• 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.

It’s getting too near to Christmas for me to write any more. Rather than get antsy and bother you with some rambling commentary, here are links to my posts last year from National School Choice Week:

• Hey, It’s National School Choice Week!
• Perfect for School Choice Week: Dr. Jay Greene’s Education Reform Agenda
• Wrapping Up School Choice Week: Andrew Coulson Touts Tax Credits… And More!

I understand that Colorado has some big things in store for the second edition of National School Choice Week. Stay tuned…

Being of a decidedly reform-minded bent, the group has offered up some expected developments in their five choices for each of the “Best” and “Worst” categories. Most of the items I’ve covered at one time or another during 2011. Naturally I can’t make you vote for any particular events (or even vote at all), but I am making some strong suggestions that fans could select on my behalf as one of the most inexpensive Christmas gifts you’ve ever purchased. This is my blog, and I like to save the best for last. So which of the five choices should you recognize as the worst education event of 2011?

Worst: As time goes on, I have less and less patience for the big people in Washington, D.C., so the bungled re-authorization of No Child Left Behind (#2) mostly makes me shrug. The magical money tree hasn’t done much for real education reform in many of the Race to the Top-winning states (#3), either. Maybe California’s new governor further messing things up (#4) just seems too far away for me to get too worked up. And as tempting a choice as it is, the chief reasons for the repeal of Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 (#5) are little connected to education reform and teachers unions.

So by default, I am casting my vote for #1: the Atlanta cheating scandal. As I wrote months ago when the story first emerged, the problem here is the predictable overreaction from reform opponents. If the scandal led to better testing security and/or greater use of online adaptive assessments, I would have to vote for something else as the worst development of the year. But the Koret Task Force page explains what really has transpired:

…[W]hat the public has “learned” is that testing is bad because it creates so much stress that well-meaning educators are pushed to the limit and eventually succumb (for the children’s sake, of course!) to the temptation to cheat, lie, and break the law.

Best: My Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow wrote an op-ed explaining the sensible rationale for rolling back government employee collective bargaining privileges in states like Wisconsin (#2). expressed my admiration for the sweeping range or reforms legislated in Indiana (#5). While California made some progress in establishing working rules for its “Parent Trigger” (#3), here in Colorado the idea faltered. And my edu-crush on Michelle Rhee is no secret, so I had to give some consideration to her teacher evaluation system surviving her tenure in DC Public Schools (#4).

But in the end, we can’t do any better than recognizing 2011 as the Year of School Choice (#1). Especially when the “reinvigoration of school choice via opportunity scholarships and vouchers” hit so close to home with the passage of the groundbreaking Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program. Forget the injunction for now. Cast your vote for the accelerating national trend toward educational freedom.

Vote for the #1s, and I’ll say: Thank you very much! Of course, I could point out that there are still nearly four weeks left in 2011, and maybe we haven’t yet experienced the “best” or “worst” education event of the year. But that’s just the pesky little provocateur in me speaking….

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.

Expanding to the 100 largest districts, as Biddle urges, would include some of Colorado’s own. I’m pretty sure Denver Public Schools would do well on the ECCI, given the commitment to expanding charter and innovation school options. Interestingly, the Denver Post featured a piece yesterday about how DPS schools are increasing their efforts to market themselves to parents.

For those paying attention, it’s not the first time the local media has brought attention to this trend of a more active, consumer-oriented approach going on in Denver schools. Which means it’s not the first time I get to tell you about the important role our fabulous School Choice for Kids website has to play in arming parents with some key information.

Of course, the site covers not only Denver but all of Colorado. Which makes me wonder how Douglas County — with its one-of-a-kind local board-initiated voucher program (not to mention a healthy charter sector) — would fare on the ECCI. An index worth its salt would have to relate Jefferson County and Cherry Creek lower. So I guess for now, little ol’ me will just have to content myself with wondering what an expanded version of the Brookings educational choice index would look like.

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.

As four school reform bills Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) successfully championed earlier in 2011 go into effect, Sandoval is redoubling efforts to expand school choice and end social promotion for third-graders who lack basic reading skills.

Nevada’s House and Senate are currently controlled by Democrats. During this last session, they refused to grant a hearing to a voucher bill Sandoval backed. Nevada lawmakers convene every other year, so the governor’s next crack at improving K-12 education will come in 2013.

A key insight that comes out in the story is the Nevada governor’s commitment to advancing a big plan that would give more families real choices about their learning options. And his staff is doing the homework to come up with the right plan. It sounds very promising.

The local Nevada Policy Research Institute is cheering for tuition tax credits. In a new Daily Caller column, Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute makes the case for such a program to help save state budgets — particularly focusing on a positive response to the strong, resounding No! Colorado voters gave to the Proposition 103 tax hike. DeGrow laid out the estimated savings in detail in his K-12 contribution to last year’s Citizens’ Budget.

Earlier this year the Colorado legislature gave some hope of at least moving the conversation forward on tuition tax credits, with House Bill 1048. Given the way it was treated in the legislative sausage-maker, it’s hard to see a clear path for the promising proposal in the imminent future.

But now is certainly not the time to give up. Especially not when Nevada may move forward with such a program in 2013 (it’s really not that far away, you know). Some might be skeptical of Governor Sandoval’s ability to pull together a winning coalition for a strong school choice bill, but the comments of some in the School Reform News story are quite encouraging. So when it comes to guessing whether Nevada might be among the next states to enact a private school choice program, all I can say is: Don’t bet against it!

a year-long campaign to celebrate bold, creative innovative teachers in classrooms across this nation. These front-line innovators are already embedding digital learning into new instructional practices to ensure that every student leaves the classroom ready for college, career and life success. We ask you to join with us, as with them, as we launch an unprecedented, collaborative effort to expand innovation into every city, town, school and classroom in America!

Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise explains a little bit more in this 3-plus minute video:

Digital learning has real power to help transform our state’s and nation’s education system into a more nimble, productive, effective, and student-centered enterprise. But it’s far from just a matter of importing iPads into the classroom. The market for computerized and web-based technology to enhance learning is booming, but progress is hindered by policies designed for the 20th century factory age.

If you want a clear and sobering big-picture assessment of where our education system is today, and why it needs to change dramatically, check out former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s CNN interview with Piers Morgan.

Last month’s release of the Nation’s Digital Learning Report Card provided a road map. Most of its proposals that Colorado hasn’t already adopted can help fulfill the promise of online and blended learning strategies for students and for our state. But remember: as my Education Policy Center friend Pam Benigno and the nationally-renowned Michael Horn both have said, more regulation is exactly the opposite of what we need.

In fact, an effective array of digital learning options can best be created by quite the opposite approach. Via American Thinker’s Gary Jason:

…the unionized teachers and administrators may use web-based instruction to co-opt school choice….

Keep pushing vouchers. Within a voucher system, one can easily allow cyber-schooling for those who want it.

Exactly. The two reform ideas are complementary, not contradictory. In the meantime, my Education Policy Center friends will continue helping to arm students and parents with information about their education options — including full-time online and blended learning — as policy makers hopefully see the need to overhaul policies that are choking effective innovations like digital learning. So get yourself ready for February 1, sign up today (it’s not too early), and help spread the word!