Articles

RIP Andrew Coulson

February 08, 2016 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

Liberty lost one of her staunchest defenders yesterday morning, when Andrew Coulson passed away after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. Andrew was a Senior Fellow in education policy at the Cato Institute. In that position, Andrew researched, published,and advocated for school choice. I have long been an admirer of Andrew Coulson’s work ...

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The economic underpinnings of school choice

August 25, 2015 | By WENCONG FA

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 ...

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Back to School Choice 2015

August 24, 2015 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

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 … ...

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PLF supports school choice in Colorado

August 04, 2014 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

This morning PLF submitted an amicus brief in the Colorado Supreme Court in Taxpayers for Public Education v. Douglas County School District.  This case is being brought by a number of anti-school choice groups to prevent Douglas County from allowing students and their parents to choose the school that best suits their needs.  PLF’s brief ...

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Public schools' "boo-humbug" demonstrates the value of charter schools

October 31, 2013 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

Happy Halloween, everyone! …except to those unlucky students whose administrators have instead taken the position of “boo-humbug.”  As our friends at Reason explain, some overzealous school officials have gone Ebenezer Scrooge two months early, and waged a war on Halloween.  Citing concerns ranging from peanut allergies to obesi ...

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#Back2SchoolChoice — Is there school choice in California?

August 22, 2013 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

We often get asked here at PLF why there isn’t school choice in California.  The answer I usually give is that Californians do have some choices in education.  Californians, of course, have one of the most robust charter school laws in the country.  Further, California law permits transfers from one public school district to another scho ...

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#Back2SchoolChoice — What are tax credits?

August 21, 2013 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

When most people hear about school choice, they typically think about vouchers.  Vouchers are basically a check that parents receive from the state that they can use to send their children to private schools.  The check, or “voucher,” can be used by parents to send their children to either sectarian or secular schools.  The anti-cho ...

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Welcome to #Back2SchoolChoice Week!

August 19, 2013 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

With students around the country returning to school, PLF thought it would be a good time to remind everybody of the benefits of school choice.  To that end, all this week we will be celebrating Back to School Choice Week. School choice can mean many things, but broadly speaking, it is the idea that parents … ...

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School choice working in Wisconsin

April 24, 2013 | By JOSHUA THOMPSON

Our friends at the MacIver Institute report on the latest Wisconsin Student Assessment System results.  Wisconsin, you may know, recently expanded its first-in-the-nation school choice program.  What once only covered Milwaukee Public Schools was expanded to include Racine.  Lo and behold, the choice schools are improving student performance muc ...