About School Choice from The Center for Education Reform

About School Choice

Nine Lies About School Choice Press Release and School Choice Full Report

School Choice in the District of Columbia

School Choice in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin

HOT TOPIC: DC CHOICE:
· CER PRESIDENT JEANNE ALLEN ON THE DIANE REHM SHOW: Listen here to the panel discussion in the US Congress's progress toward a federally funded voucher program for DC students. (Link to Real Audio File.)
· SENATORS CONSIDERING COMPROMISE ON VOUCHERS, but, as CER President Jeanne Allen told the Washington Post, partisan compromise on school choice can be a slippery slope: "The very freedom private schools have is what makes them more successful than their counterparts here in the District."
· VOTE NOTE: In a long-overdue endorsement of school choice and educational opportunity for the parents and children of our nation's capital, the full U.S. House of Representatives voted (a second time) to bring school choice to the district, and approved appropriations to fund the plan. The vote moves next to the Senate where a similar endorsement is expected.
· DC REFORM FAST FACTS: The effort to expand educational opportunities for children in The District of Columbia is fast moving through the Congress. What does this child-centered plan do, and how would it work? CER answers all...

SURVEY SAYS: A poll by Annenberg Public Policy Center found that Hispanics support school vouchers in large numbers, in some instances as as high as 71 percent. See the details at: http://www.appcpenn.org/

UNDER PRESSURE: A new study by the Manhattan Institute of Florida's A+ Program, which offers school choice to students in chronically failing schools, shows that the closer a school comes to having to offer vouchers, the greater its academic improvements.

STUDY HALL: Longtime evaluators of school choice at Harvard reassert their findings of improved achievement gains for African American students in a New York school choice program, despite a Princeton assault on their methods and findings. See June 10 and June 17 CER Newswires for more.

TAKING IT TO THE TOP: The Center for Education Reform has joined an amicus brief requesting that the High Court consider a Washington State case that challenges the constitutionality of the so-called "Blaine Amendments," which for over a century have impeded school choice across the country. UPDATE: The Supreme Court has decided to rule on the case. Details in CER Newswire May 20, 2003.

COLORADO'S CHOICE: A new law allows poor students in 11 districts to take up to 85 percent of their education funds to choose a better school. An anti-choice coalition has since filed suit against the law. Get all the details on our Colorado School Choice page.

STUDENTS NEED ALTERNATIVES: "By diversifying how we deliver education and providing the most options, we can succeed with any culture, and our nation will be richer for it.... To have choice in education is to have power. American parents need that power to ensure that education serves their children successfully." By Jeanne Allen, USA Today Online, January 31, 2003

ONE YEAR LATER: "A year ago landmark education legislation was signed making it possible for students in chronically failing schools to attend schools that work…. For the first time in the history of federal education support, the issues of quality and accountability overcame Washington's previous fixation on resources only." Link here to the full statement by CER President Jeanne Allen on the one-year anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act.

HISTORIC VICTORY FOR SCHOOL CHOICE AND CHILDREN: There is no longer any Constitutional cloud over whether or not policymakers can establish educational programs that allow parents to choose the school that best fits their child's needs, be it public or private. The U. S. Supreme Court has ruled that the state of Ohio was within its constitutional power to enact a program to help Cleveland's children gain access to schools that parents believe will serve them better than the schools that for more than twenty-five years have failed by every measure. Get all the details and weblinks...

CHOICE WORDS on EDUCATION VOUCHERS

Whether it be innocent misunderstanding or deliberate misinformation, school choice critics often trot out any one of NINE LIES ABOUT SCHOOL CHOICE, but THE FACT IS: School Choice Improves Education for Students and Schools · School Choice is Popular among Teachers, Parents and the Public · School Choice Promotes Integration and Tolerance · School Choice Does Not "Skim" The Top Students · School Choice Does Not Drain Money From the School System. · The TRUTH is that the numbers, the studies, the students all show: school choice works.

TIMELINE:
SCHOOL CHOICE

SEPTEMBER 2003

DC school choice plan passed in U.S. House of Representatives.

MAY 2003

President Bush announces choice funds for DC, nation.

MAY 2003

District of Columbia Mayor and education leaders champion federal choice plan.
US Supreme Court to rule on Blaine .
Anti-choice coalition files suit against Colorado law.

APRIL 2003

Colorado enacts new school choice law for poor students in 11 districts.
CER signs on to Amicus Brief urging US Supreme Court to consider case challenging Blaine Amendments.

AUGUST 2002

Florida circuit court judge rules state's school choice program violates Florida constitution.

JUNE 2002

U.S. Supreme Court rules that Cleveland choice program is constitutional.

FEBRUARY 2002

U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the constitutionality of Cleveland Scholarship program.

NOVEMBER 2001

CER files second amicus brief with U.S. Supreme Court urging support for school choice.

MARCH 2001

Cleveland choice program allowed to continue until U.S. Supreme Court resolves the case

FEBRUARY 2001

Florida legislation would give kids in overcrowded schools choice.
Current Florida choice program shows positive ripple effect.

OCTOBER 2000

Florida Appeals Court upholds School Choice Program.

For more details on the latest development in school choice check out:

State Focus:

CER's comprehensive School Choice Research Library

And don't miss breaking news regularly reported in our Reform Updates and Monthly Letter.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS ON SCHOOL CHOICE

INTRODUCTION TO SCHOOL CHOICE

Nine Lies About School Choice: Answering the Critics: Your answers to the nine most common and untruthful accusations about school choice. (Click here for no-frames version.)

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About School Choice: Topics include: Full School Choice Programs · Private Scholarship Programs · Tuition Tax Credits and Deductions

School Choice Today: Growing Support · Why It's Good · The Where and What · What It Means

State-by-State School Choice Overview

Key Legislative Provisions: Point-by-point breakdown and comparison of the Florida, Cleveland and Milwaukee school choice programs.

School Choice Organizations

School Choice Research Library

NEWS AND ANALYSIS:

2003 PDK/GALLUP POLL: Another Year, Another Skewed Phi Delta Kappa Poll, August 20, 2003
$10 MILLION FOR DC SCHOOL CHOICE APPROVED BY HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE; Recent NAEP Scores Find District Public School Children Continue To Rank At Bottom, July 16, 2003
PRESIDENT BUSH ADVOCATES FOR SCHOOL CHOICES IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL: "If parents don't have options besides public schools, there is no accountability," July 1, 2003
SUPREME COURT URGED TO CONSIDER CASE FORTIFYING FAMILIES' RIGHTS TO EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS; CER Joins in Filing Friend of the Court Brief to High Court, April 18, 2003
COLORADO'S CHOICE: A new law allows poor students in 11 districts to take up to 85 percent of their education funds to choose a better school, March 28, 2003
Statement by Jeanne Allen, President of the Center for Education Reform, on the One-Year Anniversary of The No Child Left Behind Act, January 7, 2003
EDUCATION REFORM 2002 ELECTION RESULTS, November 2002
CER RELEASES 2002 VOTER'S GUIDE ON EDUCATION REFORM ISSUES, October 22, 2002
POLL FINDS 63% OF AMERICANS FAVOR SCHOOL CHOICE; Other surveys find growing support, August 20, 2002
Statement By Center For Education Reform President Jeanne Allen On Supreme Court Ruling Supporting School Choice For Cleveland Children, June 27, 2002

PUBLICATIONS and BRIEFS

Friend of the Court Brief filed by the Institute for Justice and signed by CER and others requests the U.S. Supreme Court to accept for consideration a Washington State case that challenges the constitutionality of the so-called "Blaine Amendments."

Legal Summary of U.S. Supreme Court decision in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 436 U.S. --- (June, 2002) in which Supreme Court ruled that the Cleveland School Choice Program is constitutional. Also link to full text of U.S. Supreme Court Decision (.pdf format).

Second amicus brief by CER signed by 27 other individual organizations and public policy groups urges the Court to support school choice
An Amicus Brief Filed by CER urged the U.S. Supreme Court to accept the Cleveland School Choice case for consideration. Click here for press release or go to the brief in PDF. June, 2001
CER Amicus Brief Filed in Support of Appellants and the Florida School Choice Opportunity Scholarship Program, May 27, 2000
COMPETING TO WIN: How Florida's A+ Plan Has Triggered Public School Reform, April 2000
Amicus Brief Filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, In Support of Appellants and the Ohio Pilot Scholarship Program, April 10, 2000
Private Scholarship Programs: A Matter of Priorities
Includes statistical profile and contact information for each program, updated August 1999. Also: Ten Tips on Starting Up a Private Scholarship Program
Amicus Brief Filed in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin In Support of Milwaukee School Choice Program, December 17, 1997, Case No. 97-0270
Amicus Brief Filed in the Supreme Court of Ohio In Support of Hope for Cleveland's Children, December 8, 1997, Case No. 97-1117
CER's National Survey of Americans’ Attitudes Toward Education and School Reform Findings include strong and growing support for school choice: 82% of adults support offering parents a choice in where their children attend school; 66% favor a legislative choice policy and 72% support allowing poor parents to use tax dollars to send their children to the school of their choice.
Where Connoisseurs Send Their Children to School, by Denis Doyle
This eye-opening report finds that urban public school teachers are more than twice as likely to send their children to private schools as other Americans.

ADDITIONAL RECENT RESEARCH

THE TRUTH ABOUT VOUCHERS: New Information on School Choice, Presented by Howard L. Fuller, Institute for the Transformation of Learning, Education Writers Association National Convention, April 2000

SCHOOL CHOICE FACTS, April 2000, Compiled by the Institute for Justice.
“Exploring Parents’ Educational Choices,” April 2000, Annaliese Dickman, Joshua Beardsley, Emily Van Dunk, Dayna Velasco (Public Policy Forum)
The Continuing Struggle of African Americans for the Power to Make Real Educational Choices, By Dr. Howard Fuller, Institute for the Transformation of Learning, March 2000

“An Evaluation: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, February 2000”, Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau.
“School Choice in Dayton, Ohio.: An Evaluation After One Year,” February 2000, Peterson, William Howell (Stanford University), Patrick Wolf (Georgetown University).
“School Choice in Washington, D.C.: An Evaluation After One Year,” February 2000, Peterson, William Howell (Stanford University), Patrick Wolf (Georgetown University).

For a complete listings, visit CER's School Choice Research Library

For more of the latest on school choice and other education reform issues, visit CER's News Alerts, Editorial and Analysis, Reform Hotline and Monthly Letter libraries. Also visit The Education Forum, hosted by CER, to access essays, analysis and testimony by education experts and stakeholders around the country, on school choice and other critical education topics. And check out CER's Education Reform Calendar of Events to find out about education reform events in your area, as well as CER's Job Watch for information on positions available in education and education reform.