Articles

This week the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided Discovery Charter School v. School District of Philadelphia. As we discussed last year, Discovery is a successful Philadelphia school that serves grades K-8. In light of its students’ academic success, Discovery amassed a waiting list of 1,448 hopeful new students. In 2012, Discovery sought ...

In the recent confirmation hearing held for Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Democrats fulminated over public school funding. “Can you commit,” Senator Patty Murray asked, “that you will not work to … cut a single penny from public education?” Devos did not commit. Nor should she. ...

No one could find decent shoes in communist Russia. You’d get a pair with no choice regarding quality, type, or shoe size. No thought for your situation; no need to please the customer. You got what they gave you. Our public school system faces the same basic problem. Quality and fit too often suffer because we’ve forgotten … ...

This week, PLF filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the School Board of Palm Beach County illegally denied an application to start a new charter school. Charter schools are privately run public schools that operate under a performance contract (charter) with a public sponsor (usually a school district). Charter schools operate free from ...

As is its tradition, the Supreme Court began its new Term on the first Monday in October. In the weeks leading up to that day, many organizations host “preview” events (especially in Washington, DC) with leading Supreme Court advocates and other legal experts to discuss the most important cases the Court has agreed to hear. … ...

Over a thousand kids in Washington no longer have their school of choice. The Supreme Court of Washington decided last Friday that the state’s voter-passed charter school act violates the state constitution. The decision came on the cusp of the school year, tossing 1200 charter school students into limbo and axing Washington’s only sc ...

The ACLU plans to sink school choice in Nevada. In June, Nevada passed the nation’s first universal Education Savings Account. The law allows students to take their allotment of per-pupil public school funding and direct it towards tuition for the school of their choice. In short, it offers a lifeline to parents and kids who want to … ...

People support school choice for many reasons. Most support it because it’s the last best hope for their children to get a decent education. Some hope that it is a means to mitigate the impacts of racial and income segregation. Still others support it as an alternative to the highly-politicized resolution of sensitive religious and … ...

While many of us think the term “cradle to grave government” is a derogatory label, state governments are wearing the title like a badge of honor.  Despite the massive amount of funds needed, and the loads and loads of research about what a failure it is, states are seeking to establish or expand compulsory, uniform … ...