School Choice and Its Foes

By Larry Sand
07/19/2016
My brief talk Saturday at FreedomFest identified those who try to deny school choice to the children of America and the tactics they use to do it.  On a recent panel at FreedomFest, a libertarian gathering held yearly in Las Vegas, I along with National School Choice Week President Andrew Campanella, Friedman Foundation State Programs...

TAGS: ACLU, Bob Bowdon, Choice Media, Florida Education Association, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Jonathan Butcher, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, school choice, tax credit scholarship, teachers union, Valerie Strauss, voucher, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

Teacher Union Pension Flim-flam

By Larry Sand
04/12/2016
The public employee pension problem isn’t new, but a teacher union leader’s defense of it has sunk to new depths. According to the Federal Reserve, public employee pensions in aggregate nationally are in serious trouble. Currently totaling $5.8 trillion, they are underfunded by $1.7 trillion. While all these pensions are draining public resources, Don Boyd, director...

TAGS: 401K, American Federation of Teachers, Andrew Biggs, Friedman Foundation, ghost teachers, Jason Richwine, Larry Sand, pension tsunami, Randi Weingarten, release time, school choice, teachers union

Fixing Z Mess

By Larry Sand
01/26/2016
National School Choice Week aims to end our Zip-code Mandated Education System (Z MESS) and promote parent-power.  You: I’m going out to dinner tonight. Me: You are going to the restaurant down the street from where you live, right? You: No, it’s not very good. I am going to a restaurant across town; it has...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Charter schools, Florida Education Association, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Matthew Ladner, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, vouchers

Nevada Electrifies the School Choice Movement

By Larry Sand
06/09/2015
The state known for flashy neon, quickie divorces and Wayne Newton shows is now ground zero for private school choice. On its website, the Nevada State Education Association informs us that vouchers (and other private school options) are unworthy because, among other things, they offer “no real ‘choice’ for the overwhelming majority of students.” This...

TAGS: education savings account, ESA, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Robert Enlow, teachers union, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

Doctored Education

By Larry Sand
05/26/2015
Using testing as a backdrop, NEA president promotes 1950s industrial-style education. The American Enterprise Institute’s education policy maven Rick Hess has been traveling around the country promoting his new book The Cage-Busting Teacher. So last week he left his Education Week blog in the hands of National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García. Interesting choice,...

TAGS: American Enterprise Institute, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, No Child Left Behind, Rick Hess, seniority, Teach For America, teachers union, tenure, Terry Moe

Pseudo Studies and Push Polls

By Larry Sand
04/21/2015
Teachers unions turn to “facts” as they desperately cling to their monopolistic, anti-privatization narrative. Last Thursday the “non-partisan” Center for Tax and Budget Accountability rolled out a report that slammed vouchers, claiming that there is “no statistical evidence proving that students who use vouchers perform better than their public school counterparts.” The “study,” as reported...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Bob Peterson, Cato Institute, Center for Popular Democracy, Education Next, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Jason Bedrick, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, No Child Left Behind, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

Parents Need a Private School Option When Public Schools Fail

By Larry Sand
11/18/2014
As the need for vouchers increases, the politics of school privatization gets interestinger and interestinger. “Some NYC teachers: ‘Don’t send your kids here!’” screamed the headline in a New York Post article last week. The damning story goes on to explain how over 80 percent of the teachers in eight public schools – including charters...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Education Next, Fordham Institute, Friedman Foundation, Gloria Romero, Hillary Clinton, Howard Fuller, Kevin Chavous, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, teachers union, voucher, Whitney Tilson

Empowerment Scholarship Accounts: Arizona Creates Meaningful Change

By R. Claire Friend
09/04/2014
The system of government-controlled public education has failed in its mandated task to prepare America’s youth for adulthood. High school graduates are grossly undereducated and unprepared for work, career and responsible citizenship. The failure is recorded in their poor scores on international assessments of academic competence. Numerous studies have demonstrated the continuing decline in high...

TAGS: Education Savings Accounts, Friedman Foundation

The Teachers Unions’ "Brown" Problem

By Larry Sand
05/20/2014
When it comes to education and civil rights, NEA and AFT are part of the problem; the solution is choice. Last Saturday was the 60th anniversary of the Brown v Board of Education decision, which outlawed state-sponsored segregation in schools. Never missing an opportunity to grandstand, the teachers unions groused all last week about various...

TAGS: ALEC, American Federation of Teachers, Dennis Van Roekel, Friedman Foundation, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, school choice, teachers union, vouchers

For Whom the Pell Doles

By Larry Sand
01/07/2014
Why are vouchers okay for college students, but not for K-12ers? Recently, the National Education Association posted an interview with Wes Moore on its website. Two boys are named Wes Moore. Both grow up in fatherless homes in Baltimore. Both struggle in school, and run into trouble with the police. But one Wes Moore wins...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Dennis Van Roekel, Friedman Foundation, G.I. Bill, Larry Sand, National Education Association, opportunity scholarships, Paul Ryan, Pell Grant, Randi Weingarten, school choice, vouchers