Special Education
New Study Dispels Special Ed Funding Myth About Charter Schools
The wide funding gap between regular public schools and charter schools is often explained by charter opponents as due to the larger number of special-education students in regular public schools versus charter schools. A just released study, however, debunks this claim. There is no doubt that regular public schools receive …
PRI Panel of Former Speechwriters – Pres. Biden’s State of the Union Address
This special edition podcast features PRI’s panel of former speechwriters offering their perspectives on Pres. Biden’s first State of the Union Address. On the panel: Lance Izumi, a former speechwriter to Gov. George Deukmejian and former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and now PRI’s senior director of the Center of Education; …
Yes, Parents Can Homeschool Their Special Needs Children
There are many myths that surround homeschooling, but one of the biggest is that it is too difficult for parents to homeschool their children with special needs. However, the reality is that many parents homeschool their special needs children because the regular public schools often fail to offer the type …
Biden Get a “D” on End-of-Semester Education Report Card
The 2020-21 school year has ended with failures across the education landscape. In the face of this education catastrophe, President Joe Biden earns a disappointing “D” on his end-of-semester report card. From still-not-fully-reopened schools to inadequate school-district distance learning efforts to huge student learning losses to rampant mental health problems …
Why African-American Parents Are Seeking Greater School Choice
With the close of Black History Month, it is the perfect time to examine how the public school system has often poorly served African-American children and why a large proportion of African-American parents support school choice. Data shows that the regular public schools are failing to meet the education needs …
During COVID-19 pandemic, blue states defund online charter schools
As the COVID-19 pandemic keeps many regular public schools closed, it should be a no-brainer that states would fund online public charter schools, which specialize in delivering instruction through distance-learning tools. Shockingly, however, some blue states are actually defunding these online charters. In California, the legislature’s Democrat-supermajority passed an education …
Trump’s school choice plan will help kids, and is smart politics
At a recent White House roundtable with students, teachers and policymakers, President Trump said that children trapped in failing government schools “would be forgotten no longer,” and urged Congress to pass his Education Freedom Scholarships proposal, which would improve education for America’s children. Under the president’s EFS proposal, taxpayers could make voluntary …
Charter Schools Don’t Fiscally Distress Regular Public Schools
In their continuing war against charter schools, teacher unions have persistently argued that charter schools, which are mostly non-union, have a large negative financial impact on the regular public school system. New research, however, contradicts this claim. In Sacramento, the California Teachers Association is pushing a package of anti-charter-school bills, …
Union Membership Doesn’t Mean a Job Forever
PRI has a helpful calculator that shows how much a union member could save throughout his or her working years from not paying union dues. In California, the average fee-paying teacher owes $650 a year while the average worker owes $1,000. A 45-year old teacher who leaves the union and …
President Trump and An American Education Agenda
In early 2018, Pacific Research Institute released my publication An American Education Agenda, which included my five top reform recommendations for the federal government. It is heartening to see that President Trump and his administration have addressed, in some form, most of my recommendations. The five federal recommendations in An …
New Study Dispels Special Ed Funding Myth About Charter Schools
The wide funding gap between regular public schools and charter schools is often explained by charter opponents as due to the larger number of special-education students in regular public schools versus charter schools. A just released study, however, debunks this claim. There is no doubt that regular public schools receive …
PRI Panel of Former Speechwriters – Pres. Biden’s State of the Union Address
This special edition podcast features PRI’s panel of former speechwriters offering their perspectives on Pres. Biden’s first State of the Union Address. On the panel: Lance Izumi, a former speechwriter to Gov. George Deukmejian and former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and now PRI’s senior director of the Center of Education; …
Yes, Parents Can Homeschool Their Special Needs Children
There are many myths that surround homeschooling, but one of the biggest is that it is too difficult for parents to homeschool their children with special needs. However, the reality is that many parents homeschool their special needs children because the regular public schools often fail to offer the type …
Biden Get a “D” on End-of-Semester Education Report Card
The 2020-21 school year has ended with failures across the education landscape. In the face of this education catastrophe, President Joe Biden earns a disappointing “D” on his end-of-semester report card. From still-not-fully-reopened schools to inadequate school-district distance learning efforts to huge student learning losses to rampant mental health problems …
Why African-American Parents Are Seeking Greater School Choice
With the close of Black History Month, it is the perfect time to examine how the public school system has often poorly served African-American children and why a large proportion of African-American parents support school choice. Data shows that the regular public schools are failing to meet the education needs …
During COVID-19 pandemic, blue states defund online charter schools
As the COVID-19 pandemic keeps many regular public schools closed, it should be a no-brainer that states would fund online public charter schools, which specialize in delivering instruction through distance-learning tools. Shockingly, however, some blue states are actually defunding these online charters. In California, the legislature’s Democrat-supermajority passed an education …
Trump’s school choice plan will help kids, and is smart politics
At a recent White House roundtable with students, teachers and policymakers, President Trump said that children trapped in failing government schools “would be forgotten no longer,” and urged Congress to pass his Education Freedom Scholarships proposal, which would improve education for America’s children. Under the president’s EFS proposal, taxpayers could make voluntary …
Charter Schools Don’t Fiscally Distress Regular Public Schools
In their continuing war against charter schools, teacher unions have persistently argued that charter schools, which are mostly non-union, have a large negative financial impact on the regular public school system. New research, however, contradicts this claim. In Sacramento, the California Teachers Association is pushing a package of anti-charter-school bills, …
Union Membership Doesn’t Mean a Job Forever
PRI has a helpful calculator that shows how much a union member could save throughout his or her working years from not paying union dues. In California, the average fee-paying teacher owes $650 a year while the average worker owes $1,000. A 45-year old teacher who leaves the union and …
President Trump and An American Education Agenda
In early 2018, Pacific Research Institute released my publication An American Education Agenda, which included my five top reform recommendations for the federal government. It is heartening to see that President Trump and his administration have addressed, in some form, most of my recommendations. The five federal recommendations in An …