Free Republic

Ohio joined the growing number of states passing pro-school choice legislation by expanding its voucher program to more families. "Ohio is the eighth state to go all-in on school choice in just two years," Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, told Fox News. "The dam is breaking for the government school monopoly." The $86 billion budget that Gov. Mike DeWine signed Tuesday included pro-school choice policies, joining Arizona, West Virginia, Iowa, Utah, Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma, which passed similar legislation in the past two years. Ohio's voucher expansion allows families earning up to 450% of...

Pennsylvania Senate hopeful John Fetterman (D.) opposes vouchers that let children in failing public school districts attend private and charter schools. But the progressive champion, who lives in one of Pennsylvania’s worst performing school districts, sends his kids to an elite prep school. Fetterman’s kids attend the Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh, where parents pay up to $34,250 for a "dynamic" learning environment and an "innovative" approach to teaching. They would otherwise go to schools in Woodland Hills School District, where graduation rates are far below the state average. The local elementary school that serves Fetterman’s town of Braddock is...

On Wednesday, December 8th, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a potential landmark case challenging a Maine law that prohibits parents from using a state student-aid program if they choose to send their children to faith-based schools.

Held: The application of the no-aid provision discriminated against reli-gious schools and the families whose children attend or hope to attendthem in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the Federal Constitution. Pp. 6–22.

The Supreme Court’s latest ruling that says it’s discriminatory to exclude organizations from public programs solely on account of their religious nature helps the legal environment for school choice. So does a Tuesday Supreme Court order that New Mexico revisit its ban on religious schools participating in a state textbook program for poor children. Thirty-seven states have constitutional amendments like that in the Trinity Lutheran case, forbidding taxpayers from funding religious organizations. These provisions have stymied school voucher programs that have otherwise dramatically increased since 2012, thanks to increased Republican control of state legislatures. With Trinity Lutheran favorably decided against...

BREAKING NEWS: President-elect Donald Trump has named Betsy DeVos, a conservative activist and billionaire philanthropist who has pushed forcefully for private school voucher programs nationwide, as his nominee for education secretary, according to a person close to DeVos.

The CHA pays him $3,911 a month in federal funds to lease his townhouse to the woman and three others in her household, including a child under the age of 6, records show. It also has been a good deal for Lai’s tenant. She pays no rent because, CHA officials say, she has no income. The CHA declined to identify her or other voucher clients, though it released the names of landlords. Public housing doesn’t conjure images of a near-$1 million home. But the CHA foots most or all of the bill for Lai’s tenant and others to live in...

Gun owners give up weapons for groceries SAN DIEGO — Gun owners had a chance to exchange weapons for Friday morning. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the United African American Ministerial Action Council held another installment of their “Guns for Gift Cards” program from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Tubman/Chavez Multicultural Center in Valencia Park. The program allows people to turn in working-condition guns, no questions asked, in exchange for monetary vouchers redeemable at area grocery stores. Shotguns and rifles bring $50 credit each, while pistols and assault-type weapons fetch $100 apiece. Participants must place the weapons,...

In his convention speech in Charlotte, President Obama vowed to block the Republican Medicare reform plan because “no American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.” But back in Washington, his Health and Human Services Department is launching a pilot program that would shift up to 2 million of the poorest and most-vulnerable seniors out of the federal Medicare program and into private health insurance plans overseen by the states. The administration has accepted applications from 18 states to participate in the program, which would give states money to purchase managed-care plans for...

Michael Hiltzik infers in his column Sunday that Proposition 32 is a big lie -- because it prohibits both corporations and labor unions such as the California Teachers Assn. from extracting involuntary political contributions from the paychecks of workers. Hiltzik argues that its prohibition of corporate deductions is of minor impact, but that union political fund-raising will be crippled. He is amazingly untroubled by the fact that taking such payroll deductions for political purposes without consent is patently immoral. Why should a worker have some of his forced union dues spent on candidates or causes that he doesn't agree with?...

<p>BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Louisiana Supreme Court has refused to stop the launch of Gov. Bobby Jindal's statewide voucher program, which began this month.</p> <p>The high court denied an injunction request by teacher unions and school boards to stall the voucher program as they challenge whether it is constitutional. A hearing in the court case is set for October.</p>

BATON ROUGE — Louisiana will be home to one of the nation’s largest school voucher programs once Gov. Bobby Jindal signs legislation that recently passed his state’s legislature. Today, by a vote of 60-42, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved Gov. Jindal’s voucher expansion, which passed the Senate last night 24-15. “This is a momentous day for the families of Louisiana,” State Superintendent of Education John White said. “All students deserve a fair chance in life, and that begins with the opportunity to attend a high-quality school. These policy changes are aligned with that central belief, and Gov. Jindal and...

Education, like many other things in America under the current Administration, is in decline. The youth of this country must be competitive with the youth of our major global rivals. That being said, they must be equipped to do that, which means the current education system must be reformed. In a country where, economically, competition has allowed the best to thrive and the worst to disappear to make America the most prosperous nation in the world, it only makes sense that the same idea would be applied in the education sector as well. The key to success of a society...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the nation's broadest private school voucher system into law Thursday, part of sweeping education reforms he championed that won approval in the Indiana Legislature. Lawmakers and supporters joined Daniels at a Statehouse ceremony where he signed the voucher bill and another proposal aimed at expanding charter schools, which are public schools free of many state regulations. The controversial voucher program would allow even middle-class families to use taxpayer money to send their children to private and religious schools. Unlike other systems that are limited to lower-income households, children with special needs or those in...

There are many reasons why America's students are falling behind those in other countries. A recent comparison showed that America ranked 25th in Math, 17th in Science, and 14th in reading. This is out of only 34 countries. Obviously, this poses a number of extreme problems. If our graduates our inferior to the greatly more populous China (and they are), then inevitably our economy will suffer. The world's economy is dependent on highly skilled jobs, and a nation that perpetually turns out c students is bound to fall behind no matter the lead it started with. The problems grow larger...

I'm looking for some opinions out there. I was talking politics with one of my employees the other day and we got onto the topic of school vouchers. He's a huge proponent of them but I'm a fairly strong Libertarian so I'm against mandatory or public schooling of any form. He is very passionate about it but isn't very good at arguing his points and recommended I looked through here for some enlightenment. I searched around a bit but didn't find a lot of arguments one way or another and I was wondering if anyone could give me a good...

AKRON, Ohio - A Summit County jury started deliberating around 11:30 Saturday morning in the case of a mother accused of stealing educations for her children from the Copley-Fairlawn school district. At 7 p.m. Saturday, a decision was reached. Kelly Williams-Bolar, 40, is charged with one count of grand theft and two counts of tampering with records. Her father, Edward Williams, 64, is also on trial for grand theft. Prosecutors said Mr. Williams took part in the deception against the district. ...Williams-Bolar, who was standing before the bench with her attorney, Kerry M. O'Brien, nearly collapsed into the arms of...

Few organizations are as consistently liberal as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), especially when it comes to matters of church and state. The ADL devotes an entire page on its Web site (www.adl.org) to church-state separation and wants the "wall" between the two to remain as high and impenetrable as possible, believing that to lower it would have a negative effect on both. Which makes it remarkable that the executive committee of ADL's Philadelphia chapter has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution endorsing vouchers that would allow children in underperforming schools in poor neighborhoods to escape to schools that would...

Dropouts Seek a Boost From Equivalency Exams Numbers Seeking a Degree Swell -- But Gains May Be Limited A growing number of Americans are taking high school equivalency tests in their hunt for any leg up in a bleak labor market. Adult-education centers across the country report backlogs and waiting lists for prep courses cramming dozens of topics and years of lessons into weeks or months. But the potential for a better job and pay that drives many to seek a General Educational Development diploma comes with a caveat: The certificate generally is of limited value unless students use it...

TWO VIDEOS: http://anchorsnews.com/2009/05/shock-parents-outraged-as-obama-cuts-scholarship-recipients-for-african-americans/President Obama said that he would allow students currently enrolled in the program to finish up through high school, but that no new students would be allowed to enter the program. Thus, a president who exercises school choice himself, has consigned thousands of low-income students to attend massively underperforming D.C. public schools.