School vouchers are defined as certificates of government funding that are allocated to students and intended to defer the cost of tuition at a private school of the student or the student's parents' choice. With strong views on opposing sides, the issue of school choice and the corresponding use of vouchers has certainly been catapulted into the…

Purpose: In this essay, we examine the racial politics of education in the six decades after "Brown". We consider the state of educational policy in an era in which market reform advocates often invoke the spirit of the "Brown" decision even as the Supreme Court has largely vacated the legal framework provided by…

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Australia, states that the 'best interests of the child' shall be a primary consideration in all decisions about children, yet these are rarely considered in Australian education-related legislation and policy. This article considers the history and current practice of national…

Education savings accounts are the way of the future. Under such accounts--managed by parents with state supervision to ensure accountability--parents can use their children's education funding to choose among public and private schools, online education programs, certified private tutors, community colleges, and even universities. Education…

The impact of Florida's "A+" accountability program, which until 2006 included a voucher program for chronically failing schools, on public school performance has been extensively studied. The results have consistently shown a positive effect on academic outcomes in Florida public schools. However, no empirical research has been done on…

This article reviews educational initiatives of state and federal government that were designed to remedy the effects of racial segregation on Black public school students in the United States after the famous "Brown v. Board of Education" decisions. Several policy and legal initiatives are reviewed, including school desegregation,…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Is She Your Competition? Are India's Students…

Explores the legal implications of a voucher program for private school autonomy and then describes how autonomy and accountability issues surfaced in litigation involving the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, program. An appendix details the Notice of School's Intent to Participate requirements of the relevant Wisconsin statute. (88 footnotes) (MLF)

In this era of educational choice, school accountability, research-based practices, and commercial competition--illustrated by but not exclusive to No Child Left Behind--some schools, public and private, make claims that resemble false advertising and that some parents rely on, to their disappointment and even detriment. Moreover, the laudable…

This paper discusses the legal implications of "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris," the Supreme Court ruling on education vouchers. The ruling opens the way for vouchers, as concerns the federal judiciary, but the decision did not abrogate many states' restrictive provisions regarding publicly funded voucher and tax-benefit programs. Nor did the decision…

Today, school reform efforts that called for the expansion of school choice options for American families and their children are based upon the theory that the ability to select among educational alternatives was connected to rights and privileges guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. As a part of a national movement toward increased school…

In this report, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) provides a summary of its FY 2005 accomplishments. Also, in recognition of the 25th anniversary, some of the significant cases that OCR has resolved over the years are highlighted. The last quarter century was eventful and challenging for OCR. Major U.S. Supreme Court decisions, such as "Grove…

In March 1990, the Wisconsin legislature passed into law the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Its enactment made Wisconsin the only state in the nation with a private school voucher plan. Litigation concerning the constitutionality of the program has involved the following actions: (1) the Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to hear the case; (2)…

As a follow-up to an earlier ECS report on the extent to which states were prepared to implement President Bush's education plan, this report provides an in-depth examination of three major Bush plan initiatives: assessing student performance, motivating and assessing low-performing schools, and providing school-choice options. The report begins…

In 2002 the Supreme Court decided that tuition vouchers for private and religious schools do not violate the First Amendment's establishment clause. With "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris," the case in question, the Court put the school-choice debate back in the political arena, where it belongs, according to this position paper/policy brief.…