American public higher education is in trouble. Besieged by declining state and Federal support for more than 30 years, public colleges and universities are facing a "game-changing" set of challenges that threaten to alter the very nature of the institutions. As two recessions withered state budgets in the first decade of the 21st…

It sounds tempting, especially in tough fiscal times: Hand over all the responsibility for food service management to a private company promising to provide nutritious and appetizing meals, keep up with increasingly complex regulations, and perhaps even make a profit. Privatization, or outsourcing, has worked well for some districts for years, but…

Teach for America (TFA) is perceived as a major player in the education wars over the future of public schools, and a key ally of those who disparage teacher unions and schools of education, and who are enamored of entrepreneurial reforms that bolster the privatization of a once-sacred public responsibility. But what exactly is TFA's role in these…

To help public schools experience free-market competition, Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander and President Bush propose parental choice among private, parochial, and public schools, supported by public financing for program design and tuition grants. Sidebars highlight church/state separation concerns and school choice experiments in…