December 26, 2017

Vouchers(ESA)/Charter Schools

Two Republican senators brought up the unique challenges students in sparsely populated areas face during Education Secretary-nominee Betsy DeVos’s hearing.

The Atlantic, Jan 19, 2017

Rural public schools in Maine face lost funding, student numbers, and their place as the center of the community in the face of school choice.

Bangor Daily News, Apr 5, 2017

Nevada’s failed universal voucher program provided a useful template for what a school landscape could look like under the education secretary-nominee.

The Atlantic, Feb 2, 2017

In 2015-16, most ESA money was used by students from wealthier school districts in Arizona. The program is subsidizing private education for wealthy families, but poorer families still can’t afford the additional expenses of private education.

The Arizona Republic, Feb 23, 2016

This brief describes what ESAs are, what has happened in other states with ESAs, and the major concerns associated with the ESAs.

National Education Association

In the Las Vegas area, most of the voucher applications were submitted from wealthy districts, while only 33 of 3,067 applications came from inner city zip codes.

Las Vegas Sun, Oct 29, 2015

Several recent studies have shown that students using vouchers under-perform their counterparts in public schools.

LA Times, Feb 28, 2017

Recent research on statewide voucher programs in Louisiana and Indiana has found that public school students that received vouchers to attend private schools scored lower compared to similar students who did not attend private schools.

Brookings Institute

A recent CREDO study comparing charter school performance found that for profit schools perform much worse than non-profit schools. Other key finding are highlighted

US News and World Report. June 30, 2017