories from Indiana, Oklahoma and more are all part of a spate of GOOD school choice news from across the nation in 2011.

GOOD news yesterday from the U.S. Supreme Court:

The court ruled 5-4 in favor of an Arizona scholarship program for private schools that has mainly benefited religious schools in offering a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the income tax bill of people who participate.

While vouchers were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 2002 Zelman v Simmons-Harris decision, yesterday’s ruling in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn strikes a further blow in favor of educational freedom through programs that give tax credits for scholarship donations. CATO’s Andrew Coulson explains why the ruling is such a strong statement in favor of education tax credits as a preferred school choice policy.

The decision has some significance for Colorado. State lawmakers here are considering the K-12 tax credit choice program in House Bill 1048. This Friday the House Appropriations Committee has the opportunity to make another GOOD decision for parents and students (and the state budget) to put the measure forward for full consideration by the House.

What a week for parental choice and school reform in Colorado. As reported at Ed Is Watching, the Board of Education for Colorado’s third largest school district voted unanimously on Tuesday, March 15, to enact a first-of-its-kind Choice Scholarship program. Douglas County is moving ahead to start a pilot voucher program that will serve 500 resident students for the 2011-12 school year.

This is very GOOD news for students in Colorado. Hats off to the Douglas County Board of Education for its bold, courageous and innovative actions. Here is wishing them success going forward in implementation in serving the needs of even more resident students.

Find out more program details by listening to a new podcast and by reading the press release below, both produced by the Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center: Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was a BAD day to behold in Colorado’s House Education Committee. The committee voted to kill House Bill 1270, a piece of legislation that would have introduced the “parent trigger” concept to Colorado. HB 1270 would have empowered a majority of parents in a low-performing school to petition the school board with one of the following options:

1. Convert the school to a charter school
2. Convert the school to an innovation school
3. Close the school and transport students to nearby higher-performing schools

Colorado’s current accountability law makes these options available after five years on “turnaround” or “priority improvement” status — denoting significant challenges in meeting academic goals. HB 1270 would have accelerated the process to 1 year of “turnaround” or 2 years of “priority improvement” for parents to take action, a clear step in the right direction. Many of these students are falling farther behind and cannot afford to wait.

It is disappointing, therefore, to see the SHAMEFUL vote by eight representatives to stymie parental empowerment and action in some of Colorado’s poorest, most struggling schools:

• Rep. Millie Hamner (D)
• Rep. Andy Kerr (D)
• Rep. Tom Massey (R)
• Rep. Cherylin Peniston (D)
• Rep. Robert Ramirez (R)
• Rep. Sue Schafer (D)
• Rep. Judy Solano (D)
• Rep. Nancy Todd (D)

Here is hoping Colorado gives the “parent trigger” idea greater consideration in the near future.

Plenty of GOOD news in Colorado education reform these days comes from local innovation. Recently it was the 60,000-student Douglas County School District taking a stand for increased parental choice. Now it’s the 15,000-student Falcon School District 49 near Colorado Springs. In the past month District 49 has boldly moved forward with a cost-saving innovation plan that will streamline the central office and empower its three high school principals and a few others to serve student needs more effectively as “innovation leaders.”

To get a good overview of the direction the district is going, first listen to school board member Chris Wright discuss the plan with the Independence Institute’s Ben DeGrow on a 13-minute iVoices podcast. You also ought to read Ben’s op-ed published in the Colorado Springs Gazette. As he notes, a resolution before the State Board of Education at its February meeting strongly urges the kind of local innovation upon which Falcon has seriously embarked.

Falcon 49 leaders are on track with their innovative reform proposal. They still have plenty of work to do, but plenty of reason for hope. District 49 is aided by the GOOD work of state legislators from both parties who approved the 2008 Innovation Schools Act, and the GOOD record of the State Board of Education in supporting local innovations’ freedom to excel outside of burdensome regulations.

On December 7, 2010 The Douglas County School Board unanimously passed the following resolution to increase parental choice:

BOE Resolution Choice Task Force

RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

OF

DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, RE-1

REGARDING

A BLUEPRINT FOR CHOICE IN DOUGLAS COUNTY

 

 

WHEREAS, the Douglas County Board of Education (“DCBOE”) supports parental choice in public education; and

 

WHEREAS, the DCBOE desires to explore innovative ways to serve the diverse educational needs of its students, and

 

WHEREAS, the DCBOE established a Douglas County School Choice Task Force (”Task Force”) made up of parents, community leaders, teachers and administrators, in order to gather facts and provide initial recommendations to the DCBOE concerning the expansion of education choice in Douglas County;

 

WHEREAS, the Task Force presented its initial recommendations to the DCBOE and Superintendent at the DCBOE Fall Retreat on November 12 & 13, 2010;

 

WHEREAS, the DCBOE desires to review the Task Force recommendations and, after analysis and further engagement of the DCSD community, determine which recommendations should be implemented; 

 

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,

 

That the Task Force’s report and initial recommendations be made available on the DCSD web site for public review; and

 

That the Task Force report and initial recommendations are accepted and referred to the Superintendent for further analysis, development, and findings;

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, 

 

That the Superintendent shall develop program recommendations in the areas of Neighborhood School Empowerment, Option Certificates, Charter Schools, Homeschool Partnerships, Contract Schools, On-line Learning, and Open Enrollment Reform; and

 

That the DCBOE and Superintendent shall coordinate efforts to engage the community for fact gathering and dialogue on the Task Force’s initial recommendations and, as deemed appropriate by the Superintendent, any specific program recommendations developed by the Superintendent; and

 

That the program recommendations of the Superintendent shall be presented to the DCBOE for its consideration as a proposed “Blueprint for School Choice in Douglas County”.

 Congratulations Douglas County residents for electing a very GOOD school board! It is refreshing to see a board willing to increase educational choices for the families it serves.

GOOD news! There are now 20 private school choice programs. Special needs children in Louisiana will have more educational choice! Read the news release from our friends at the American Federation for Children:

Children Win as Louisiana Enacts Special Needs Scholarship Program

Washington, D.C. (June 25, 2010) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal this week signed into law the nation’s 20th private school choice program, which will allow children with special needs to use state-funded scholarships to attend the private schools of their parents’ choice.

Hailed by school choice activists as a significant, bipartisan victory for children with special needs in Louisiana, the legislation enacts a two-year pilot program benefiting children in the state’s parishes with populations of 190,000 people or more. Accordingly, children in Caddo, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Lafayette, Orleans, and St. Tammany parishes will be eligible to participate.

The scholarships are worth up to half the cost of what the state pays to send participating children to public schools. The new law will assist children in Kindergarten through eighth grade who have autism, developmental delay or other specific learning disorders.
           
“This new program is a significant victory for Louisiana’s children,” said Betsy DeVos, chairman of the American Federation for Children, a leading school choice advocacy organization. “This program will improve educational access and quality for thousands of students with special needs across the state, and we applaud legislators from both parties for doing what is right for families and not bowing to pressure from special interests.”

The bipartisan piece of legislation was authored by Representative Franklin Foil (R-Baton Rouge) and cosponsored by Representative Major Thibaut Jr. (D-New Roads), Representative Patrick Williams (D- Shreveport), Senator Conrad Appel (R-Metairie), Senator Ann Duplessis (D-New Orleans), Senator Eric LaFleur (D-Ville Platte), and Senator Gerald Long (R-Winnfield).

The School Choice Pilot Program for Certain Students with Exceptionalities Act will place Louisiana in the ranks of six other states (Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Utah, and Oklahoma) that have enacted school choice programs designed for children with special needs.  Across the country there are approximately 24,555 students enrolled in these programs and nearly 200,000 students participating in private school choice programs in general.

There is some very GOOD education reform news to report from our neighbors in Oklahoma this week. Governor Brad Henry signed into law a new program to provide scholarship assistance for special-needs students to attend the private or public school of their parents’ choosing.

The Foundation for Educational Choice proudly reported the news:

The Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Act redirects dollars spent on a participating child at his current public school to the public or private school of his family’s choice. The scholarship, named after the governor’s infant daughter who died of Werdnig-Hoffman Disease, will be equal to state and local dollars that would have been spent to educate the child in his public school or the amount of private school tuition, whichever is less.

“Because of the governor’s and legislature’s courageous acts, Oklahoma’s children with special needs have been afforded a new, better chance to succeed in life,” Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Foundation for Educational Choice, said. “Other states should emulate Oklahoma and its willingness to put the interests of kids and parents first.”

Local blogger and education reform supporter Brandon Dutcher not only published a press release with some excellent quotes explaining the legislation and how it came to be named for the governor’s late daughter but also gave a “hats off” to Governor Henry for signing HB 3393. We couldn’t agree more!

Oklahoma now joins Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Utah as states with tax-funded scholarship programs for special-needs students. To understand why more states are moving this direction, read this recent Education Next article by Dr. Jay P. Greene. He brings forward the overwhelming research that demonstrates the success of this particular school choice policy.

So what’s holding back Colorado? As recently as last year, a more modest proposal to expand choice for special-needs students was killed by the Democrat-controlled House Education Committee — clearly a BAD move then. But could we expect officials in our state to do something GOOD with special-needs scholarships in the near future?

For students to achieve the best outcomes, they need teachers and principals to be as effective as they can be. To make that happen, we first need a clear and fair way to know which teachers are effective. We need to do more to invest both teachers AND principals in student academic success. And we certainly need to make it easier to dismiss teachers who aren’t up to the job.

These are the reasons why long overdue Senate Bill 191 makes so much sense–so that we can have Great Teachers and Leaders. It’s a GOOD thing to see a large coalition of parents, community organizations and advocacy groups line up behind this quality proposal to promote effective teaching. The same can be said for the team of 9 Democrats and 9 Republicans–behind lead sponsor Senator Michael Johnston (D-Denver)–who have agreed to co-sponsor this important piece of education reform.

On the other hand, it’s too BAD that one special interest lobbying group has decided to work so hard to stop SB 191: the Colorado Education Association (CEA). Before they even saw the official bill that seeks to hold both principals and teachers to greater account for their effectiveness in improving student learning, leaders of the state’s largest teachers union complained and vowed to do all in their power “to kill Sen. Johnston’s bill.”

The union is no doubt familiar with the long, fold-out chart showing how difficult Colorado state law makes it to remove a “non-probationary” teacher with 3 or more years of experience. (And that doesn’t include additional steps in some local district policies and collective bargaining agreements.) Some of these dismissal cases have cost taxpayers more than $100,000 to remove a single teacher. Often, boards and principals don’t even bother trying.

In the end, by opposing SB 191, CEA leaders prove they are much more committed to preserving expensive and burdensome job protections for ineffective teachers than they are committed to ensuring those in charge of educating Colorado students are as effective as they can be. There is a word to describe their approach: SHAMEFUL.