• The Alliance for School Choice has released the latest version of the School Choice Yearbook… The big news? More than 210,000 students nationwide are enrolled in publicly-funded private educational choice programs, a 25 percent increase in just four years!
• Remember Education Savings Accounts, the cutting-edge school choice program with a superior design? Well, today a Maricopa County judge ruled that Arizona’s first-of-its-kind ESA program for special needs student was constitutional!
• Finally, speaking of special needs students, the Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio is about to launch its fourth voucher program, the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship!

Good news on all three fronts. Before my hyperactivity takes over and my short attention span fades away, here’s one last call to invite you to this evening’s Kids Aren’t Cars movie night at the Independence Institute in Denver. Hope to see you there!

In the video, Bowdon highlights the wonderful news about last July’s decision rejecting the NAACP lawsuit. Justice Paul Feinman wrote in that opinion:

The court is not permitted, nor would it be appropriate, to substitute its own view of this complex societal question of how best to educate our children for the conclusions already reached by the legislative and executive branches.

I am pained to say this, but the Manhattan judge’s demonstration of humility could serve as a lesson to Colorado judges who have presumed authority in the Lobato school funding lawsuit. That 2009 ruling has opened the door for the costly postlude to the original round of legal debates. Now that the judiciary has said it can determine school finance policy, they have started getting their chance to weigh in. And it’s not been pretty.

Professor Joshua Dunn, the CU-Colorado Springs scholar who broke down the conclusions in Part 2, Round 1 of the Lobato case on an iVoices podcast, has followed through with a Colorado Springs Gazette op-ed that drives the point home:

Shockingly, Judge Rappaport claimed that “the interpretation of the Education Clause does not need to be harmonized with either TABOR or the Gallagher Amendment.” In other words, the judge believes she is free to ignore those inconvenient amendments.

To illustrate what a preposterous, and dangerous, position that is, imagine the U.S. Supreme Court saying that the President’s commander-in-chief powers did not have to be harmonized with the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press. Outrage would be the appropriate response.

I guess there’s a lot of outrage going on then. Outrage that a group like the NAACP would play legal hardball to deprive poor children of color of educational opportunity. Outrage that the anti-charter forces there still haven’t given up. Outrage that a New York judge shows more humility than our Colorado bench. Outrage that parts of our state constitution get ignored. On and on it goes….

But it’s Friday, so I’m going to mellow out. And just smile…. And play Legos. Have a great weekend!

A Marion County judge ruled Friday that Indiana’s school voucher program is constitutional. However, those who oppose the program say they’ll appeal his decision.

The vouchers, approved by General Assembly last spring, redirect money from public schools to help offset private-school tuition for students in low- and middle-income families.

Of course, the union and other anti-choice groups will appeal. That’s just the way it’s done. But it’s a big win for the good guys, coming five months after the same judge blocked an initial request to put the program on the same sort of injunction as the one holding back Douglas County families.

A quick victory lap then, first with a response from Indiana’s own Dr. Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice:

This is a huge victory and it means that the nearly 4,000 low-and-middle-income children in Indiana who are participating in the program can continue to attend a high quality, non-public school using public funds.

As you may recall, early reports show Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program growing at a record pace. Families there are hungry for more educational options, too. Not surprisingly, the American Federation for Children is also very pleased with the judge’s latest ruling:

“This ruling is a victory for children and families not just in Indiana, but all across America,” said Betsy DeVos, chairman of the American Federation for Children. “It sends a message to special interests everywhere that they cannot stand in the way of giving disadvantaged children the educational opportunities they deserve.”

Indeed. And the timing couldn’t be better. I’m not talking about the fact the ruling came down on Friday the 13th — which debunks all the horrible superstition, unless perhaps you’re a union leader or ACLU attorney. The ruling in favor of Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program gives us in Colorado that much more to celebrate at one of the National School Choice Week events near you.

Perhaps I’ll see you there.

“…a final resolution of the constitutional and legal issues involved in the case require an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court.

“The judge’s decision provided little practical guidance on how the state should fund a ‘thorough and uniform’ system of public education. Moreover, while the judge focused on the inadequacy of state funding, she did not reconcile this issue with other very relevant provisions of the Constitution, including the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the Gallagher Amendment and Amendment 23….”

Along these same lines, UCCS political scientist Joshua Dunn even more strongly pointed out on a recent iVoices podcast that Judge Rappaport’s ruling uniquely demonstrated “an absolute contempt for the constitution” by openly stating she could ignore those important constitutional provisions. In comments for a School Reform News story written by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow and released on Tuesday, Dunn made a couple other key observations, including:

Dunn believes the judiciary should not write policy, since it is free to ignore the competing demands of state-budgeted services.

“Courts don’t have to consider opportunity costs. That’s why God gave us legislatures,” he said.

So long story short, it is good to see Lobato being appealed, though it’s sad that the case even has reached this point and will drag on for many more months and cost taxpayers many more thousands of dollars. It’s also important to note that only one of the two key parties has made the important decision before Christmas. Hopefully, the other comes before the New Year. Thus Ed News Colorado reports:

…the State Board of Education, after an hour-long closed session over the phone, adjourned without taking a vote on an appeal and will meet again Dec. 27.

I don’t know what the delay is about with the state board, but there’s probably a good reason. In the meantime, here’s wishing some good holiday cheer will help lead them to a sound and sensible course of action, too.

The state will deposit 90 percent of the student’s funds into an account parents can use for a variety of educational expenditures, including textbooks, therapy services, tutoring, and even tuition for alternative or online schools.

Not only does the money follow the student to serve their educational needs as the family chooses, but the families are encouraged to be wise consumers by the fact they can save money in their ESA from year to year. Any money left over at the end of high school can be used toward college expenses. Who wouldn’t like that?

Well, as education reform doctoral fellow Stuart Buck notes on the Flypaper blog, the Arizona School Boards Association, the Arizona Education Association and the Arizona Association of School Business Officials didn’t like the loss of control that comes with ESAs. They may even sense the 2011 legislation opens the door for more students and families to experience the liberation. So they filed a lawsuit that had its first hearing earlier this week. Buck breaks down the arguments and concludes:

…if the Arizona courts properly apply their own precedents, they will reject the attempt by powerful interest groups to stiff-arm special education students.

I certainly hope he is correct. In addition to interested Arizonans like the Boesl family, the state of Utah also has to be keeping a close eye on proceedings. I told you a couple months ago about a legislator from our neighbor to the west who was planning to introduce a dramatic, consumer-empowering proposal even more expansive than Arizona’s. The efforts in Utah can only be bolstered by a plain and positive vindication in the Arizona courts.

In The Grand Canyon State, these kind of anti-school choice legal actions seem to be a regular occurrence. Most recently, an effort to upend a tuition tax credit program was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v Winn. Meanwhile, here in Colorado, the fight continues to appeal a district court injunction of the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program — a groundbreaking, parent-friendly reform, the first school board-initiated voucher program in the nation.

Perhaps the point is that it doesn’t matter if you are helping kids and families by promoting School Choice 1.0 (vouchers) or version 2.0 (tax credits) or the cutting-edge version 3.0 (ESAs). Where power is threatened, attorneys will be hired by the status quo to try to strike the opportunity down. What encourages me on this Friday is to recall that school choice has won many battles in court and that the will of supporters to keep fighting these battles in defense of educational freedom remains as strong as ever.

Pretty much nobody is in school today, as we all gear up for the big turkey feast tomorrow. As my parents constantly remind me, the fourth Thursday in November is about more than food and football. Yes, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. While I could gratefully mention the standard fare — family, friends (like those big people in the Education Policy Center), freedom, our big screen TV, and my growing (ahem!) Legos collection — more fitting for the blog are seven things to be thankful for in Colorado K-12 education:

1. While nobody asked Colorado teacher union members before taking political contributions from their paychecks, at least they can ask for the money back by December 15;
2. While the state senate president hasn’t given up his attacks on the online education option for parents, at least his attempt to push a selective audit was defeated;
3. While a number of pro-reform school board candidates lost and many inside the “education bubble” were distraught at the crushing defeat of the Prop 103 tax hike, at least the opportunity for truly creative innovation lies ahead with a number of new pro-reform board members ready to step up;
4. While a Denver judge went out of his way to shut down the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program, at least the rays of hope for a successful appeal on behalf of students and parents are growing brighter;
5. While a lot of hard work remains to be done, at least the State Board of Education has continued to push for a top-notch educator evaluation system through the rule-making process;
6. While the open enrollment process is less than perfect and opportunities could be expanded, at least Colorado still has one of the strongest laws and Denver Public Schools is making it easier for parents to exercise their options; and
7. While we still have a long way to go in ensuring the best in public school financial transparency, at least some more districts and other K-12 agencies are making progress to comply with the 2010 law.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I will be back on Monday, with my turkey sandwich and leftovers.

It’s about a different kind of appeal, one I knew had to be coming but am so glad to see it finally happen. I’m talking about an appeal of last month’s sad district court decision to shut down the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program. Last Thursday, September 8, the paperwork was delivered to the Colorado Court of Appeals. First, from an Institute for Justice press release:

“We are confident that the Court of Appeals will correct the trial court’s decision, which ignored or attempted to rationalize away existing Colorado and U.S. Supreme Court precedent that clearly authorizes the scholarship program,” said Michael Bindas, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, which represents the Oakley, Doyle and Anderson families in defending the Choice Scholarship Program.

A Castle Rock news outlet reports that the Douglas County School District filed its appeal on the same day:

The appeal is challenging a number of Martinez’s opinions, including his decision to halt to the program, his opinion that the voucher program violates provisions of the Colorado constitution and Public School Finance Act and his refusal to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims for lack of standing. The district argued that the plaintiffs, which include taxpayers and residents of Douglas County, did not stand to suffer any harm from the outcome of the case.

“We firmly believe the choice scholarship program was built on cases that were upheld in (other) Supreme Court decisions and we think our case will hold up,” [district spokesman Randy] Barber said. “We hope the Colorado court of appeals will reverse the decision of the Denver district court.”

The deadline to file an appeal was September 26, so it hadn’t exactly reached the nerve-wracking phase yet. Anyway, here’s hoping that the Court of Appeals finds a way to restart the Choice Scholarship Program while proceedings continue to move forward as quickly as they can. Even a little kid as appealing as I am has a hard time waiting at the pace of the legal system.

Keep the faith, everyone.

Under a law signed in May by Gov. Mitch Daniels, more than 3,200 Indiana students are receiving vouchers to attend private schools. That number is expected to climb significantly in the next two years as awareness of the program increases and limits on the number of applicants are lifted….

Until Indiana started its program, most voucher systems were limited to poor students, those in failing schools or those with special needs. But Indiana’s is significantly larger, offering money to students from middle-class homes and solid school districts. [emphasis added]

The Douglas County and Indiana programs are similar in several ways, including the name (“Choice Scholarships”) and the expanded student eligibility beyond those in poverty or living with special needs.

On the other hand, there are also a number of interesting differences. For one thing, opponents of Indiana’s Choice Scholarships thus far have lost the argument based on the fact that “All but six of the 242 non-public schools so far approved for the voucher program have religious affiliations.” Meanwhile, in the Douglas County program, more than 20 percent of the eligible schools are independent rather than religious.

A similar point of interest was raised by the defense attorneys at the Denver District Court hearing. Though 93 percent of the initial batch of Douglas County Choice Scholarships went to families who opted for a religious school, it was still less than the 96 percent who chose a religious school in Ohio’s program when it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2002 Zelman decision. Not that it should matter much legally speaking, since in all three cases the programs are religiously neutral and the publicly-funded tuition support follows the student based on a family’s private and independent choice.

While many of us are frustrated with the larger-than-expected speed bump that has slowed down the growth of educational choice here in Colorado, I am proud to rejoice with my Indiana friends at their success so far, and send them and the Choice Scholarship families nothing but best wishes for plenty of success in the future.

“There’s no consistent relationship between school resources and school achievement,” Hoover Institution scholar Eric Hanushek testified Thursday in the Lobato v. State school funding case.

Hanushek, a nationally known researcher on the economics of education, is the key expert witness for the state as it seeks to counter the plaintiffs’ claim that Colorado’s school funding system doesn’t adequately meet the education requirements of the state constitution.

Questioned by Senior Assistant Attorney General Carey Markel, Hanushek added, “Money certainly matters; you can’t run a school without money.” But, he added, “How you spend money is more important than how much … In general, you can’t expect any large achievement gains without changing the way you spend.”

Took the words right out of my mouth. Well, not exactly, it would be more like the other way around, since Dr. Hanushek is a national expert who has been carefully researching and writing about issues like this long before yours truly was a twinkle in my daddy’s eye. Hanushek’s arguments (including others in the article not quoted here) are strong, persuasive and research-based.

And having him give testimony here in town on an important case gives me an excuse to draw a couple important connections. Yesterday, my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow videotaped a joint appearance on 9News Your Show with state senator Rollie Heath to discuss the state of education funding and Heath’s Proposition 103 tax hike initiative.

My inside sources tell me that Ben cited Hanushek’s research (though not by name) on air to explain that the large majority of quality peer-reviewed academic studies show no connection between increased K-12 funding and improved educational outcomes. Tune in (or set your DVR for) Sunday at 10:30 AM on My20 or Comcast Channel 3 to watch the full 12-minute televised exchange.

Another connection, Hanushek is one of the experts featured in the acclaimed 2010 documentary Waiting for “Superman”. The 1 hr, 45 min film will be shown at a special event at the Independence Institute coming very soon:

Join us at our offices for a free viewing of Waiting for Superman on Tuesday, September 13, at 7:00 PM (doors open at 6:30 PM.) The film provides the compelling stories of five unforgettable students who are desperate to escape failing schools. Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Popcorn and candy will be available. Donations to the Independence Institute will be accepted.

An expert witness comes from California to inject some research-based fiscal sanity into a long and important Colorado case, and look what else you get to talk about. Who would have guessed? I love connections.

Just like families make different choices based on their students’ educational needs, so many of their fallback scenarios will be different. FOX 31 News highlights one Castle Rock family:

Two of Becky Barnes’ kids were enrolled in the voucher program. Now unable to pay their private school tuition she is working hard to get them enrolled in public schools. Her first grader will go back to the neighborhood school.

Her 7th grader will attend cyber school. Other families are choosing to stay at their private school and pay the tuition.

Becky Barnes is one of three parents whose emergency education plans were documented today in an article by Karin Piper. Another parent was Diana Oakley, mother of Nate Oakley, for whom things seem to be working out at least for now:

Humanex [Academy], she said, had been so gracious to her and her family.

When she spoke with them yesterday the school leaders had agreed with her that she had done what was right for Nathaniel. This, Humanex said, was their goal too. They had told Diana that they would honor their agreement with her and hope that the $4,500 the school would stand to possibly lose, would somehow work out too. Nobody has the details or firm solutions, but Nate would not be feeling the consequences.

Diana is so grateful to Humanex and will continue supporting Douglas County School Board in their quest to overturn last week’s verdict.

Another good outcome in the short-term highlighted in Piper’s article appears to have worked out for Melissa Grissom and her son Ashton, who had found a great fit at Valor Christian:

Valor had sent out a letter telling the families they do not want anyone to feel like they have to leave. The pilot program had been a risk for the district, the families—and the private schools alike. While $4,500 multiplied by the significant number of students Valor has accepted with the scholarships is too much for Valor to absorb, they asked everyone to prayerfully consider contributing more. This is admittedly an offer that Valor cannot guarantee for every year, so there is still a level of risk involved.

Valor, like Humanex, does not want the children to leave.

As Head of School Kurt Unruh explained in his email to the school’s Choice Scholarship families, they are doing all they can to ensure these students can stay on board at Valor through the 2011-12 school year. After that, it’s up in the air.

While some scholarship families are finding relief and good outcomes in the wake of potentially devastating news from Denver District Court, that isn’t the case for all. A neat website called Mile High Mamas notes a couple examples of concern:

[Private school Woodlands Academy in Castle Rock] still has more than a week before classes begin, but students who must return to Douglas County schools will get a late start on an academic year that, at many schools, began Aug. 1.

What’s more, any student who gave up a spot in a charter school to participate in the voucher program may have trouble reclaiming that seat, as many have waiting lists.

On the other hand, Mile High Mamas also features the good news that the Institute for Justice will appeal the injunction ruling. There is some added reason for hope, given yesterday’s other good news that an Indiana judge denied an injunction request on a similar new program enacted by the state of Indiana. Concerned families still await the Douglas County School District’s decision on a possible appeal.