Private school vouchers open faith options for kids of color
2 years, 1 month ago

Private school vouchers open faith options for kids of color

Associated Press  

MILWAUKEE — On break in the hallway between St. Marcus Lutheran Church and its attached school, eighth grader Annii Kinepoway had no hesitation in explaining what she’s learned to love best here — the good Lord and good grades. “I was looking for a school that would help me.” St. Anthony is one of the country’s largest Catholic schools – 1,500 students on five campuses who are 99% Latino and almost entirely covered by public funding, said its president, Rosana Mateo. “Our neediest students should have the opportunity to go to private schools,” said Mateo, a former deputy superintendent in Milwaukee’s public schools. “Say there’s a dispute between two kids ready to go to blows,” said Ernie DiDomizio, the principal of St. Catherine School, citing an example from that morning when students were fighting over sneakers. Here there are all kinds, and nobody is discriminated.” One of her daughter’s fifth-grade classmates, Evelyn Ramirez, likes St. Anthony’s lesson that God “made the world with good people and not just mean people.” Catholic schools historically played a major role in integrating Hispanic immigrants in American culture, especially when public schools were segregated, said Felipe Hinojosa, a professor of Latino politics and religion at Texas A&M University.

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History of this topic

Republican Plan To Get Christianity Into Schools
2 weeks, 4 days ago

Republican Plan To Get Christianity Into Schools

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING From displaying the Ten Commandments to demanding that teachers use the Bible in their classrooms, conservatives seem determined to blur the lines between church and state by infusing Christianity into public schools. “We’re seeing an effort to have this Supreme Court reconsider longstanding precedent on keeping public schools secular,” Laser said. “I’m concerned we’ve sent a troubling …

More than 3,000 privately-educated pupils applied to join state schools between June and September as Labour's VAT tax raid forces parents to pay extra £2,000 on fees
1 month, 1 week ago

More than 3,000 privately-educated pupils applied to join state schools between June and September as Labour's VAT tax raid forces parents to pay extra £2,000 on fees

Daily Mail  

More than 3,000 private school pupils have already applied to join the state sector amid Labour's tax raid, new figures revealed today. Carrdus School, in Oxfordshire, which is owned by leading girls' school Tudor Hall, recently announced it will be closing its doors in the spring if it cannot find a buyer Critics of the policy, including Tory leader Kemi …

Meet the parents taking the government to court over VAT on private schools
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Meet the parents taking the government to court over VAT on private schools

The Independent  

They don’t understand,” one parent, Kathryn, is telling me. Over the last year, Kathryn has been supporting campaign group Education not Taxation, a collective of parents with children in private schools who are challenging Labour’s policy to tax private school fees. I mean, what a ridiculous thing that is – we’re not all Etons and Harrows, that’s the minority.” Until …

Commentary: Education gets short shrift from Trump and Harris on the presidential campaign trail
2 months ago

Commentary: Education gets short shrift from Trump and Harris on the presidential campaign trail

LA Times  

Once again, education hasn’t made the grade as a serious and important campaign issue. He wants to open parent choice, to the point of allowing widespread vouchers that include religious schools, even though it’s not the parents who pay for public education. Harris has had even less to say, mainly limiting herself to brief mentions of continuing some kind of …

A Christian Nationalist attempt at undermining public education as we know it?
2 months, 3 weeks ago

A Christian Nationalist attempt at undermining public education as we know it?

Raw Story  

This is the second part of a discussion with Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University about his new book “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.” Part one of the interview was published on Thursday. The effort to get school vouchers approved nationwide has a long and varied history, but …

Inside the ‘religious separatist movement in American education’
2 months, 3 weeks ago

Inside the ‘religious separatist movement in American education’

Raw Story  

The effort to get school vouchers approved nationwide has a long and varied history, but a book released this month posits that it is essentially a Christian Nationalist attempt at undermining public education as we know it. Chief among them was Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, considered by many to have “launched the modern school choice movement,” with his 1955 …

Vouchers ease start-up stress for churches seeing demand for more Christian schools
3 months ago

Vouchers ease start-up stress for churches seeing demand for more Christian schools

Associated Press  

Florida pastor Melvin Adams knows a few hours of church programming every week is no match for the more than 30 hours children spend at secular schools, absorbing lessons that he says run counter to their family’s Christian beliefs. It’s not about hurting public schools, said pastor Jimmy Scroggins, whose Family Church in South Florida is hoping to launch three …

Prove you can’t afford private school fees, council asks parents
3 months, 2 weeks ago

Prove you can’t afford private school fees, council asks parents

The Telegraph  

Parents have been asked to provide evidence they can no longer afford private school fees to secure a place at a state school. However, if you can provide evidence that you can no longer finance the independent school fees, please advise and we can make a local authority non-preference allocation.” Councils must not ask for parents’ financial status All children …

Ample signatures collected for referendum to repeal private school funding law, organizers say
5 months, 1 week ago

Ample signatures collected for referendum to repeal private school funding law, organizers say

Associated Press  

— Public school advocates say they have enough signatures to ask Nebraska voters in November to repeal a law that provides taxpayer money for private school tuition, marking the latest twist in a long-running fight with state lawmakers who have repeatedly opposed efforts to let voters weigh in on the public funding plan. “Nebraskans deserve the opportunity to vote on …

Phillipson blames private schools for ‘pricing out’ middle classes in row over VAT on fees
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Phillipson blames private schools for ‘pricing out’ middle classes in row over VAT on fees

The Independent  

Labour has hit back at criticism of its plans to impose VAT on private schools, blaming inflation-busting hikes in school fees over the years for “pricing out the middle classes”. “I just believe that we need to make sure we’re prioritising public money, and we shouldn’t be giving unjustified tax breaks to private schools, who are their own businesses and …

After decades of lobbying by Christian conservatives, school vouchers may have the votes
6 months ago

After decades of lobbying by Christian conservatives, school vouchers may have the votes

Raw Story  

"After decades of lobbying by Christian conservative donors, school voucher legislation may finally have the votes" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. “When your whole national messaging strategy is based on this unstoppable flood of parents rising …

Public school advocates again face how to stop school choice in Nebraska
8 months ago

Public school advocates again face how to stop school choice in Nebraska

Associated Press  

— Public school advocates in Nebraska are decrying the passage of bill to directly fund private school tuition with taxpayer money as a “cowardly act” to keep voters from deciding the issue at the ballot box. The new measure will directly fund those private school tuition scholarships from state coffers, and leaves the ballot measure to repeal the private school …

$6,500 school vouchers coming to Georgia as bill gets final passage and heads to governor
9 months ago

$6,500 school vouchers coming to Georgia as bill gets final passage and heads to governor

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia senators gave final approval Wednesday to a plan to create a $6,500 voucher funding for private school tuition and home schooling, sending the measure to Gov. The bill would provide $6,500 education savings accounts to students attending public schools that rank in Georgia’s bottom 25% for academic achievement. They also say private schools don’t have to accept …

Georgia school voucher bill narrowly clears longtime obstacle with state House passage
9 months, 1 week ago

Georgia school voucher bill narrowly clears longtime obstacle with state House passage

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Georgia Republicans powered a voucher plan funding private school tuition and home schooling through the state House on Thursday, nearing a goal that has long eluded the state’s school choice advocates as GOP leaders overcame longstanding skepticism from some rural members of their party The House voted 91-82 for Senate Bill 233, passing it with one vote to …

Voucher expansion leads to more students, waitlists and classes for some religious schools
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Voucher expansion leads to more students, waitlists and classes for some religious schools

Associated Press  

The Miami Archdiocese’s superintendent of schools says Catholic education is increasingly in demand in South Florida, now that all K-12 students regardless of income are allowed to use taxpayer-funded programs to pay for private school tuition. Ed Choice President Robert Enlow disagrees: “These are funds given to parents that are neutrally and privately making choices to spend them at nonpublic …

'Inequality in funding' driving public school exodus as private schools continue to lift enrolments
10 months, 1 week ago

'Inequality in funding' driving public school exodus as private schools continue to lift enrolments

ABC  

In short: Enrolments at private schools are growing at a faster rate than those at public schools, despite interest rate rises and cost of living pressures. Meanwhile, public schools grew by just 0.3 per cent, a small improvement from last year when public school enrolments actually fell. In the five years to 2023, independent school enrolments grew by 14 per …

Why panicked private-school parents are fighting each other for a place at the local comp
1 year, 1 month ago

Why panicked private-school parents are fighting each other for a place at the local comp

The Telegraph  

Michael Armitage, deputy head at Amesbury School, a co-educational prep school on the Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex border, worries for small independent prep schools like his that prepare children for a wide variety of schools rather than being linked to a particular senior school. Other small independent schools are pre-emptively merging – Edgeborough School has recently fallen in with …

Teachers’ advocates challenge private school voucher program in South Carolina
1 year, 1 month ago

Teachers’ advocates challenge private school voucher program in South Carolina

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A group of South Carolina parents and teachers’ advocates filed a challenge Thursday to a new Republican-backed law allowing taxpayer dollars to help families pay for private schools. The South Carolina Education Association and state chapter of the NAACP want the state’s highest court to toss out the program that they said runs afoul of a prohibition …

Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states
1 year, 1 month ago

Parents like private school vouchers so much that demand is exceeding budgets in some states

Associated Press  

In some states, higher-income families can now use taxpayer money to cover private school tuition -- and more people than projected are taking the offer, which might force scrambles to shore up state budgets. It’s especially an issue in states like Arizona and Iowa, where at least some families whose children were already in private school can now take advantage …

Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, a rising political star, crosses partisan school choice divide
1 year, 2 months ago

Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, a rising political star, crosses partisan school choice divide

Associated Press  

HARRISBURG, Pa. — In the partisan politics of education funding, the school choice movement has pressed states for decades to send taxpayer money to private and religious schools and long had to concentrate its efforts on states where a Republican governor was an ally. Shapiro would later back down in the face of House Democratic opposition, but his support has …

Opponents of Nebraska plan to use public money for private school tuition seek ballot initiative
1 year, 3 months ago

Opponents of Nebraska plan to use public money for private school tuition seek ballot initiative

Associated Press  

Organizers of an effort to have Nebraska voters weigh in on whether to use taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition scholarships said Wednesday they have more than enough signatures to put that question on the November 2024 ballot. “This wildly successful petition effort has shown that Nebraskans agree.” The effort was launched even before Nebraska lawmakers passed a …

Column: Why ‘school choice’ was doomed when it became a cover for segregation
1 year, 4 months ago

Column: Why ‘school choice’ was doomed when it became a cover for segregation

LA Times  

Katie Hobbs is the bearer of bad news for Arizona families that rely on state aid to pay private school tuition. You should pay attention to Arizona, because its school finance battles could well be used to reopen a national debate about the Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. It was after that 1954 decision outlawing …

Milwaukee bankruptcy avoidance plan clears Wisconsin Legislature
1 year, 6 months ago

Milwaukee bankruptcy avoidance plan clears Wisconsin Legislature

Associated Press  

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Legislature on Wednesday passed a bipartisan plan to prevent Milwaukee from going bankrupt that also sends more state aid to every community in the state, a long-sought-after funding increase agreed to by Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Evers, speaking Wednesday on WTMJ-AM before the vote, heralded the deal as “really, really important” both for Milwaukee …

Proposals would bring dramatic change to Ohio’s voucher program
1 year, 6 months ago

Proposals would bring dramatic change to Ohio’s voucher program

Associated Press  

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio parents could soon see more taxpayer money in their pockets to help send their schoolchildren to private and religious schools, or fund homeschooling, under changes to a voucher program that Republican state lawmakers and the governor must hammer out by month’s end. Dubbed “backpack bills” because the funding follows students wherever they go, both legislative proposals …

Nebraska passes law on taxpayer money going to private schools
1 year, 6 months ago

Nebraska passes law on taxpayer money going to private schools

Associated Press  

— Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that will channel public money to scholarships for private school tuition, despite critics who say the measure hurts public schools, benefits wealthy taxpayers and helps mostly parochial schools that can discriminate against LGBTQ+ students. Public school advocates have blasted the measure as a “school voucher scheme” that will hurt the state’s K-12 public …

Large private school voucher expansion voted for by both North Carolina legislative chambers
1 year, 7 months ago

Large private school voucher expansion voted for by both North Carolina legislative chambers

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — Families at any income level — not just the poor and the middle class — could receive North Carolina taxpayer funds for their children to attend K-12 private schools under legislation getting formal support Wednesday with votes in both chambers. Rep. Julie von Haefen, a Wake County Democrat opposed to the program, said eliminating the income standards …

South Carolina governor signs private school voucher bill
1 year, 7 months ago

South Carolina governor signs private school voucher bill

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s governor signed a bill into law Thursday that will eventually allow up to 15,000 students in the state to use public money for private schools. Within three years, the eligibility is to be capped at 15,000 students, or about 2% of South Carolina’s school age population, for families making around $120,000 or less. Republican South …

N. Carolina GOP seeks big private school voucher expansion
1 year, 7 months ago

N. Carolina GOP seeks big private school voucher expansion

Associated Press  

RALEIGH, N.C. — Public money for private school tuition would be available to all of North Carolina’s K-12 students regardless of income under Republican-backed legislation that began advancing in the General Assembly on Wednesday. In a tweet last week, Cooper called the expansion proposal “worse than awful” for offering “vouchers that can be used by billionaires to send their kids …

After years, South Carolina appears set for school vouchers
1 year, 7 months ago

After years, South Carolina appears set for school vouchers

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina House gave key approval to an education voucher bill Wednesday, likely clearing the way for up to 15,000 students to be able to use public money for private school tuition. They said parents should have the freedom to send their children to whatever school educates them best and the idea will help public schools, …

Florida becomes 4th red state to expand school-choice options this year
1 year, 9 months ago

Florida becomes 4th red state to expand school-choice options this year

CNN  

Washington CNN — Riding the so-called “parental rights” movement, more Republican-led states are changing the way they fund K-12 education, making it easier for families to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private schools. All families in Iowa, Utah, Arkansas and Florida – regardless of their income – will soon be eligible for thousands of state dollars each …

Public money for private school tuition bill advances
1 year, 9 months ago

Public money for private school tuition bill advances

Associated Press  

— Nebraska could join 48 other states in offering public money for private school tuition under a bill advanced by the state Legislature on Wednesday, even as some lawmakers expressed concern about taxpayer dollars going to private schools allowed to turn away students based on religious tenets. Rather than appropriating taxpayer dollars directly toward private school vouchers, the bill would …

Iowa lawmakers OK public money for private school students
1 year, 10 months ago

Iowa lawmakers OK public money for private school students

Associated Press  

DES MOINES, Iowa — Any Iowa student who wants to attend a private school could use public money to pay for tuition or other expenses under a plan passed Tuesday by the Legislature and quickly signed into law by Gov. During debate Monday night, Rep. Steven Holt, a Republican from Denison, said Democrats were overstating what the private school funding …

Are private schools better than public schools?
1 year, 11 months ago

Are private schools better than public schools?

ABC  

The number of Australian children attending private high schools in Australia is growing. In 2012, 63 per cent of high school students attended public schools, while 34 per cent attended private schools. Loading YouTube content Private schools are better funded According to data from the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, the government provides about $14,000 in funding per public …

Huge Arizona school voucher plan in effect after foes fail
2 years, 2 months ago

Huge Arizona school voucher plan in effect after foes fail

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — All Arizona parents now can use state tax money to send their children to private or religious schools or pay homeschooling costs after an effort by public school advocates to block a massive expansion of the state’s private school voucher law failed to collect enough signatures to block it. He celebrated on Twitter, saying “Let’s Roll!” and “Parents …

Foes of Arizona school vouchers file to block huge expansion
2 years, 3 months ago

Foes of Arizona school vouchers file to block huge expansion

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Public school advocates who oppose a massive expansion of Arizona’s private school voucher system enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. “But we have enough that we feel confident that with the validity of our signatures we can turn in and get through the processing and get it on the ballot.” Voucher opponents …

Arizona OKs biggest US school voucher plan, faces challenge
2 years, 5 months ago

Arizona OKs biggest US school voucher plan, faces challenge

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Republican Gov. The expansion Ducey signed will let every parent in Arizona take public money now sent to the K-12 public school system and use it to pay for their children’s private school tuition or other education costs. “Our network of volunteers across the state are pumped and ready.” Lewis and other public school advocates say vouchers take …

SC Senate approves allowing public money for private schools
2 years, 8 months ago

SC Senate approves allowing public money for private schools

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate late Wednesday gave key approval to a bill that would allow some poorer or disabled students taxpayer money to attend a private school or a public school outside their district. Opponents of the program said it likely violates the state constitution, which prohibits spending public money on private or religious schools. More conservative …

SC Senate debates private school choice for poorer students
2 years, 8 months ago

SC Senate debates private school choice for poorer students

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Senate’s debate on a bill that would give some poorer or disabled students money so they could pick a private school or public school outside their district will continue into next week. “Please stop bringing your politics to our classrooms.” The program would be limited to 5,000 students the first year before reaching a …

The far right’s national plan for schools: Plant charters, defund public education
2 years, 9 months ago

The far right’s national plan for schools: Plant charters, defund public education

Salon  

This is the final installment of a three-part investigative series on Hillsdale College, its charter school network and its connection to the national struggle over education. RELATED: Right-wing authoritarianism is winning — but higher education is where we can fight back This January, after Orange County began a post-census redistricting process, and a bill was proposed to move school board …

SC House considering its own private school voucher bill
2 years, 10 months ago

SC House considering its own private school voucher bill

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Leaders in the South Carolina House appear to be pushing their own bill to give poorer parents money to pay tuition at private schools. Unlike some other voucher programs, the money wouldn’t come out of the state budget for public schools, instead being pulled from a contingency fund, House Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith said. Rep. …

Republicans want input from education voucher bill opponents
2 years, 10 months ago

Republicans want input from education voucher bill opponents

Associated Press  

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The leader of Republicans in the South Carolina Senate said one of his main goals this session is to pass a bill that would allow some parents to get public money to spend on private schools. Economists who estimate how much bills could cost issued a fiscal impact statement saying if every eligible student participates, the program …

Public school parents sue over private school voucher law
2 years, 11 months ago

Public school parents sue over private school voucher law

Associated Press  

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Three parents of children who attend public schools in West Virginia have filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s private school voucher law. The suit filed Wednesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court contends the law violates the state Constitution and will siphon money away from public education, news outlets reported. The legislation originated in the GOP-led House of …

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