ISIL Freedom Network: United States > Introductions and FAQs > School Choice

School Choice: Church vs. State?
Source: The Heartland Institute
Author: Harold Hotelling
City: Chicago, State: IL, Country: United States
E-mail: think@heartland.org

A reply to those who believe school vouchers will produce "excessive entanglement" between Church and State.

School Choice, the Law, and the Constitution: A Primer for Parents and Reformers
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Clint Bolick
Country: United States

Would you like a voice in your own children's education? This article gives some pointers and principles which might help your case.

A Liberal Argument for School Choice
Source: American Enterprise Institute
Author: Bruce Goldberg
Country: United States

The lip service to diversity of today's public school system is just that: lip service. Adobe PDF. (Sept.-Oct. 1996)

Why school choice can promote integration
Source: Education Week
Author: Jay P. Green
Country: United States

Far from being segregationist enclaves, private schools, on average, are better integrated by race than are public schools. (4/12/2000)

Vouchers and the law
Source: Salon
Country: United States

In a Salon News debate, Steven Green, general counsel and policy director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and Clint Bolick, litigation director for the Institute for Justice, argue the constitutionality of school voucher programs. (3/27/00)

Chronology of School Choice Legislation
Source: CEO America
Country: United States

A state-by-state chronology of legislative efforts and victories in the school choice movement.

Private school competition improves public school performance
Source: The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions
Country: United States

Findings clearly demonstrate that the competition from a region's private schools actually stimulates increased per-student spending. Adobe PDF. (12/1/98)

Ohio Education Report
Source: The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions
Country: United States

Despite the very weak link between funding and results the Ohio Supreme Court has deemed the state's current method of school financing unconstitutional. This perspective urges Ohio legislators to make market-oriented changes. Adobe PDF. (Spring 1997)

History shows value of a private education marketplace
Source: The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions
Author: Brandon S. Lynaugh
Country: United States

Arguments concerning the funding and control of education in a civilized society are as old as civilization itself. Adobe PDF. (4/1/99)

Expanding educational opportunities for all America's children
Source: The Brookings Institution
Author: Diane Ravitch
Country: United States

One of the nation's most prominent education experts advocates a means-tested school choice program to improve America's faltering education system. Adobe PDF. (1994)

Properly put polls persistently pro-parent
Source: The Blum Center for Parental Freedom in Education
Author: Quentin Quade
Country: United States

"The popularity of school choice has been demonstrated time and again in national polls as well as at the state level ..." Adobe PDF. (1996)

Creating an ideal learning environment
Source: Fairhaven School News
Author: Daniel Greenberg
Country: United States

"The greater the range of role models available in the school and accessible to children, the more useful the environment and the more helpful it will be to enhancing a child’s ability to solve problems. That is the reason age mixing is such a central feature of the Sudbury model school." (Spring 2000)

Free-market system provides answer to public education ills
Source: Texas Public Policy Foundation
Author: Jeff Judson
Country: United States

"The argument that the best students would leave public schools under a voucher system leaving the worst students behind ... has been refuted by research and experience." Adobe PDF. (8/1/96)

School Choice Has Been Tried -- And It Works
Source: Mackinac Center
Author: Matthew Brouillette
Country: United States

America's educational history shows that where school choice has been tried, it works. (10/4/99)

Can Mayors Solve School Problems?
Source: Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Author: Matthew J. Broullette and Joseph L. Bast
Country: United States

The Chicago school reform effort has enjoyed some success. Privatization initiatives in particular have been effective in dealing with budget issues. But progress on the academic front has been slow and further improvements are unlikely unless the tough issues of tenure and certification are dealt with. Adobe PDF. (3/1/99)

House passes education plan for poor without vouchers
Source: CNN
Country: United States

Families of poor children lost a chance to pick the schools of their choice when the House dropped a $3,500-per-pupil voucher plan.

Satellite Schools: Private Provision of School Infrastructure
Source: Reason Foundation
Author: Janet R. Beales
Country: United States

Satellite schools operate as public schools on business worksites. The host business contributes land building space and a portion of the school's operating expenses. Adobe PDF. (1/93)

Vouchers improve academic outcomes
Source: Heartland/Citizens for Educational Freedom
Author: Joy Kiviat
Country: United States

"While voucher supporters never had any doubt that school choice would improve outcomes, it's reassuring when sound research backs up that confidence."

Most Frequently Asked Legal Questions about School Choice
Source: Institute for Justice
Author: Clint Bolick, Richard D. Komer, and Matthew Berry
Country: United States

Is there a model school choice program? What features of a school choice program are necessary to satisfy the First Amendment? Are private schools that accept public funds at risk of greater regulation?

How to separate school and state: A primer
Source: The Foundation for Economic Education
Country: United States

Efforts to achieve separation of school and state can be divided into three categories, by order of importance: entrepreneurial, educational, and political. (01/96)

Government Schooling: The Bureaucratization of the Mind
Source: The Foundation for Economic Education
Country: United States

Government-controlled education is rigid, ineffective, and destined to fail.

Education: What About the Poor?
Source: The Foundation for Economic Education
Country: United States

The fate of the poor is often the trump card played against market-based education, but those with limited resources are already being victimized by state schools, and choice offers better alternatives.

Big schoolmaster
Source: LewRockwell.com
Author: Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Country: United States

The more that government becomes involved in education, whether through funding or school choice plans, the more education is directed from the center and private institutions lose their autonomy. (4/92)

School choice legislation in the states: a roundup
Source: Heartland/School Reform News
Author: George A. Clowes
Country: United States

An overview of school choice initiatives, advances, and setbacks in 23 states. (4/00)

Delivering on the promise of equal opportunity education
Source: Heartland/School Reform News
Country: United States

An interview with Joseph P. Viteritti, author of "Choosing Equality," on the perils of majoritarianism in education. (P.J. O'Rourke on majority rule: "Democracy is when two wolves and a lamb vote on what to eat for dinner.")(5/00)

Education Vouchers and Charter Schools: Transcript of Live Internet Chat With Tom Loveless
Source: The Brookings Institution
Author: Tom Loveless
Country: United States

Tom Loveless, Senior Fellow in Governmental Studies and Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy, answers questions about charter schools and the advantages and disadvantages of education vouchers. Transcript of an online session. (2/24/00)

Facts about U.S. private schools
Source: Heartland/School Reform News
Country: United States

What are the largest private school systems in the country? How many private schools are there in the U.S., and how many students do they serve? (6/00)

Educational tax credits: Issues and arguments
Source: School Choices
Country: United States

A brief introduction to tax credits, which reduce an individual's (or business's) total tax burden on a dollar for dollar basis. Includes links to further resources.

About school choice
Source: Center for Education Reform
Country: United States

School choice produces competition, which in turn produces improvement in public schools as well as private schools.

School vouchers: Issues and arguments
Source: School Choices
Country: United States

A brief discussion of school vouchers with links to further resources.

Responses to a Harvard Study on School Choice: Is It a Study at All?
Source: Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research
Country: United States

Nine education policy experts weigh in. Adobe PDF. (1995)

School Choice in the States: A Summary
Source: The Heritage Foundation
Author: Nina Shokraii Rees
Country: United States

"The school choice movement ended the millennium on a high note." Data and overview. Adobe PDF. (2000)

1996 Shareholders Report: Archdiocese of Chicago
Source: Archdiocese of Chicago
Country: United States

According to this annual report, Catholic schools in Chicago save the public school system over $400 million a year. Adobe PDF.(1996)

Tax Relief and School Choice: A Win-Win Proposition
Source: Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions
Author: Richard C. Leonardi
State: OH, Country: United States

Minnesota and Arizona lead the country in innovative approaches to school finance, encouraging widespread use of tax credits or deductions to support choice in education. Ohio is advised to follow suit. Adobe PDF. (1/98)

School Choice Would Fare Better Under Vouchers than Tax Credits
Source: Campbell University / The Campbell Entrepreneur
Author: Andrew Cline
Country: United States

The justification for publicly funded education is to perpetuate democracy. Vouchers assure that, argues the author. Adobe PDF. (Winter '96-'97)

Why Not Vouchers?
Source: Campbell University / The Campbell Entrepreneur
Author: Sheldon Richman
Country: United States

Britain's Fabian socialists supported subsidies for private schools so that they would come to depend on the government. The author argues that voucher advocates underestimate the danger of governmental involvement in funding private education. Adobe PDF. (Winter '96-'97)

School Choice: Why Poor Kids Need it Most of All
Source: Center of the American Experiment
Author: Rev. Dr. Floyd H. Flake
Country: United States

The senior pastor of the 10000-member Allen AME Church (Queens NY) wants to reform public education. To do that the public schools need a healthy dose of competition by means of "school choice." Argues for scholarships at elementary and secondary school level. Adobe PDF. (Spring 99)

The Legal Case and the Fairness Case for Vouchers
Source: Center of the American Experiment
Author: Clint Bolick
Country: United States

The constitutionality of school choice programs. Adobe PDF. (7/96)

Justice and Education: A Progressive Call for Public Scholarships
Source: Evangelicals for Social Action
Country: United States

In a rare liberal-conservative partnership, a broad coalition of leaders from Evangelicals for Social Action joined prominent Republican conservative members of the Renewal Alliance to call for the immediate and widespread testing of tax-funded voucher programs. Adobe PDF. (1997)

Government's Role in Primary and Secondary Education
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Author: Lori L. Taylor
Country: United States

Economic research does not provide justification for the current pervasive monopolistic presence of government. Adobe PDF. (Sept.-Oct. 96)

Summary of Observations and Recommendations
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review
Author: Joseph S. Tracy and Barbara L. Walter
Country: United States

Urban schools are the sore point in today's public education system. Choice and competition can improve these schools but there is not yet enough evidence to support radical reform. Adobe PDF. (3/98)

Summary of Roundtable Discussion
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review
Author: Joseph S. Tracy and Barbara L. Walter
Country: United States

The key problem of public schooling is the low success of urban public schools. An unsafe environment, lack of standards in curriculum, and inflexible hiring policies are among the causes. Adobe PDF. (3/98)

Summary of Third Floor Discussion
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review
Author: James Orr
Country: United States

The autonomy and creativity of principals free of a central bureaucracy may be the big difference driving the greater success rate observed in urban Catholic schools when compared with public schools. Adobe PDF. (3/98)

What Do America's Traditional Forms of School Choice Teach Us about School Choice Reforms?
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review
Author: Caroline M. Hoxby
Country: United States

Studying "traditional" school choice (the ability to move to another district or patronize a private school) shows that public schools already respond to competition. New initiatives like charter schools and vouchers may not have the same effects. Adobe PDF. (3/98)

What Have We Learned about the Benefits of Private Schooling?
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review
Author: Derek Neal
Country: United States

Available data shows that Catholic education has a strong positive effect on graduation rates for minority inner-city students. Adobe PDF. (3/98)

Profits and Honor: For-Profit Education
Source: Goldwater Institute
Author: Jeffrey L. Flake
Country: United States

Profits already exist in the provision of "non-profit" education: profit-making firms build the schools (and the buses), print the books, serve the lunches. Organizing the schools actually to run as for-profit entities would benefit students by holding school operators and teachers accountable for their performance. Adobe PDF. (4/99)

Teachers Warm to School Choice
Source: Headway
Author: Derby Murdock
Country: United States

A profile of teachers in the nation's burgeoning charter schools. Adobe PDF. (4/98)

Teachers and School Choice
Source: Hudson Institute
Author: William Styring
Country: United States

Would school choice hurt the economic or professional status of teachers? On the contrary. The balance of evidence suggests that choice would stimulate demand for teachers. Adobe PDF. (Spring 98)

The Coming Transformation of America's Schools
Source: Hudson Institute
Author: Bruno V. Manno
Country: United States

It's only a matter of time: the monopoly model of schooling in the United States will fade. Adobe PDF. (Spring 98)

Debate: Are School-Voucher Programs for Parochial Schools a Good Idea?
Source: Insight
Author: Daniel McGroarty and Nadine Strossen
Country: United States

Two observers disagree about the merits of allowing religious schools to participate in school-voucher programs. Adobe PDF. (8/96)

Private Vouchers Are Going Public
Source: Insight
Author: Tiffany Danitz
Country: United States

Proponents of parental choice in education hope to use vouchers as a way to rescue children from unsafe public schools. Unfortunately they will have a difficult time getting support from the Clinton administration. Adobe PDF. (9/97)

School Choice: Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Legal Questions
Source: Institute for Justice
Author: Clint Bolick and Richard D. Komer
Country: United States

Two of the nation's leading experts address in plain English the most commonly raised legal questions about school choice. Adobe PDF. (1994)

Constitutionality and school choice
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "School choice is unconstitutional." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

School choice in rural communities
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "School choice would not work in rural areas." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

Public funding of private schools?
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "The funding proposed for school choice would amount to spending public money on private schools." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

Regulation of private schools under school choice
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "School choice would bring about the regulation of nonpublic schools." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

Access to private schools under school choice
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "School choice would permit good schools to cream the best students and leave the rest behind." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

The true cost of school choice
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "School choice costs too much." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

Costs of non-public school enrollment
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "The cost of paying for nonpublic school enrollment is more than we can afford." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

School choice and special education
Source: REACH Alliance
Author: David Kirkpatrick
Country: United States

MYTH: "Educational choice is unfair because nonpublic schools do not provide services for special education students." An educational choice fact sheet. Adobe PDF file. (1996)

Resolved: school choice will ruin American education
Source: Heartland/School Reform News
Country: United States

On March 9-10, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and Harvard University's Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG) sponsored a "Conference on Charter Schools, Vouchers, and Public Education." A fair amount of the debate is reported here.(6/00)

About tuition tax credits and deductions
Source: Center for Education Reform
Country: United States

School tax credits refund expenses made toward education up to a fixed figure. Tax deductions minimize the expense of education by making them itemized deductions.

Sudbury versus Montessori versus Waldorf versus unschooling
Source: Fairhaven School
Country: United States

How the Sudbury model of democratic, self-initiated schooling compares with other non-traditional approaches to education.

Advanced school choice without vouchers
Source: 4Choice
Country: United States

"We buy other services from the private sector, why not education?" Describes features "that any School Choice plan" should have and provides model legislation.

Blackboard Jungle
Source: American Lawyer
Author: Alison Frankel
Country: United States

Another state, another school vouchers battle. On the road with the traveling band of litigators who are shaping a constitutional question at the heart of public education. "Clint Bolick says he became a lawyer because he was disgusted with the state of public education."

Terry Moe discusses his new book on vouchers
Source: Brookings Institution
Country: United States

Transcript of a talk by Moe, plus Q&A. "The [voucher] movement has made great strides over the last 10 years or so. But ... where is all this headed? Now, is this movement going to transform this education system or is it just going to die out? Or are we going to get something in between, some kind of a mixed system?" (06/07/01)

No single solution to education woes
Source: Heartland Institute/Perspective
Author: Joe Bast
Country: United States

The "solution" to education woes varies from parent to parent and child to child. Longer classroom hours will help some students, but won't put phonics or real literature back in the classrooms that don't have these. What parents need is a choice -- and vouchers. Adobe PDF. (1995)

Accountable: Public schools that squander funds?
Source: Heartland/School Reform News
Author: George A. Clowes
Country: United States

When an Ohio state audit recently revealed that a voucher school in Cleveland had bilked the state out of more than $85,000, state legislators proposed passing a law to prevent it from happening again. Recent horror stories of fraud, waste, and mismanagement in public schools raise the possibility that rules and regulations are not the most effective way to ensure accountability. (3/00)

The truth about Marva Collins
Source: Daily Objectivist
Country: United States

It's easy to complain about the deficiencies of public (or private) schooling. Marva Collins did something that was not so easy: she created something better.

Why educators, and everyone else, love vouchers and school choice
Source: Site of the Sentient
Country: United States

Questions and answers on school choice. The author escapes the paradox of his title by claiming that those who oppose choice in education are not true educators.

How members of Congress practice school choice
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Nina Shokraii Rees and Jennifer Garrett
Country: United States

Which members of Congress send their children to private schools? And how many of those same members want school choice for the rest of the nation's children? (6/14/00)

Goal #1: School choice through charter schools, vouchers, open enrollment
Source: Vermonters for Better Education
Country: United States

"Ironically, many people who oppose school choice policies choose private schools for their own children, including politicians who block school choice legislation and members of the teachers' unions who fight choice programs in court and in legislatures."

The Crisis in American Education
Source: Sudbury Valley School
City: Framingham, State: MA, Country: United States
E-mail: sudval@aol.com

The educational institutions of this country are being challenged on every side with an intensity unparalleled in history. Among those offering new and better ways of teaching our children is the Sudbury Valley School.

Why conservatives should support California's voucher initiative
Source: Paul Revere Organization
Author: Karen Holgate
Country: United States

To put the entire voucher debate into perspective, it is always important to first look at the amount of money being spent on education. In California this is especially relevant…. (10/1/00)

What school choice is and why it works
Source: Business Journal
Country: United States

Howard Fuller, founder/director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, answers some basic questions about school choice. (12/25/00)

Vouchers: yea or nay
Source: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory/Insights on Education
Country: United States

Presents an overview of the voucher movement, status of voucher programs around the country, and the arguments for and against vouchers. (9/00)

What would a school voucher buy?
Source: Cato Institute
Country: United States

Cato Institute Executive Vice President David Boaz and R. Morris Barrett explain that $3,000 a year would go a long way toward buying a quality education. (10/26/96)

Benefits of school choice: An interview with Jay P. Greene
Source: Heartland Institute/School Reform News
Author: George A. Clowes
Country: United States

"I dare say that there's more high-quality evidence available on school choice than there is on almost any other issue in education policy." (11/00)

Nine lies about school choice
Source: Center for Education Reform
Country: United States

A detailed response to seven typical charges against school choice -- including the "undermining America" argument, the "Big Brother" argument, and the "lack of accountability" argument. (9/00)

Not the usual suspects
Source: Heritage Foundation
Country: United States

An interesting assortment of "the most wanted quotes on vouchers and school choice." Among the those quoted are Arthur Levine, Steve Jobs, Laurence Tribe, David Selden (former president of American Federation of Teachers), Albert Shanker (another former president of American Federation of Teachers), John Kerry and Michael Ovitz.

Voucher pioneers: an interview with Peter Flanigan
Source: Capital Research Center
Country: United States

An interview with the chairman of Children First America discusses a new movement in philanthropy that is making waves in the world of education. Individuals, foundations and corporations are pooling their resources to help underprivileged children escape failing schools and attend private and parochial schools. (05/01)

Getting off educational welfare
Source: Doing freedom
Author: Sunni Maravillosa
Country: United States

Argues that public education is a form of "multi-generational welfare system," and discusses ways to "get off welfare," including private schools, homeschooling and unschooling.

Q & A with Clint Bolick
Source: Cato Institute
Author: Clint Bolick
Country: United States

Clint Bolick answers readers' questions on school vouchers and other school choice issues. Part of Cato's "Ask Our Scholars" program.

Whatever it takes: an interview with Clint Bolick
Source: School Reform News
Author: George A. Clowes
Country: United States

Clint Bolick, a co-founder of the Institute for Justice, has defended school choice cases across the nation, including the one from Cleveland which is before the U.S. Supreme court. "You can never tell which case is going to be the precedent-setting case. And so our goal from the very beginning has been to do whatever it takes to get programs up and running and to keep them running." (01/02)

School choice and competition
Source: John Locke Foundation
Country: United States
E-mail: info@johnlocke.org

"Public education is a core function of state and local government. ... But public education need not and should not be delivered by inflexible, bureaucratic government monopolies ... empowering parents to make choices, and introducing competition into public education, should be core elements in any strategy to improve educational opportunity for all children."

School choice basics
Source: Cascade Policy Institute
Country: United States

Overview of education reform and an outline of the most common proposals regarding school choice.

School choice doesn't hurt public schools
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

"A new book published by the National Center for Policy Analysis dispels a number of myths about school choice. Among them is the myth that tax-funded school voucher programs weaken or destroy the public schools." (12/18/01)

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