Education Reform Briefs

From the Institute for Justice, 9/2/00

IJ Corrects Washington Post Errors on School Choice Effectiveness

In a letter to the Washington Post correcting errors in an article on improvement scores among D.C. voucher students, Clinton Bolick, Litigation Director for the Institute for Justice wrote:

"First, it reports that no studies prove voucher supporters' assertions that school choice improves public schools.... the threat of vouchers [in Florida] induced intense efforts by public schools to improve. Sure enough, after one year, all 58 Florida schools with failing grades had lifted their performance and removed themselves from the failing list.

"Milwaukee's ten-year-old school choice program also has prodded public school reform and improvement, as attested by the public schools superintendent, school board president, mayor, and even the voucher-skeptical Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

"Second, the article reports that previous studies of school choice had compared voucher recipients with public school students, rather than with a control group of students who had unsuccessfully applied for vouchers under random selection and remained in public schools. Not true. The only apples-to-oranges comparison was the official Milwaukee evaluation by Dr. John Witte [the researcher most often cited by voucher opponents], who found no academic gains. By contrast, control group studies were conducted in Cleveland and Milwaukee by numerous scholars, and they reported academic gains for voucher students."

From the School Reform News/Heartland Institute, September 2000

NEA Bars Editor from 2000 General Conference

Despite two appeals, the Nation Education Association refused to issue Press Credentials to School Reform News Managing Editor George Clowes so he could report on the teacher union's annual Representative Assembly in Chicago on July 3-6.

According to NEA spokesperson Kathleen Lyons, Clowes is "not eligible for press credentials under our rules"; School Reform News "does not meet our criteria"; and "we are forced to limit the numbers we are able to issue" because "the demand for press credentials increases each year."

"We are limiting credentials to working journalists who are covering the event for legitimate news organizations," wrote Lyons.

School Reform News contributing editor Mike Antonucci reports only two newspapers of any sort were represented on the opening day of the Assembly.

From the NSBA/School Board News, 9/12/00

Rural Schools Neglected

The current national debate on education policy is not paying enough attention to the needs of rural K-12 public schools, charges a report released Aug. 29 by the non-profit Rural School and Community Trust.

According to the report, all states need to improve rural education but the problem is particularly "urgent" for these 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The report ranked the states on such factors as teacher pay, state spending, and parents' income and education level.

The report says one-fourth of U.S. schoolchildren go to schools in rural areas or small towns of fewer than 25,000 people. Fourteen percent go to schools in places with fewer than 2,500.

From Kids First! Yes! (Michigan), 9/12/00

Public Schools Break State Law by Trying to Influence Political Campaign

Kids First! Yes! filed a complaint against officials at Eaton County's Grand Ledge Public Schools in an effort to prevent their apparent continued use of education tax dollars to influence the November ballot election. The complaint implicates officials in the district who not only violated Michigan law which explicitly prohibits the expenditure of "public monies to influence political campaigns" (MCL 169.211(b)(c)), but also ignored explicit warnings from the Michigan Secretary of State that such expenditures are illegal.

Grand Ledge administrators used a taxpayer-funded website to display a biased PowerPoint presentation that the Secretary of State called a "one-sided attack on [Proposal 1]" which "engages in speculation, misrepresentation, and cannot by any possible measure, be considered a balanced presentation of the facts." On July 24, 2000, the Secretary of State specifically warned Grand Ledge administrators that public bodies (including schools) cannot legally advocate for or against a ballot initiative, but they continue to flagrantly violate Michigan law and illegally expend education tax dollars.

From the Education Intelligence Agency, 9/5/00

NRA Returns Fire on NEA

The National Rifle Association has noted NEA's stepped-up campaign for gun control and is preparing an aggressive defense. The September 2000 issue of American Rifleman recounts the complaints filed by the Landmark Legal Foundation with the IRS and FEC about the union's political spending and accuses NEA of "playing fast and loose with laws that govern election campaign spending and reporting." The magazine printed the office address, phone number and e-mail address of NEA President Bob Chase for readers "to express your views on NEA's efforts to funnel dues paid by teachers into schemes to restrict gun owner's rights."

From the National Association of State Boards of Education, 9/4/00

Detroit Looks to Edison to Run Low-Performing Schools

A proposal is being considered in the Detroit Public School system to hire Edison Schools to run as many as 40-45 low-performing schools. The plan calls for Edison to manage as many as a fifth of the district's schools in exchange for the per-pupil state funding that would have gone to the district. Before agreeing to the proposal, however, the Chief Executive Officer of the Detroit Public Schools, Kenneth Burnley, said that several criteria must be met: the schools cannot be charters; they would have to operate within the Detroit system; that is, they would have to meet the test score and achievement goals set by the district; and the school district could not lose money on the contract.