I am in the eleventh grade at the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School – Parkside Campus and interning at CER for three weeks as a part of my fellowship to obtain job experience and to prepare me for life after high school.

While reviewing different articles, statistics, and facts at my internship, I wondered what influences help parents decide what school is right for their child? I came up with two factors parents consider to see if it is a good school for their child. Does an extra-curricular activity influence their decision? Or is the school widely known in the area or recognized worldwide?

In reviewing articles, the idea of extra-curricular activities made me think if this is why parents choose a certain school for their child. Are parents sending their children to schools because they will receive scholarships in sports? Is this because they are focused on creating the next big sports icon instead of the next person to win the Nobel peace prize? Or is this school mentioned in mainstream media? Is it well-talked about or well-known in their community? Are the good or bad stories in the media influencing a parent’s decision?

I know some people want to know why I chose a charter school and I want to say it is not because of sports, or being recognized nationally. My family and I chose this school because of the mission and vision that they wanted to achieve. In the process of researching schools, we found that Cesar Chavez had a 100 percent college acceptance rate, a 90.2 percent graduation rate, and was going to give me the opportunity to work with public policy issues, to gain job experience through my Fellowship, and take a year long thesis class to prep me for writing essays in college. This made my decision very easy. If I asked my mother today why Cesar Chavez was her choice for me she would say, “It was a good school for education”.

The demographics of the school also made my choice an easy decision. I wanted to attend a school where I would be exposed to different races. In my research I found that 93.3 percent of students were African Americans, 6.4 percent were Hispanics, and 0.3 percent were Caucasian. Chavez was created to educate, empower, and prepare scholars to both succeed in college and serve as informed advocates for public policy issues. Cesar Chavez is known for changing students’ community, family, and life so my advice to you is to choose the school that wants to make a difference.

My experience being in a charter school rather than a public school is very different. In public school, I felt that I wasn’t learning what I should have been and was not doing what I was capable of because in public schools their main concern was not to make sure I went to college or guarantee me a successful career. In a public school what I was guaranteed was an easy pass out of school and a job, not a career but a job. Since enrolling in a charter school I can actually see the difference. Cesar Chavez Charter School will make sure that I am accepted into the college of my choice, that I will graduate with high SAT scores, that I will have a successful career, and that I can make a difference if I focus on what is important.

Sincerely, Briana McManus

She had a huge smile, coming up to me right after I spoke to the NC House Education Committee —the largest, it would seem, in the free world with 53 members (!)– about the need for opportunity scholarships to provide poor children access to quality schools.

“Um, I’ll get you one,” I answered. Then I noticed her sticker on her lapel, which was a circle, with the word vouchers in the middle, and a SLASH through the word.

“Why do you want my card, you clearly don’t agree with me,” I responded.

The inquirer responded – “I just want to know who is paying you; where you get your money.”

Wow. So belief is all about who pays you? I was stunned.

Her name was Elizabeth Haddix, and it turns out Elizabeth works for the UNC School of Law Office of Civil Rights.

During the whole hearing, this man stood behind her, near the door, and cued her with motions and non-verbal hand signals as people were talking. (See minute 44:16 in the video of the hearing below.) He actually looked like the union boss in “Won’t Back Down.” But upon further research, it turns out, he’s the manager of said Office of Civil Rights, and, it would seem, her coach.

It was a quick hearing, and only an hour was allocated for pro- and con-, and the basic introdution of the bill by members, but clearly Elizabeth waited with anticipation to deliver a zinger of remarks… which never came because they had to stop the hearing due to time. Thankfully, the voucher hearing continued in the NC House Ed Committee today, and 27 lawmakers had enough sense & strength to see past typical status quo arguments and pass opportunity scholarship legislation.

One of the most frustrating things I have to contend with in my job is the insinuation that some of us wake up every day and simply do someone else’s bidding. That I would have funders that might dictate who I am or what I believe is, of course, insulting. But more insulting is the notion that a smart, Duke and UNC Grad like Elizabeth – quite possibly subsidized by the state – would think more about who “pays me” than what I believe… as her manager looks on.

What’s more is that this hearing was about a bill that is largely going to benefit black and brown children, from poor neighborhoods, who can’t even spell UNC or LAW because the schools are so bad. And yet, little white Elizabeth and her Manager help run an organization with TAX PAYER DOLLARS that claims to “extend America’s promise of justice, prosperity and opportunity by elevating families and communities above the boundaries of race, class and place. Its mission is to use community-based impact advocacy and legal education and scholarship to advance strategies that secure social, economic and environmental justice for low wealth, minority families and neighborhoods.”

Huh? You are working to elevate families above the boundaries of place, but you want children consigned to failing schools they are required to attend by virtue of their zip code and poverty? Please.

Elizabeth didn’t get to talk but I can surmise what she would have said. I’ve met thousands of Elizabeth’s before – privileged people who so desperately want to help others that they lose sight of the fact that the institutions created to help and the laws written to protect us all often fail to deliver on promises.

Elizabeth probably would have said, however, to give her credit:

- Public schools are the very foundation of American society, and scholarships undermine that foundation
- Public schools are egalitarian and must take everyone, while private schools can select – and discriminate
- No one cares more about kids than educators, and public educators work hard every day to ensure they teach the kids.

Then she would have attempted to say something about civil rights, forgetting that phrases rarely deliver social justice. After all, Brown v Board was the law of the land more than a decade before anyone had real justice.

I wonder if she’d ever say that she had a choice to go to school, if not during K-12 than most certainly at Duke and UNC Law!

What makes a person who benefitted from choice repel from it? Is it their love of the status quo? Their fear of the potential of real parent power? What is it that actually robs otherwise smart people of their ability to see behind their own little paradigm and book learning? I will die trying to know, but I will never stop.

And then there’s that smile. I think more than the fact that I can predict what she’d say by her allegiance to failing public schools in NC, is the fact that when she first asked me for my card, Elizabeth had an enormous and apparently quite phony smile on her face as if getting my card was the key to her salvation. Thankfully I asked her why she’d wanted it, and she told me. “I just want to know who’s paying you,” she said. Wow. That’s your big concern?

Disagree if you want, represent your own narrow interests, but do me a favor Elizabeth – if you really believe what you believe, be honest about it and don’t fake the smile next time. Be the person you really are and demonstrate what you believe. And celebrate the fact that you had a choice in getting there.

by Jeanne Allen

In a packed room, the House Education Committee heard Tuesday from supporters and opponents of a plan to give taxpayer-funded scholarships for low income students that attend private schools.

The crowd precluded any committee debate or a vote on the bill, as legislators used the limited time to hear from the public – those in favor and against the Opportunity Scholarship Act

The committee did roll out a new version of the bill and an accompanying summary that explains the bill.

“The bill before you, in reality, will not help the students it is intended to help,” Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson told the committee. She focused her comments on the fact that private schools do not have to report student test results and performance in the same way public schools do.

“If a grading scale of A-through-F is good for public schools, then it should be good for private schools,” she said. How else, she asked, would parents know if the private school they are choosing actually offers a better education than their current public school.

Proponents of the bill said that voucher programs in other states have helped improve student test scores.

“I’m struck by the amount of opposition to something some people have never seen working in progress,” said Jeanne Allen is the Founder and President of The Center for Education Reform.

The committee is expected to debate and vote on the bill next week.

Say this much about the Center for Education Reform: It’s not a fan of the quality of public education in Alabama.

The only proof you need is this passage from a recent CER report: “The only other thing this state has going for it is that its teacher quality index isn’t a complete failure. Parents also have access to a decent school report card to better understand their schools, but school board elections are held in October, a busy time for parents to get engaged.”

Ouch.

A recent CER effort ranked all 50 states in what it calls the “Parent Power Index.” Alabama ranked 46th — poorly, in other words, which is so customary in national reviews of states’ public education systems. At the heart of the poor ranking was the state’s lack of charter schools, which, as most Alabamians know, has been a hot legislative topic in Montgomery for some time.

From here, it’s interesting to view the two sides of the broader issue: In Alabama, proponents of our public education — such as the Alabama Education Association, local and state school boards, the governor’s office and the state Legislature — constantly talk of how proud they are of our schools and how convinced they are of their quality.

Yet, out-of-state agencies who study such things consistently point to real and obvious deficiencies. Rarely do the two sides agree.

Arizona ranked sixth on The Center for Education Reform’s Parent Power Index, which means parents have access to quality education options and are provided with good information to make smart decisions about their children’s education.

The states were ranked on prevalence of charter schools, school choice, teacher quality, transparency and access to data, online learning, pro-reform governors and parent trigger laws, where parents have an opportunity to turn around failing schools.

The rankings pointed to Arizona’s scholarship program for students with disabilities and a tax credit that has helped more than 30,000 students opt into new schools. In addition, Arizona’s charter school law has provided more than 200,000 children with choices about their schooling.

Click here to see the top 10 states in The Center for Education Reform’s Parent Power Index.

Here are more specifics on Arizona from the index:

72%: Arizona’s graduation rate
1539: Average SAT test score
19.7: Average ACT score
33%: 4th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math score
31%: 8th grade NAEP math score
26%: 4th grade NAEP reading score
$8,006: Per pupil funding
1,077,831: Public school enrollment

A state Senate committee on Thursday approved a high-profile school voucher plan, sending it to the full chamber for what could be a fierce floor fight.

Senate Bill 23 by state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would offer tax credits to businesses that provide scholarship funding for low-income students who want to transfer from low-performing public schools to private or religious schools.

The bill would allow businesses to write off 100 percent of their state business margins taxes, but it caps the total value of all donations at $100 million.

Patrick, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, says the plan could help as many as 10,000 students transfer.

His committee referred the bill to the Senate, but not before an important modification was approved: To qualify for scholarships, children have to be at risk of dropping out of school and come from low-income families. The measure originally allowed at-risk or low-income students to seek scholarships.

The amendment changing or to and was made by state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville.

“I understand the author’s intent with this bill,” Lucio said. “This could give those students who most need educational choice a voucher.”

Patrick accepted the change, saying his intent was “to help students who are poor and in failing schools.”

Lucio responded, “I am for helping poor kids, including keeping them in our public schools.”

To get scholarships, students must come from households with incomes less than 200 percent of that needed to qualify for the free and reduced-price lunch program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has guidelines for who qualifies based on family size.

A family of three can qualify to get reduced-price or free lunches at school if their yearly income doesn’t exceed $36,000. Patrick’s proposal would allow families to seek assistance if they have income up to double that level.

Opponents say the plan will drain yet more funding from public schools still reeling from the $5.4 billion in cuts to public education that the Legislature approved in 2011. But Patrick said money for his plan would come from other portions of the budget — not out of funding already earmarked for public schools.

Although Patrick’s fellow Republicans control both chambers of the Legislature, his bill faces seemingly long odds. It has yet to be considered by the state House, which while passing its version of the state budget last week, the lower chamber overwhelmingly approved an amendment to keep public funding in public schools

Public tax dollars may be used to fund private school tuition under Indiana’s voucher program, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled today.

“We hold that the Indiana school voucher program, the choice scholarship program, is within the legislature’s power under Article 8, Section 1, and that the enacted program does not violate either Section 4 or Section 6 of Article 1 of the Indiana Constitution,” the justices wrote in the 5-0 decision.

The ruling, on a teachers union-supported lawsuit from 2011, ends the legal challenge to the program at the state level. The case could be made again in federal court. But in 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar program in Ohio, making any further appeal a long shot.

The Indiana case began shortly after the program was created in 2011 when a group of teachers, school officials and parents who oppose vouchers sued the state, arguing the program was unconstitutional.

Vouchers allow low income families to redirect tax dollars from their local public school district to pay tuition when their children transfer to private schools.

In its second year, the program is the fastest-growing in history, jumping to 9,324 students receiving vouchers this school year from 3,919 last year. The program is redirecting more than $38 million in state aid from public schools to private schools, although officials say a provision that guarantees at least 10 percent of a school district’s per pupil amount be returned to the state resulted in a savings of $4.2 million that was redistributed among all public schools last year.

Opponents have argued that vouchers unfairly take away funds that public schools need to benefit primarily religious institutions, especially Catholic and Christian schools. The vast majority of schools accepting vouchers are religiously-affiliated. The lawsuit also claimed the program violated the state’s duty to provide a free and “uniform” public school system.

In 2012 a Marion County judge ruled the program was constitutional, prompting an appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court.

Indiana’s big voucher numbers are due in large part to the design of the program, which is less limited than those in other states. For example, Ohio also has a statewide program, but it restricts vouchers to communities with failing schools. Wisconsin, which has had vouchers for 20 years, limits them just to the city of Milwaukee. Indiana’s program is open to any student meeting the income guidelines — anywhere in the state.

Former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett hailed the program’s popularity as demonstrating kids need avenues to attend the schools that best serve their needs. But Glenda Ritz, who defeated Bennett in November, opposes vouchers and originally was a plaintiff in the case. She removed herself from the lawsuit while she was running for office.

Ritz’s opposition to the voucher program has caused her political headaches at the statehouse. Earlier this year she had to fend off an effort by House Republicans to move administration of the voucher program from her office to Gov. Mike Pence’s supervision.

Indianapolis Public Schools have the most students within its boundaries using vouchers of any district in the state at 1,262, up from 644 last year. The number of students who have actually transferred from IPS is 947, up from 365 last year. The rest already were attending private schools using a state program that also made them eligible for vouchers.

But Republicans are aiming to expand vouchers further.

House Bill 1003, which passed the House and is being debated in the Senate, eliminates a requirement that students seeking vouchers to first attend a public school for at least two semesters for incoming kindergarteners. Any kindergartners who meet the income limits would be eligible. Other newly eligible for vouchers under the bill include students with disabilities, siblings of children receiving vouchers and children in foster care.

Eligibility for vouchers depends on family income and size. A family of four that earns less than $42,000 annually can receive up to 90 percent of the state aid for a child’s public school education. Families of four making $42,000 to $62,000 can receive 50 percent of the state aid amount.

The voucher law capped the number of students allowed in the program at 7,500 last year and 15,000 this year. But there is no cap going forward unless the legislature decided to add one. There has been no discussion of a cap during this legislative session.

THE MAINE EVENT. Earlier this year, Governor Paul LePage expressed his outrage that Maine’s “school systems are failing.” And when the newly-created Charter School Commission rejected four out of five charter applications he called on “…those people, if they’re afraid to do the job, if they can’t put students first, then they ought to resign.” Vowing to go back to square one on reform efforts, the Governor jumping back in the ring to convene a conference this Friday, March 22. The conference will feature sessions on best practices from across the country like Florida’s school performance grading system, school choice, and stretching education dollars. CER President Jeanne Allen, will lead a panel discussion on “Multiple Pathways to Success.”

BATTLE IN THE BAYOU. Today, parents, students, educators and reformers rallied before the Louisiana Supreme Court to defend the Louisiana Scholarship Program. Over 4,500 students across the state benefit from the program which provides scholarships to qualifying students enrolled in underperforming and failing schools, to attend schools of their choice. Former DC Councilman, attorney, advocate, and CER board member Kevin P. Chavous addressed the masses today and said, “I know justice, and it is absolutely criminal to snatch away opportunity from children.” The debate is heating up and attorneys brought their arguments for a showdown today with oral ammunition before the state’s Supreme Court. A ruling on the appeal is not expected for several weeks.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY. As Newswire reported last week, a charter school proposal must still be negotiated in joint House-Senate conference committees. As it stands now, “Mississippi has yet to open the book on what charter schools can really do for the whole of education across the state. Not only is this not significant in any way, but it’s evidence that even the relatively new leadership in power is inept at withstanding the political power of the education establishment,” said CER President Jeanne Allen.

DEFENDING CHOICE. When recently blasting the current state of public education in New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie stated, “Nothing else in our society works without competition, and public education won’t work for everybody unless it does, too.” Reformers couldn’t agree more. This is the opportunity for Christie to put his money where his mouth is in backing meaningful voucher programs and serious reform of the states charter school law with multiple authorizers as it centerpiece.

IN GOOD COMPANY. Congrats to the legislators, advocates and CER’s own, Jeanne Allen, who were honored last week at Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) Symposium.

BLENDED LEARNING IN ACTION. Check out how Oakland, CA’s Aspire ERES Academy is pushing the boundaries on innovation in teaching through blended learning.

RACISM & GREED? Should our public services be used for people who really need them? Aren’t prisons a place for criminals who defiantly break the law? And how exactly does intentionally breaking the law help children understand the importance of schooling? These and more questions are on our minds as we ponder the actions by President of the AFT union Randi Weingarten this past Thursday, who, upon her arrival in Philadelphia to protest the closing of 23 FAILING (yes that was caps intentionally) schools got herself arrested. Make no mistake — this was planned. Anyone with a big time PR shop like the AFT has doesn’t do these things without much consideration. You could just see her — boarding the plane, arriving in Philly, taking her car to the site, getting poised to protest and WHAM, standing in front of the door to the School Reform Commission meeting just to be carried away to the Klink, the pen – prison! The cheering and hizzahs were incredible, thanks to the adult members of the union who joined her. “This is about Racism and Greed” one sign said. Actually — he’s half right. It’s about the not so subtle racism that pervades a system that makes someone want to keep a bad school open and keep poor kids of color from getting a good education and it’s about the greed of the unions who just can’t let it go.

BABIES TO THE CORE. Those cute little kindergartens we all like to fawn over are apparently getting the shaft in schools that have already started implementing the Common Core standards for young children. It’s not intentional, as Harlem Village Academies Founder & Author (and CER 2006 Honoree) Deborah Kenny writes in a fabulous op-ed. It’s that teaching requires more than a handbook or list of instructions from even the most respected and well-funded efforts to ensure better learning happens in the classroom. The law of unintended consequences that many have been predicting may occur from a national effort to ensure common learning state by state seems to be cropping up all over the place. Hold your fire. Just saying. One could argue that the perverse reaction to NCLB was a bit the same as that to Common Core. Perverse or not, it happens, and we need to be prepared.

CER president Jeanne Allen will join a crowd of experts and researchers on March 25 at the American Enterprise Institute to discuss these issues and more.

SEQUESTER – REVISITED. Each day continues to reveal distorted predications of doomsday in our nation’s schools due to the sequestration. First there was the Arne flap and across the country school districts are crowing that they’ve had to cut millions from their schools. Our investigative eyes are on it, and we have discovered a few more Pinocchios in recent coverage. One example is the report which says that schools on Indian Reservations and Military facilities are hardest hit given their percentage of federal funds. The Washington Post provides evidence in Arizona’s Navajo based Window Rock School District, whose superintendent just last week said that closing schools, cancelling bus routes and cutting positions are among the things she has to do ASAP. “We may have to close those schools — we don’t have any other avenues at all,” Superintendent Debbie Jackson-Dennison said, adding that she will cut five administrators, 25 support staffers and 35 certified teachers by the end of May. School bus routes, vital in a large rural setting, will be reduced beginning this month, guaranteeing that some children will be riding an hour to and from school. But a closer look reveals that this district has had financial problems long before the sequester, and most are a result of bad management. First, the district’s impact aid which the Superintendent says in this press release from September 2012 was likely to be cut because of the sequester back then, and yet, all of that aid has already flowed to the district. Then, apparently the county treasurer was found at fault with his investments causing the district to lose money. Much of the story is outlined here. It’s another example that very often the actual story is much more complex than what is commonly thought.

WHY CAN’T JOHNNY STILL READ? Or at least, why can’t we reach the estimated 33% of kids in this country that are below basic come fourth grade? Just weeks from the 30th Anniversary of A Nation at Risk, we have a nation still at risk and states are grappling with whether to retain or promote. Meanwhile, thousands of schools, which ARE accountable for how their students perform year to year in most states that have charter schools and robust authorizing, are doing it well. And yet…

OPPOSITION REMAINS FIXED ON CHARTERS. …Despite their success, the mainstreamness of it all, the Kumba-ya between both political parties, charters are under constant attack in communities and at some state levels. If they are not under attack, they face an uphill fight to even get approved much less enacted. To wit:

• Maine — Knowing that his charter law is weak and it’s time to educate the public better on the issues, Governor La Page is holding a major summit one week from Friday, March 22, to grow support for the importance of charters. He would not need to do this if his law had not been a political compromise with the establishment.

• Mississippi – Legislators are working on a compromise bill that would allow charters to open in failing school districts under certain limitations, and yet even this very modest bill which is riddled with restrictions is having a tough time gaining traction as a “don’t worry be happy” crowd of Republicans in that state just thinks everything is great for their kids.

• Pennsylvania – Reports of Philly notwithstanding, legislators have introduced poison pill bills to withhold more funding from already underfunded charters. Reform bills are coming, but the powerful school boards lobby remains fixed in Harrisburg.

• Tennessee – An effort to improve and expand that state’s charter bill is wavering, while a proposal by the Governor would create a limited voucher program for 5,000 low-income students in 83 failing schools across the state. If passed, the cap would rise to 20,000 students by 2016. A modest proposal at best, and some lawmakers would like to see a much more expansive program.

• Alaska, Alabama, and Georgia have all seen action recently on charters, tax credits and a parent trigger bill, respectively. Scaled back or compromised by the special interest clout, the progress isn’t near what it should be if Johnny and Jane and Jose and Josephine are expected to read well.

OK PINOCCHIO. Last week, Newswire sparked a mini-debate on what the sequester really means for education. But as CER president Jeanne Allen points out in today’s National Journal, “… that among all of these thousands of entities that spend and receive federal money, no one seems to know or to be even talking about how the almighty federal dollar flows.” The reality that CER continues to point out, is that most of the money has already been collected by states and districts. Thankfully we’re not alone in holding the Administration accountable for irresponsible rhetoric about a frenzy of “pink slips.” In fact, the US Department of Education has yet to produce any district-level evidence of lay-offs, according to the Wall Street Journal.

COVER UP. The Worcester County Teachers Association in Maryland has been making headlines as news broke of their botched attempt to cover-up the fact that Denise Inez Owens, the union’s former treasurer embezzled over $430,000 of teacher dues to fund her gambling addiction. In 2009 when the MSEA (state affiliate of the NEA) learned of the crime, they merely forced Owens to resign. We know these union contracts are ironclad, but come on, they sent a known-criminal back to teaching in a middle school classroom! Finally justice has been served, but where’s the accountability and “common good” that the union leadership supposedly values?

EXPANDING CHOICE. In a press conference last week Alabama Governor Robert Bentley applauded the legislature for sending an individual and corporate tax credit bill to his desk, “I truly believe this is historic education reform and it will benefit students and families across Alabama regardless of their income and regardless of where they live. I’m so proud we have done this for the children of this state and especially the children who are in failing school systems and had no way out. Now, they have a way out.” We couldn’t agree more Governor Bentley; now get back to the drawing board to finally bring charters to your state. There must be something in the water because in his 2013 Budget Address last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proposed a $2 million pilot opportunity scholarship program for low-income students in failing schools. A small plan, but at least it’s a start.

ON CHARTERS. Charter schools will be all the buzz in Tennessee and Mississippi state houses today. The Volunteer state’s House Education Committee will take up HB 702, a very modest proposal that would allow the state board of education to authorize charter schools on an appeal. Currently only local school boards and the Achievement School District can authorize charter schools. Charter school leaders and parents are rallying in Nashville in support of the proposal.

Today, Mississippi lawmakers are poised to act on legislation expanding charter schools in the state, trying to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of bills. Some issues include: whether school boards in districts with “C’’ ratings will be able to veto charter schools, whether students will be able to cross district lines to attend charter schools elsewhere, whether schools will be able to join the state pension system, and whether for-profit companies will be allowed to run charter schools.

VIRTUAL VINDICATION. Yesterday, the lead plaintiff in a class action securities lawsuit against K12 Inc. voluntarily and permanently dismissed their claims made about K12-managed schools, helping to drown out the often-unsubstantiated charges similarly made by critics and echoed repeatedly by the media. With a bit of luck, the dismissal of these claims will help put to rest these charges and serve as a sort of virtual vindication.