Free Republic

"The reckless dismantling of the D.C. voucher program does not speak well of the promise by Obama to be the Education President." -- Juan Williams Is it really all that surprising that liberals are opposed to voucher programs? Let's think this through: Aside from the MSM, what is the biggest supplement of liberalism? That's right... student indoctrination... http://conservativebrawler.blogspot.com/2009/04/no-vouchers-for-you.html

Senate Democrats have dealt a setback to a Republican-sponsored school voucher program that gives schoolchildren in the nation's capital the chance to attend private schools. The Senate voted 50-39 along mostly party lines to reject a bid by Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign to extend the program beyond the 2009-2010 school year. That leaves in place a provision contained in a huge spending bill that requires Congress and the Washington, D.C. government to re-approve the program. Republicans say that is likely to kill it. About 1,700 mostly low-income and minority students kids receive the $7,500 vouchers, which offer an alternative...

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday that poor children getting vouchers to attend private schools in the District of Columbia should be allowed to stay there, putting the Obama administration at odds with Democrats trying to end the program. Duncan opposes vouchers, he said in an interview with The Associated Press. But he said Washington is a special case, and kids already in private schools on the public dime should be allowed to continue. "I don't think it makes sense to take kids out of a school where they're happy and safe and satisfied and learning," Duncan told said. "I...

Denver cabbies fear being stiffed by delegates' vouchersBy Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News Updated 07:45 p.m., August 19, 2008 The 5,000 delegates coming to Denver for the Democratic National Convention will each be getting $40 transportation vouchers. But the vouchers may be worthless in the eyes of some taxi drivers. City Councilman Michael Hancock said some taxi company owners are concerned that their drivers won't accept the vouchers out of fear that the Denver 2008 Host Committee won't reimburse them. "We want to make sure that taxi drivers feel confident that they'll be taken care of ... and that...

An Arizona court has ruled against school choice for parents, forcing them to continue sending their children to failing public schools. A state appellate court in Arizona has ruled that two voucher programs for foster and disabled children attending private schools violate the Arizona Constitution by using public money to help private and religious schools. The 3-0 ruling Thursday by a Court of Appeals panel in Tucson reverses a trial judge's ruling that upheld the programs enacted in 2006 at the urging of school choice supporters. The programs provide grants worth thousands of dollars for students, with the money paid...

Voters decisively rejected the will of the Utah Legislature and governor Tuesday, rejecting what would have been the nation's most comprehensive education voucher program in a referendum blowout. ... Voucher supporter Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne - who bankrolled the voucher effort - called the referendum a "statewide IQ test" that Utahns failed. "They don't care enough about their kids. They care an awful lot about this system, this bureaucracy, but they don't care enough about their kids to think outside the box," Byrne said.

Governor Mitt Romney has an opportunity to help to deliver a victory at the ballot box in Utah next month when voters will decide whether to repeal the state's recently-enacted universal school voucher program. The benefits of sustaining this kind of program are clear: An education marketplace encourages innovation, greater efficiency, and more diversity. Instead of being stuck with one-size-fits-all, local-government-run public schools, parents are able to choose the schools that best meet their children's unique needs and talents. Schools respond by offering a variety of curricula and specialties. If parents have doubts about whether their child is thriving they...

Conservative Leader John Tory: Evolution Must be Taught in Science Class; Creation only for Religion Classes Tory plan seen by some as first step to forcing all private schools to absorb Ontario government's full secular curriculum By John-Henry Westen and Elizabeth O'Brien TORONTO, September 6, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Conservative Leader John Tory's election promise to give public funding to faith-based schools began to unravel at the seams yesterday as he spoke about evolution in the classroom.  Asked by a radio interviewer if creation would be permitted to be taught in the classroom, Tory replied, "The Christian-based school would have to...

I was having an argument with a classmate a little while ago about using the voucher system for education. I was telling him that free market style competition between schools would only make the quality of education better and that if a student is forced to receive an education, then they should be able to at least choose whichever one they want. The only point he made which I'm not sure how to respond to is that those students living in poor neighborhoods would still be stuck going to the poor quality schools they live near because they wouldn't be...

If it were up to the children and their parents, there'd be no question that the District's five-year experiment with school vouchers would be renewed for an additional five years or more. That's the most emphatic finding of an independent evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program published last week. "The vast majority of families participating in this study are satisfied with the OSP in general, and their choice of new schools in particular," the report found. "Before . . . his grades were below average, and for the first time he made the honor roll . . . He...

<p>A federal study showing that fourth graders in charter schools score worse in reading and math than their public school counterparts should cause some soul-searching in Congress.</p> <p>Too many lawmakers seem to believe that the only thing wrong with American education is the public school system, and that converting lagging schools to charter schools would cause them to magically improve.</p>

Congressional Republicans on Tuesday proposed a $100 million plan to let poor children leave struggling schools ...

A high school social studies teacher who was put on leave after comparing President Bush's State of the Union address to speeches made by Adolf Hitler defended his lecture on Tuesday, saying he was trying to encourage students to think. "My job as a teacher is to challenge students to think critically about issues that are affecting our world and our society," Jay Bennish said on NBC's "Today Show." Bennish is on paid leave from Overland High School in suburban Aurora, Colo., while Cherry Creek School District investigates whether his Feb. 1 lecture violated a policy requiring that balancing viewpoints...

The Associated Press reached a new level of incompetence, and the "news" industry they serve doesn’t seem to care. If you want political opinion, you’ll find it in Associated Press dispatches. If you want news, you might have to read conservative opinion columns. On February 22nd, Walter Williams, a Townhall.com columnist, scooped the mainstream media. Williams reported that high school teacher Jay Bennish lectured his geography class stating: 1) "[President Bush’s State of the Union Speech] sounds a lot like the things Adolf Hitler used to say." 2) "Bush is threatening the whole planet." 3) "[The] U.S. wants to keep...

COLORADO high-school sophomore Sean Allen couldn't convince his father that his geography teacher was as over-the-top as he contended. So Allen taped one of his teacher's rants on his MP3 player. Too bad for Jay Bennish: His 20 minute lecture ended up on talk radio. As aired on Mike Rosen's show, Bennish said President Bush talks like Hitler: "I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same," but that the two share "eerie similarities." Peruvians and Iranians arguably have "a right to bomb North Carolina" because the state grows tobacco. On Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda operatives were...

by Mark Finkelstein March 7, 2006 Turns out the real culprit in the Colorado kerfluffle over the teacher who compared Pres. Bush to Hitler is . . . the student who complained about it. Just ask Matt Lauer. Interviewing teacher Jay Bennish this morning, Lauer laid out this sympathetic scenario: Lauer: "The family here, the student's family, didn't go to the school board with this tape." Bennish: "They never contacted me." Lauer: "They shopped it around to conservative media outlets and finally released it to one and created an uproar. On the tape you can hear Sean Allen [the student...

Student 'starting to get crucified,' his dad says By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News March 4, 2006 Sean Allen's dad says he isn't handling this week's media attention and threats as well as his son. "Sean has handled this way better than his father," Jeff Allen, Sean's dad, said in an interview with Sean Hannity, syndicated talk show host with Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes. "To read some of these e-mails that are attacking Sean is just devastating," he said. "It looks like the tactic is to turn it around, to make it about Sean and not about the...

March 2, 2006 — A Colorado school is in upheaval following the suspension of a teacher who was recorded comparing President Bush's rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler. More than 100 students at Overland High School in Aurora, Colo., walked out of class this morning to protest the decision to put geography teacher Jay Bennish on administrative leave. The school administration made the move after a student went public with a 20-minute recording of Bennish's comments to his class. In the tape, the teacher is heard saying there were similarities between remarks Bush made in his State of the Union...

One exciting thing about the free market is that you can't predict what the market will create. Big-government advocates tell you exactly what will happen when their plans work (as if they actually would work!), but we who trust the free market can only say that people will compete and good ideas will win. We do know that competition works. It works because it gives people the chance to be creative...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 6) - The Florida Supreme Court struck down a statewide voucher system Thursday that allowed children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense - a program Gov. Jeb Bush considered one of his proudest achievements. It was the nation's first statewide voucher program. In a 5-2 ruling, the high court said the program undermines the public schools and violates the Florida Constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public education. Voucher opponents had also argued that the program violated the separation of church and state in giving tax dollars to parochial schools - an argument a...