SB 292: Is California Ready for School Choice?

By California Policy Center
03/10/2023
You can add Arkansas to the list of states that have enacted universal school choice legislation this year. In just three months, Republican governors in Iowa and Utah, and now newly-elected Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have signed laws creating statewide Education Savings Account (ESA) programs that empower parents to use state education dollars to...

TAGS: California public education, education reform, Education Savings Accounts, educational savings accounts, National School Choice Week, school choice

Celebrate School Choice Week by Learning about Education Options

By Cecilia Iglesias
01/26/2023
This month, we celebrated and honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man who fought for equality and a quality education for all children. More than fifty years later, too many of our district schools are failing Latino families. This is the social justice issue of our generation.  More than half of...

TAGS: California public education, Charter schools, National School Choice Week, parent union, school choice

6th Annual Parent Union School Choice Fair – Sat, Jan. 30

By California Policy Center
01/28/2021
Register for this free online Zoom event HERE. 10 am to 12 pm, Saturday, Jan. 30. Learn about quality school options that are available for K-12 students in California: Local Public Schools Charter Schools Homeschooling Private Schools Alternative Schools Learning Pods Speakers include: Mari Barke (emcee), California Policy Center Andrew Campanella, National School Choice Week...

TAGS: Charter schools, National School Choice Week

Unity or Union Fealty?

By Larry Sand
01/26/2021
 President Biden calls for national unity, but his words ring hollow. The resignation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos the day after the Capitol protests spurred National Education Association President Becky Pringle to spew, “Resigning 13 days before the end of this administration does nothing to erase the harm Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has done to this...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Becky Pringle, Betsy DeVos, California Teachers Association, Corey DeAngelis, Joe Biden, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Randi Weingarten

The No Education Association

By Larry Sand
01/19/2021
As the teachers unions buttress their roadblocks to reopening schools, parental choice is more important than ever. In September 2020, researchers Corey DeAngelis and Christos Makridis released the results of a study which found that school districts in places with strong teachers’ unions were much less likely to offer full-time, in-person instruction in the fall....

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Christos Makridis, Claudia Briggs, Corey DeAngelis, EdChoice, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Randi Weingarten

Miss Virginia Makes the Grade

By Larry Sand
01/28/2020
Hollywood gives school choice a fair, positive representation.  Inspired by a true story, Miss Virginia is the saga of Virginia Walden Ford, the force behind the Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a voucher program that lets low-income parents use public funding to send their children to private schools. Set in 2003, the film portrays Virginia,...

TAGS: D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Greg Forster, Larry Sand, National School Choice Week, Nick Gillespie, vouchers

Power to the parents!

By Larry Sand
01/21/2020
The abusive education monopoly must go. Having retired as a teacher over ten years ago, I often look back on some of the great educators that I worked with during my 28-year career, and how lucky their students were to have them. I also think about the stinkers I encountered, and how sad it is...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Howard Zinn, Indoctrination, Larry Sand, NAEP, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, PISA, teachers union, tenure

Too many kids are failing in California, and so is the education establishment

By Larry Sand
01/24/2018
High school graduation rates have traditionally been a barometer of student success, as well as a measure of the quality of school systems. The members of California’s education establishment have been high-fiving each other over the state’s on-time high school graduation rate reaching 83.2 percent in 2016. But a peak behind the curtain reveals some...

TAGS: California High School Exit Examination, dropouts, graduation rate, Larry Sand, National School Choice Week, Patrick Wolf, vouchers

Postpartum choice

By Larry Sand
01/23/2018
As we celebrate National School Choice Week, some data, news and questions about the private option. Though the usual suspects are resolute as ever, school choice is advancing. There are now 469,000 students enrolled in 63 different private school choice programs in 29 states and Washington, D.C. Between 2013 and 2015, enrollment at private schools...

TAGS: Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, American Federation of Teachers, Chicago Teachers Union, education savings account, ESA, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, Pell Grants, Service Employees International Union, tax credit scholarship, teachers union

Fake News, School Choice and the Teachers Unions

By Larry Sand
01/25/2017
When it comes to promoting their pernicious agenda, the teachers unions have the market cornered on fake news. Those railing against “fake news” would have you think that it is a new occurrence, something started a couple of years ago by assorted agenda-driven websites. Turns out, ironically, saying that fake news is a new phenomenon...

TAGS: Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, Indoctrination, Lance Izumi, Larry Sand, National Education Association, National School Choice Week, teachers union, vouchers