Thread: 2012 Candidates Want States To Control Education

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/20 ... education/


Sep 29, 2011 6:00am



Fighting the Feds: 2012 Candidates Want States to Control Education.



It’s back-to-school time, as President Obama reminded the nation in his annual back-to-school speech today. And during election season, no school year begins without stirring up education reform debates.

But this election is all about the economy and will likely revolve around what role the federal government should play in stimulating job growth, not how much it should spend on merit pay or standardized testing.

So when it comes to education policy debates, whether it’s the Democratic incumbent or the array of Republican challengers, all eyes – and talking points – are on two things: the federal government’s role and the overall cost.

“The meta-narrative [for Republican presidential candidates] is obviously pushing back on health care reform and on the stimulus,â€

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Report ... ew-Heights



School Choice in America 2011: Educational Opportunity Reaches New Heights
By Lindsey Burke and Rachel Sheffield
August 17, 2011

MAP ON LINK ABOVE OF 41 U.S. States who have enacted voucher legislation in 2011.

Abstract: 2011 has been a milestone year for school choice, setting the bar high for state legislatures across the country to increase families’ educational options. What began with a crucial re-authorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program continued with 12 states creating or expanding school choice options. The movement toward educational freedom in 2011 was unprecedented; state after state moved away from the government’s public education monopoly and toward policies that put power in the hands of parents, and educational opportunity in the grasp of children.

Today, families in 18 states and the District of Columbia benefit from private school choice options. More than 200,000 children are benefiting from vouchers, tuition tax credit programs, and education savings accounts to pay for tuition at a private school of their parents’ choice. Millions more benefit from virtual education options, charter schools, public school choice, and homeschooling. But, although these options are proliferating, millions of children across the country are still trapped in government schools that fail to meet their needs, fail to provide them with a quality education, and in some cases, even fail to provide for their safety.

Congress and state and local leaders must continue the work of ensuring that every child has access to a safe and effective school.

School Choice in America

As of August 2011, 18 states and Washington, D.C., have policies that support private school choice:
â–*Nine states—Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island—offer education tax credits to encourage businesses and individuals to make donations to organizations that provide tuition scholarships to students to attend private school.
â–*Nine states and the District of Columbia have voucher programs: Colorado (Douglas County), Florida (special needs), Georgia (special needs), Indiana, Louisiana (New Orleans and special needs), Ohio (Cleveland, Ed Choice, special needs, and Autism scholarships), Oklahoma (special needs), Utah (special needs), Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Racine County), and Washington, D.C.
â–*Five states—Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, and Minnesota—offer tax deductions to reduce their state income-tax liabilities by taking deductions on education-related expenses, including private-school tuition.

A majority of states offer some form of public school choice:
â–*Forty-six states have policies that permit public-school choice.[1]
â–*Forty states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws that allow the creation of charter schools—public schools that are free from many of the regulations imposed on traditional public schools, but are held accountable to the same achievement measures as their traditional counterparts. This allows charter schools to be more flexible and innovative than traditional public schools.[2]

Many more families pursue options outside the traditional school public model:
â–*Homeschooling is legal in every state.[3]
â–*More than 1.5 million students participate in online classes.[4]



School Choice: 2011 Victories

So far this year—“The Year of School Choiceâ€