When Ember Reichgott Junge, a Democratic state senator from Minnesota, sponsored the country’s first charter school law in 1991, she envisioned a new kind of public school. Parents, she said, were clamoring for more school choice, not unlike today. Republicans tended to be for school vouchers, which help families pay for private school, including religious […]
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If I had to sum up the current debate within the American right, I’d describe it as a contest between liberty and authority. To what extent should the political project of the conservative movement focus on the preservation of individual and institutional freedom versus expanding the power of the state to advance conservative ends? This […]
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The nation’s first religious charter school was approved in Oklahoma on Monday, handing a victory to Christian conservatives, but opening the door to a constitutional battle over whether taxpayer dollars can directly fund religious schools. The online school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, would be run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma […]
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Ms. Hochul announced the deal during an impromptu news conference in the State Capitol on Thursday evening, even as legislative leaders in the Assembly had not yet finished briefing rank-and-file lawmakers on some details of the agreement. Just hours before, Assembly Democrats had sent members home, with an expected return Sunday evening to continue discussing […]
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Why It Matters: Even a Few Charters Will Make Big Political Waves Fourteen is a small number in a system with roughly 1,800 schools, and the change would not transform New York City’s educational landscape. But charter schools remain a hot-button issue. Charter schools use public taxpayer money, but are run independently from district schools […]
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The privatizers originally came to the public education game for different reasons. Billionaire-funded think tanks champion the free market as the solution to all problems in education. By “free market,” however, all too often they mean a lightly regulated, state-chartered “market” where parents funnel taxpayer money to private schools. As a consequence, “school choice” activism […]
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An Oklahoma state education board could vote as early as Tuesday on whether to approve the nation’s first religious charter school, potentially setting up a high-profile national legal battle over whether taxpayer money can be used to directly fund religious schools. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa are seeking […]
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CHICAGO — Paul Vallas took control of Chicago Public Schools when the district was among the country’s most troubled. He went to Philadelphia to head up a teetering education system that the state had taken over. And after Hurricane Katrina washed away much of the New Orleans school district, he helped rebuild it. Mr. Vallas […]
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ALBANY, N.Y. — The high-stakes battle over New York State’s $200 billion-plus budget has been overtaken by a highly divisive issue that has become a political minefield in one of the nation’s most liberal states: public safety. Concerns about crime helped Republicans capture some key House and State Legislature races in New York last year, […]
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ALBANY, N.Y. — Residential parking permits in New York City. Higher taxes on the rich. No changes to the state’s bail laws. The series of proposals unveiled on Tuesday by the State Legislature shows just how far apart ruling Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul may be on reaching a timely deal on the state’s […]
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I didn’t begin this column with that information because Assemblywoman Septimo is right. Stories about the South Bronx invariably start with trauma, casting the community as victim. For students, the new Dream school is a place of hope and opportunity — a new chapter and good news for the neighborhood. That said, the historical arc […]
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Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to allow dozens of new charter schools to open in New York City has set the stage for a charged battle in the coming months over the future of the city’s school system. The governor’s proposal opens the possibility that the charter sector could expand its foothold in the nation’s largest […]
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