Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos wants to privatize American education using charter schools, vouchers, tax credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and portable federal funds. Court and legislative decisions are facilitating these ends. Understanding the school choice agenda and its fiscal, academic, and legal aspects can help…

Strong public schools are the backbone of strong communities. A good public school system can be a city's biggest draw. An underperforming public school often marks a city's decline. Public education is perhaps the most crucial investment government can make. Although most Ohioans are educated in public schools, since the 1990s state policymakers…

Voucher and education savings account (ESA) programs fund students' private school education expenses, such as tuition. In school year 2014-15, 22 such school choice programs were operating nationwide, all but one of which was state funded. Under two federal grant programs, one for students with disabilities and one for students from disadvantaged…

School choice advocates have long opposed what they perceive as the hegemony the public sector has on the education enterprise primarily because it contravenes free-market principles. They fervently believe that competition will compel all schools to improve and become more efficient if they must adapt to remain open. Voucher opponents argue that…

Council for American Private Education (CAPE) is a coalition of national associations serving private schools K-12. "Outlook" is published monthly by CAPE. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Repeal of Blaine Amendment on Florida Ballot in November; (2) Top Private Education Events of 2011; (3) New Guidance Issued on ESEA…

In 1999 the Ohio Supreme Court found the Cleveland school voucher program to be constitutional, thereby allowing the three-year-old initiative to continue. However, the school voucher program was ended when Judge Solomon Oliver enjoined the program after the anti-voucher coalition filed suit asking for a preliminary injunction. The judge's…

The big battles over school vouchers in American education have focused on programs serving low-income children who live in urban areas. Milwaukee's program, begun in 1990, is the biggest and oldest in the country, and the District of Columbia effort, funded by the federal government, has been the most carefully studied. Both have been focal…

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides Congress with an opportunity to amend the Unsafe School Choice Option (USCO) provision to ensure that the intent of the law is met. Based on the experience the Office of Inspector General (OIG) gained through audits, they prepared this report to inform Department…

The National Association of State Directors of Special Education has published documents on home schooling and various aspects of the charter school movement, but not on other types of school choice such as vouchers. This Project Forum document focuses on voucher programs that are specifically designed to provide public funds for parental…

The study of school choice for special education students brings together several important pieces of legislation which are separately the focus of high interest. This paper reviews the features of the three major special education bills (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Acts, the Americans with…

Since Mueller vs. Allen (1983), several legal decisions have attempted to clarify what is the appropriate relationship between religion and public education in a democratic society. During this time, the United States legal system has shifted, moving the historic "establishment clause" away from a strict "separationist" view…