school choice - Page 5

President Donald Trump made the end of Common Core and the return to local control of education the primary items of his campaign’s education agenda, but the woman leading his education department claims Common Core has not existed in the country’s schools since 2015.

A poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) finds a solid majority of Californians support taxpayer-funded vouchers for private and religious schools.

In a brief press release posted on the U.S. Department of Education’s website, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said she has accepted an invitation from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten to visit a public school in Van Wert, Ohio.

The Texas Senate passed school choice legislation, Senate Bill 3, that would establish education savings accounts and tax credit scholarship programs intended to expand K-12 options for children. The bill crossed the finish line in a final vote of 18-13 on Thursday with a few notable changes.

The president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) says President Donald Trump’s budget blueprint “takes a meat cleaver to public education.”

President Donald Trump’s newly released 2018 budget calls for an increase in federal spending on school choice programs by $1.4 billion, ultimately reaching an annual total of $20 billion.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was highly critical of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during her confirmation hearing, citing that DeVos had never attended a public school or sent a child to one.

President Donald Trump visited St. Andrew Catholic School in Pine Hills, Florida, on Friday to draw attention to his plan to open up education opportunities to every child with school choice.

While President Donald Trump called upon Congress this week to pass education legislation that funds school choice for low-income students nationwide, Texas House Education Committee Chairman Representative Dan Huberty (R-Kingwood) struck a blow to school choice, declaring it a “dead” issue in the state’s current legislative session.

In his address to the joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump asserted, “Education is the civil rights issue of our time.”

A pastor and his wife have been arrested in Cuba for homeschooling their children, according to Mike Donnelly, director of global outreach for the Home School Legal Defense Association, a U.S.-based organization that has offered legal assistance to homeschooling families since 1983.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was a guest at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday, stating that she is working to “find common ground” with the teachers’ unions that were vocal opponents of her nomination and confirmation.

Homeschooling families throughout the nation are voicing opposition to a Republican-sponsored school choice bill that they say will ultimately result in regulation of homeschooling in the United States.

A resolution by the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) to invite newly confirmed U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for a visit has been rescinded at the urging of the city’s teachers’ union.

The Heartland Institute’s senior fellow for education policy explains why newly confirmed U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would do well to “improve her standing with grassroots groups” by first addressing local control of education before she moves ahead on school choice.

Americans from across the political spectrum are voicing strong reactions to the Senate’s confirmation of now-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

With debate on Betsy DeVos’ nomination ended, President Donald Trump’s pick for the nation’s top education post will likely require the rare situation of a sitting vice president to trek over to the Senate to break a 50-50 tie in order to get her over the finish line.

Governor Greg Abbott addressed members of the Texas House and Senate in his State of the State Address on Tuesday and laid out his emergency items, including banning sanctuary cities, reforming the embattled agency responsible for safeguarding children, calling for a Convention of States to address overreaches by the federal government, and ethics reform governing elected officials.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the federal education department was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee along party lines, 12-11.

Two lawmakers proposed amending the Texas Constitution to shore up protections for private and home school students from state and local regulations.

Grassroots activists who have been battling against federal control of education in the states say the list of staffers already working for the Trump administration’s education department looks much like a cross between what a “President” Jeb Bush would have ordered and what President Barack Obama left behind on his way out.

School choice continues to dominate the national education debate and the Texas 2017 legislative session where two more state lawmakers filed bills, this time to pilot tax credit scholarship programs.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to sign school choice legislation that reaches his desk, loudly signaling he hopes to see a bill from the 85th Legislature.

Every child deserves an equal opportunity to learn. Yet today millions of children across our nation find themselves trapped in failing schools, barring them from the chance to receive the education they need to climb out of poverty and up the economic ladder.

An estimated 4,000 Texans are expected to rally in Austin today to show their support for expanded school choice during National School Choice Week. They will bring their message to the south steps of the Capitol building.

Senate Democrats on the chamber’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee pressed Betsy DeVos during her confirmation hearing Tuesday evening with questions about her financial contributions, her knowledge of federal education laws, and her intentions toward the nation’s public schools.

One Texas lawmaker’s bill, if passed during the 2017 legislative session, stands to derail school choice options for failing campuses by taking them down a progressive community schools path and bypassing existing options that include re-purposing a campus as a public charter school.

U.S. Department of Education nominee Betsy DeVos will give her opening statement to Senate HELP Committee members Tuesday afternoon, but she is not expected to mention the Common Core standards reform in that statement.

Former House Speaker John Boehner is endorsing Betsy DeVos as the next federal education department secretary.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush says she is “enthusiastically endorsing Betsy DeVos to be our next secretary of education.”

The executive director and the senior fellow at Boston-based think tank Pioneer Institute warn Trump federal Education Department pick Betsy DeVos “to understand that the best school innovation comes from states, localities, and parents,” not the federal government.

“For nearly 30 years, Betsy DeVos has been leading the charge for expanded choice, improved quality and enhanced accountability in education,” the former CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce writes.

A member of the leadership team at Stop Common Core in Michigan says their activists are “not fooled” by Trump education secretary pick Betsy DeVos’s she is not a supporter of Common Core.

Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos joined him for a “Thank You” rally in her home state of Michigan where she told the crowd making education great again means “finally putting an end to the federal Common Core.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos has contributed both her wealth and influence to the creation of more charter schools in her home state of Michigan, but national test scores show the state has not fared well as a result, says a report in Politico.

Dr. Larry Arnn explains that because Hillsdale rejects federal funding, it enjoys the freedom to teach its students what they need to know without interference and mandates from the centralized bureaucracy that is the U.S. Department of Education.