Tiffany Dunston is the epitome of an education opportunity success story.
She grew up in a poor neighborhood in Washington, D.C., and became motivated in her own educational journey after her cousin who was going to be the first in the family to attend college was fatally shot at the age of 17.
But after starting out in a public elementary school in Washington, D.C., Dunston had the chance to enroll in a charter school, and later received a scholarship through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program to attend a private high school in the city, Archbishop Carroll High School.
COVID-19 May Energize Push for School Choice in States. Where That Leads Is Unclear 8 min read
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds delivers her Condition of the State address to state lawmakers on Jan. 12. She s pushing a major school choice expansion. Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP Share article Copy URL
If ever there was a moment for circumstances to fuel a big expansion of school choice in states, that moment is now at least in theory.
With millions of children still shut out of closed school buildings due to the coronavirus pandemic, many parents have looked for months for different options to provide an education for their children. In the early weeks of 2021, lawmakers in nearly a third of the states have responded with bills intended to establish or expand on things like tax-credit scholarships and education savings accounts.
The Mississippi Ethics Commission says charter school board members are subject to state ethics laws, which prohibit conflicts of interest that could lead to the misspending of public dollars.
But several operators and advocates of Mississippi charter schools, which receive taxpayer funding, say they should be exempt from those laws.
The conflict was brought to light by Ethics Commission opinions filed in 2020 after two charter schools were discovered to be spending their public funding with board membersâ employers.
The revelations highlight long-standing tension between charter school and traditional public school advocates, who say charter schools need to be held to the same standards as other public governing bodies.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
My RedState colleague, Jennifer Oliver O’Connell, brought up a valid point with her recent op-ed: Black Intellectuals Are Not Impressed with President Biden’s tact, tone, or focus in the weeks after the November election. There has been more skepticism over the initial days of his presidency as well.
Of course, this is a continuation from the guarded side-eyes that Black America has been giving the 46
If you want to see how much the wokeness of Black America will truly matter to the Biden/Harris Administration – especially if you understand that school choice and education equity lead to equality in America watch how it addresses and acts during this National School Choice Week, starting Monday.
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President-elect Joe Biden’s education secretary nominee, Miguel Cardona, opens a new chapter as that of Trump-appointee Betsy DeVos’s closes. Should the Senate confirm Cardona, it will fall to him to “ensure that no child’s future is determined by their ZIP code, parents’ income, race, or disability,” as the Biden-Harris platform put it.
Stubbornly high achievement gaps between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers continue to frustrate the realization of such ambitions.
In the nation’s capital, achievement gaps have been narrowed as the share of students in public charter schools has increased and the government-run school system reformed, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, also known as the Nation s Report Card. But much more needs to be done.