Discusses the role that Political Action Committees (PACs) have played in school choice initiatives in public school systems nationwide. Suggests that the popular sentiment is in favor of school choice but that the PACs, through their overwhelming resources, are preventing its implementation in school districts nationwide. (MAB)

Public education in the U.S. has failed miserably. A substantial reason for this is that parents are not empowered to shape the course of their children's education. Under a system of choice, schools will improve, having to compete to survive. This paper argues that the responsibility for education should be devolved from the state and vested in…

Attempts to understand the implications for education of an apparent paradox of the welfare state: a new culture of education has developed involving both individual autonomy and continuing attachment to public provision of education to ensure that autonomy. Compares England and Scotland to illustrate the complexity of the political debate. (DSK)

Maintains that arts educators must guide students toward an understanding of artistic excellence that will inspire them to be avid audiences for art. Asserts that more rigorous and substantive standards in the arts curriculum is the first step toward reform. Describes alternatives to public education and the choice of charter schools. (CMK)

Politicians have been fascinated with choice and diversity in schooling provision for more than a decade now and this intense interest shows no sign of abating. In this article, the author suggests that the precise connection between choice and diversity in schooling provision is very little understood, and that the relationship between them…

Issues in school choice are examined in this paper, with a focus on the link between the political philosophy of Education 2000 and the likely civic, economic, and religious consequences for the United States. The first part briefly identifies selected attributes of the conservative and liberal philosophies regarding capitalism, democracy,…

The effectiveness of parent choice plans requires that schools-for-profit be given an equal opportunity to compete with government and nonprofit schools in the educational marketplace. Little information is available about schools-for-profit because most states do not gather separate statistical data on that category. However, the following…

Examines neoliberal educational policies in England and New Zealand related to school autonomy, school choice, private sector involvement, privatization, and accountability mechanisms. Argues that the rhetoric of neoliberal schooling policies is far removed from their reality, as governments confront the classic tension between fiscal imperatives…

Draws from the implementation of reform policies in Michigan to examine both the politics and political economy on the effects of schools as instruments for serving consumer preferences--a perspective referred to as instrumentalism. Contends that instrumentalism emphasizes individual private purposes and nonpublic forms of governance and…

Examines trends toward more central regulation of schools and greater decentralization of authority to schools, teachers, and parents. Examines policy changes in those areas in Great Britain and the United States. (SK)

The fundamental causes of poor academic performance are not the schools themselves but the institutions governing them. Bureaucracy imposed by democratic principles vitiates the most basic requirements of effective organization. State governments must create a new public education system based on the market principles of parental choice and school…

Reviewing school choice plans, Rinehart considers the only effective plan one in which the government cedes ownership and operation of schools to private sources. Mahlios counters that market-driven approaches to schooling deny access to or unevenly serve many groups. (SK)

Compares the actors and ideologies that have shaped national educational policy on school choice, particularly the 1988 Education Reform Act in England and the America 2000 Excellence in Education Act in the United States. Explains how the focus of recent national education reforms shifted from access and efficiency to demand for free markets and…

Massachusetts's school-choice program has seen a significant flight of students and dollars from inadequately funded urban districts to wealthier suburban districts. Despite the Haverhill district's cutting-edge curriculum, many students have transferred because of school location and the district's racial composition. School choice is not a…

The recent establishment of charter schools in Alberta (Canada) has prompted allegations of a radical change towards privatization by the Progressive Conservative (PC) government. However, policy decisions since the 1970s demonstrate that the PC government has consistently supported private alternatives to public education; charter schools extend…