Articles

School choice is too important to only celebrate for one week in January, so three years ago PLF created Back to School Choice Week. Much like it’s bigger brother Back to School Choice Week is designed to raise awareness of school choice. As children are headed back to school after the summer, we think it’s an important … ...

Two seemingly unrelated phenomena in education often befuddle those interested in the topic. First, substandard public schools continue to fail no matter how much money the government throws their way. Second, teachers’ unions across the country categorically oppose school choice programs of all shapes and sizes. The same economic principle e ...

In 2002, school choice advocates won a major victory when the Supreme Court of the United States upheld an Ohio scholarship program designed to provide better educational options to students in inner-city Cleveland. The program provided district students with a scholarship to attend any participating public or private school within the district bou ...

For Back to School Choice Week 2015, I am reposting my podcast with Andrew Coulson, Director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute. It is the best podcast I have been a part of, and it is especially apt for Back to School Choice Week. Andrew and I discuss a variety of school … ...

The Commonwealth Court issued a major victory to charter schools in Philadelphia yesterday when it ruled the Philadelphia School District cannot unilaterally decide to ignore state law. In a case that PLF has been following very closely, the school district had tried to suspend state law law preventing it from imposing enrollment caps on charter & ...

What’s better than one School Choice Week?  Two school choice weeks. At PLF we weren’t satisfied with simply celebrating school choice week in January, so four years ago we started Back to School Choice Week. As kids are going back to school, it’s important to remember that most families in this country have few educational opt ...

John Oliver made news this week with his blistering attack on charter schools. In the segment, Oliver blasts a former presidential candidate who used pizza shops to make the point that “we will improve the public schools if there’s a sense of competition.” If there’s just one pizza shop in town, good luck getting better  ...

A little over two years ago the Los Angeles County Superior Court issued a decision in Vegara v. California that shook the California public school system. The court ruled that three Education Code statutes — permanent employment, last-in-first-out, and dismissal — violated the rights of California students under California’s Equ ...

Discovery Charter School is a successful Philadelphia school that serves grades K-8. In light of its academic success, Discovery has amassed a waiting list of 1,448 hopeful students. In 2012, Discovery sought permission from the School District of Philadelphia to amend its charter to increase enrollment by 430 students over a four-year period. B ...