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Fox News Many states are going all-in on school choice this year Corey DeAngelis Mar. 1 2023 Wyoming’s Republican House Speaker, Albert Sommers, is unilaterally blocking a bill that would empower all families with school choice. The bill already passed the state’s GOP-controlled Senate and has 33 cosponsors – a majority of the chamber – signed on from the House. Considering more than half of the chamber cosponsored, the proposal clearly has the votes needed to pass the Wyoming House floor. The Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act would create an education savings account program allowing all families in the state to take their children’s taxpayer-funded education dollars to the education providers of their choosing. State funding would follow the student to an education savings account that their parents could use for any approved education expenses including private school tuition, tutoring, online learning, and instructional materials. (Snip) Speaker Sommers is additionally blocking a parental rights bill that would ban classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity prior to fourth grade. Rep. Sommers told local reporters that he blocked the parental rights bill because it conflicted with his belief "in local control." The Speaker said he blocked the Senate’s school choice bill because it was "identical to the one that already failed in [the House] Education Committee." These both sound like convenient excuses to kill policies that are strongly supported by his own party and constituents. (Snip)

The Washington Examiner/Restorng America Jeremiah Poff, Education Reporter January 24, 2023 Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) signed new legislation Tuesday making the Hawkeye State the second in the nation to establish a universal school choice program. Hours after the state legislature approved the Students First Act to establish a statewide education savings account program for all K-12 students , Reynolds, surrounded by children, triumphantly affixed her signature to the legislation, capping off a landmark legislative victory over a year in the making. IOWA LAWMAKERS APPROVE UNIVERSAL SCHOOL CHOICE BILL CHAMPIONED BY GOV. KIM REYNOLDS "What an amazing day for our children," Reynolds said at the signing ceremony, according to the Des Moines Register. "Public schools are the foundation of our educational system, and for most families, they’ll continue to be the option of choice. But they aren’t the only choice. And for some families, a different path may be better for their children." The new program will provide students with more than $7,000 in annual funds through an education savings account that can be used to cover all sorts of education-related expenses, including private school tuition and private tutoring. (Snip)

Just the News Families denied funding for religious schools will be reimbursed for tuition paid out of pocket under settlements. State also agrees to pay their legal fees. Vermont families that want to send their children to religious schools will no longer be excluded from the state's tuition benefit program, as a result of legal settlements in two cases brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The plaintiffs who were denied funding under the Town Tuition Program, which provides tuition for students who live in areas without local public schools, will get reimbursement for money spent out of pocket on tuition. Other families denied funding can apply as well. "Some families could be looking at multiple years' worth of tuition if they made a request," ADF spokesperson Jacqueline Ribeiro told Just the News. The writing was on the wall for the Green Mountain State after the Supreme Court invalidated a similar Maine policy that limited tuition assistance to "nonsectarian" schools, with Justice Neil Gorsuch speculating it favored schools with "watered down" religious beliefs.

Real Clear Policy Last week, the Iowa legislature passed the Students First Act, which creates a universal Education Savings Account (ESA) program. The Students First Act will allow Iowa families to use their student’s portion of state education funding at the school of their choice. The Students First Act is the chief policy goal for Governor Reynolds, who has been working to advance parental choice in Iowa since she assumed office in 2017. This new bill, passed during just the third week of the legislative session, very quickly answered the question posed on the heels of November’s elections, what's on tap for school choice? By delivering truly universal school choice, a child's educational opportunity will no longer be blocked because of their zip code or socioeconomic status. This legislation is not about dollars, but it is about creating life-changing opportunities for families across Iowa. Iowa has now joined other states such as West Virginia and Arizona that have enacted universal ESA policies. The Students First Act creates an ESA that will be funded by the State’s cost per pupil, which is currently $7,598. Although the ESA is universal it will be phased in over three years until it applies to all students regardless of income, even those who are currently enrolled in a private school. Parents who enroll in the ESA program can use the funds for tuition at an accredited private school. The ESA can also be used for fees, textbooks, tutoring, curriculum, online education, vocational and life skills training, standardized test fees, and services for students with disabilities.

Just The News District is sending representatives to meeting where attendees will be encouraged to overturn the state's universal school choice law, violating a state law, according to a free market legal nonprofit, barring school districts from spending district money or resources, including personnel, to influence election outcomes. Tom Joyce September 5, 2022 Arizona school districts will violate state law next week by sending representatives to a meeting where they will encourage attendees to overturn the state's new universal school choice law, the Goldwater Institute alleges. The free-market legal nonprofit sent a letter to the Arizona Attorney General's Office asking it to investigate and stop this behavior. Arizona law bars school districts from spending district money or resources, including personnel, to influence election outcomes, the Goldwater Institute points out. This includes ballot initiatives and efforts to get questions onto the ballot. (Snip)

Mary Margaret Olohan February 02, 2023 The NWEA, which says it provides map-testing assessments to Roman Catholic dioceses and almost two thousand Catholic schools across the country, features articles on its website encouraging educators to help students to “come out” and promoting gender ideology to children. Formerly known as the Northwest Evaluation Association, the NWEA boasts of developing Pre-K through 12th grade assessments (Measure of Academic Progress or MAP tests) trusted by educators in almost 10,000 schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 countries. The organization’s website also notes that it partners with over 1,900 Catholic schools: “Nearly 400,000 Catholic school students benefit from MAP Growth data,” the NWEA says in a resource sheet. “Catholic schools nationwide in 84 dioceses trust NWEA for assessments.” Literature on the organization’s website—written by NWEA staff—pushing gender ideology, drag queens, and other left-wing ideological content suggests that Catholic dioceses and schools might want to take a closer look at their MAP-testing assessments. (Snip) ________________________________________________________________ United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Has Some Work To Do! Apr 20, 2022 New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 3 School choice is an important component not only of liberty and improving educational outcomes but also of defeating the Woke Marxist influence in our schools and upon our children. It isn't so easy as making the money follow the child or the backpack however. School choice legislation has to be smart, and it has some challenges in need of clever solutions before we blunder ahead into a trap the Woke Marxists are setting for us. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, James Lindsay spends a few minutes breaking down the challenges and pitfalls of bad school choice policy by explaining how it will fail to solve the essential problem and might even walk our communities and our children into a Woke trap even worse than what we currently see in the public schools.

The Washington Examiner Jeremiah Poff, Education Reporter July 07, 2022 Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Thursday that he has signed a bill enacting the most expansive school choice program in the country. The Republican governor signed into law H.B. 2853, which drastically expands eligibility for the state's Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program to all students in the state, regardless of income. 'GOLD STANDARD OF EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM': DUCEY TO GRANT SCHOOL CHOICE FOR 1M ARIZONA STUDENTS Under the provisions in the law, over a million Arizona students will be eligible for more than $6,000 annually in education scholarships that can be used to cover any sort of school-related expense, including private school tuition, school material expenses, and private tutoring. (Snip)

American Thinker As Iowa makes big progress toward school choice, Governor Ron DeSantis has unveiled a far-reaching program to free up government school teachers to be effective in the classroom, pay them better, and weaken the ability of unions to compel teachers to join and extract dues, most of which are funneled toward political donations to Democrats. Calling the plan the "Teachers' Bill of Rights" shows how smartly he is pursuing support from the teachers. Very shrewdly, DeSantis short circuits the ability of the unions to scream that he is “attacking teachers” by visibly and tangibly helping individual teachers in their work and financially. WWSB TV reports: DeSantis announced his legislative proposal, the Teacher’s Bill of Rights, that the governor states would empower educators to be leaders in their classrooms, enact paycheck protection, reduce terms for school board members from twelve to eight years, and invest another $1 billion in teacher pay.

The New Discourses Apr. 20 2022 School choice is an important component not only of liberty and improving educational outcomes but also of defeating the Woke Marxist influence in our schools and upon our children. It isn't so easy as making the money follow the child or the backpack however. School choice legislation has to be smart, and it has some challenges in need of clever solutions before we blunder ahead into a trap the Woke Marxists are setting for us. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, James Lindsay spends a few minutes breaking down the challenges and pitfalls of bad school choice policy by explaining how it will fail to solve the essential problem and might even walk our communities and our children into a Woke trap even worse than what we currently see in the public schools.

Alpha News Support for school choice has increased since the pandemic began. Kendall Tietz March 1, 2022 (The Daily Caller) — Over 70% of Americans support funding students’ education rather than public education systems, according to a new poll. Among a majority of respondents, 72% support school choice, according to a poll conducted by RealClear Opinion Research, which surveyed over 2,000 registered voters from Feb. 5 – 9, 2022. Only 18% of voters are opposed to school choice, which the American Federation for Children (AFC) defined in the poll as parents’ “right to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to the public or private school which best serves their needs.” Support for school choice has increased since the pandemic began, according to a press release from AFC. In April of 2020, among all parties, 64% of Americans supported school choice. Support from all three groups, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, all went up, with Democrat support increasing the most from 59% to 68%. (Snip)

Power Line John Hinderaker January 8, 2023 Liberals love to talk about children, but in many ways, their policies are devastating to the young. Education is near the top of the list: liberals run our public schools, and they are almost uniformly terrible. Schools are run for the benefit of teachers’ unions, administrators and diversity consultants. The kids are just disposable fodder. Covid school shutdowns were a recent instance of liberal hostility toward children. They set Kevin Roche off: (Snip) Liberals sell out the young at every opportunity, and the worst offenders are teachers’ unions. In Minnesota, the teachers’ union, Education Minnesota, is far and away the state’s biggest political power. The union controls immense amounts of money, and more important, voters formerly saw the union as a force for good, representing students. That was completely misguided, of course, and my organization’s polling shows that the covid shutdowns opened the eyes of many parents, who now understand that Education Minnesota betrays their kids. So we are launching a frontal attack on Education Minnesota. Until now, politicians have been afraid to cross the all-powerful teachers’ union. That needs to change: it is long past time to take on the malign power of the teachers’ unions. Our campaign uses billboards, social media, digital ads and email. This is what the billboards will look like. They go up tomorrow: At EdMNHurtsProgress.com, readers can get the facts about the teachers’ union’s longstanding obstruction of school reform, and sign a petition in favor of school choice. I particularly like this part of the web site’s litany: FACT: Education Minnesota is the definition of “systemically racist” as they systemically block every attempt to close Minnesota’s achievement gap for students of color The battle has been joined, and this time, both sides are fighting.

City Journal An interview with Arizona governor Doug Ducey on the state’s first-of-its-kind universal school-choice legislation Christopher F. Rufo August 16, 2022 Arizona governor Doug Ducey is brimming with optimism. The businessman-turned-politician has spent the past eight years campaigning for universal school choice—and he has finally achieved it. Today, the governor is hosting the signing ceremony for H.B. 2853, which will provide every family in Arizona with an “empowerment scholarship account” (ESA) and an annual $7,000 per child to take to any educational institution of their choice, including private schools, religious schools, and homeschool programs. I first met the governor last year at a retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where, in between firing rifle and pistol rounds at the shooting range, he spoke with me at length about the Founding Fathers, his own Jesuit education, the threat of critical race theory, and his vision for school reform. The governor had tried to pass universal school choice last summer but came up short by one vote in the legislature. This year, after rallying parents and negotiating with legislators, he has his redemption. Universal school choice has long been the Holy Grail for conservative education reformers. Governor Ducey has achieved it. I spoke with the governor as he prepared to lead the signing ceremony for this historic victory. The interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. (Snip) ____________________________________________________________________ Apr 20, 2022 New Discourses Bullets, Ep. 3 School choice is an important component not only of liberty and improving educational outcomes but also of defeating the Woke Marxist influence in our schools and upon our children. It isn't so easy as making the money follow the child or the backpack however. School choice legislation has to be smart, and it has some challenges in need of clever solutions before we blunder ahead into a trap the Woke Marxists are setting for us. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, James Lindsay spends a few minutes breaking down the challenges and pitfalls of bad school choice policy by explaining how it will fail to solve the essential problem and might even walk our communities and our children into a Woke trap even worse than what we currently see in the public schools.

The Center Square South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – all Republicans – were the top three governors in the country, according to the joint report by the American Legislative Exchange Council and Economist Arthur Laffer & Associates. The "2021 Laffer-ALEC Report on Economic Freedom: Grading America’s 50 Governors" ranked each governor on their current economic performance and their fiscal and executive policies over their term in office. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, and Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, rounded out the top five. The others who made the top ten were Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (6), New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (7), Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (8), Georgia Brian Kemp (9) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (10). The bottom 10 were all Democrats: Michigan Gretchen Whitmer (41), Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (42), Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (43), Hawaii Gov. David Ige (44), New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (45), former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (46), Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (47), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (48), Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee (49), and lastly New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (50).

Jan. 30 2023 Right Reasons: Keyword School Choice

The Rubin Report Nov.20 2022 Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks to former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker about his reaction to the midterm elections; why Republicans need to do better than just say they don’t like Joe Biden; how Ohio became a red state while Michigan became a blue state; how the abuse of emergency powers during the COVID pandemic exposed who leaders really were; how the real divide is between white collar workers, who had the luxury of remote work, and blue collar workers who didn’t; how even young children are being subjected to communist indoctrination in schools; why YAF is suing Clovis Community College; how Ben Shapiro is able to spread his message to the young, despite liberal colleges not letting him speak; how a Trump 2024 campaign could affect a Ron DeSantis 2024 presidential run; why school choice is vital to protecting the young from indoctrination in school; how charter schools and school vouchers can help people escape a horrible public school education; why the Young America's Foundation focuses more on the students at liberal colleges; how prominent Democrat Susan Rice ended up with a redpilled son; the growing divide between urban and suburban voters; and much more. 0:00 Intro 1:44 Scott Walker On The Midterm Elections 7:22 Should We Grant Dems A Pandemic Amnesty? 12:33 Donald Trump Or Ron Desantis? 14:46 How Should Libertarians Vote? 21:16 What Scott Walker Would Say To Young People 30:00 Tension Between Suburban & Urban NY 33:40 Will A Majority of Teens Ever Become Conservative?

Fox News Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has been in the news recently for her trip to Ukraine to evaluate damage to education from the Russian war and for the AFT nationwide get-out-the-vote election bus tour. Meanwhile, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly referred to as "the nation’s report card" was just released and the kids are not all right. NAEP released its first full report since 2019 this week, demonstrating a drop in math and reading scores for fourth through eighth graders. In 2022, the average fourth-grade math score decreased to its lowest level since 2005 while the average eighth-grade math score hit its lowest level since 2003. Reading scores also dropped on average. It is no secret the decline in learning metrics is a direct result of school closures and remote learning during the pandemic. As a physician and mother of three, I am appalled at the past and most recent egotistical behavior of teachers’ unions while parents and some educators scramble to find ways to help their children recover from the aftermath of the pandemic. According to UNESCO, about 90% of school age children worldwide were not in school by the end of spring 2020. This eventually became the most widespread, lengthiest disruption in education since formal instruction became the standard in the late 19th century. In the United States, compared to many European and Asian countries, schools were closed longer. Why? The teachers’ unions fought against policy that threatened their grasp on education – calling for strict COVID policies and resisting school choice that would have allowed families to take their children and education dollars elsewhere.

The Washington Free Beacon Republicans fret Chase Oliver could play spoiler for Herschel Walker, send race to runoff Alana Goodman October 25, 2022 Georgia Libertarian Senate candidate Chase Oliver / chaseforgeorgia.com As the Senate election tightens in Georgia between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D.) and Herschel Walker (R.), the race could come down to who loses the most votes to the Libertarian Party candidate—a former Democrat who supports ending cash bail, cutting police budgets, and open borders but is attracting a surprising number of Republican-leaning voters. Recent polls have shown Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver receiving between 3.4 percent and 5 percent in the race, blocking either Walker or Warnock from winning a majority. Under Georgia law, if no candidate receives over 50 percent of the vote on Election Day, the top two competitors have to face off in a second head-to-head election. (Snip) Over the past two years, Oliver has said he supports "ending cash bail," "closing most overseas bases," and "open borders." He has argued that he's "more progressive on criminal justice" than Vice President Kamala Harris, described defense spending as "corporate welfare with explosions that kill innocent people," and said he wants "free and easy immigration." On another Twitter account, which Oliver appeared to use around the time he switched parties from Democratic to Libertarian in 2012, he said he backed "single-payer health care." Oliver opposed the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and said that if he were elected, he "would be drafting a bill to protect the bodily autonomy of women and codify abortion into law." He also objected to a law, backed by many conservatives in Georgia, that prohibited students from participating on sports teams that are different from their birth gender. "A reminder that the Georgia GOP passed a trans sports ban in hours and killed the school choice bill," he wrote on Twitter in April. "School choice is in their platform. But banning trans girls from sports was their educational priority. Shame." (Snip) __________________________________________________________

Real Clear Education Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 is National School Choice Week. Much of the national discussion surrounding school choice focuses on private school scholarships or public charter schools. Other school choice options include online academies, magnet programs, or home schooling. But did you know that school choice also includes the option to attend traditional public schools? Today, more U.S. families than ever before have the ability to actively choose traditional public schools for their children — schools outside their assigned neighborhoods. Most states call this option open enrollment or “public school choice.” Over the last several years, at least 20 states enacted 35 separate billsto update open enrollment. Thanks to these efforts, all but four states have some type of open enrollment option. A total of 33 states and the District of Columbia allow students to attend other traditional public schools within their assigned district, what’s known as intradistrict enrollment. And 43 states allow students to attend public schools outside their district — interdistrict enrollment. (Some states allow both options.) 28 states make open enrollment mandatory in at least some cases, requiring local districts to offer this option to families. In 34 states, open enrollment is voluntary, meaning districts can decide whether to participate. The National School Choice Week website has more information on the possible options available to you in your state.

Watchdog.com The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has filed an amicus briefwith the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to consider hearing Espinoza v. Montana on behalf of former Gov. Scott Walker. The brief argues the case is “a landmark" one for school choice and religious liberty. “The stakes could not be higher for school choice and religious freedom, which is why we strongly encourage the United States Supreme Court to hear this case,” Walker said. “Here in Wisconsin, our school choice program, currently used by over 40,000 students, is giving parents choices and improving students’ education. Despite opposition from the special interest groups, school choice is working in Wisconsin – if the Supreme Court gives Montana and other states the opportunity, I am confident it will work there too.” The brief highlights the successes of school choice in Wisconsin and the risks presented by a Montana Supreme Court ruling that struck down a school choice program first created by the Legislature in 2015.

The Pandemic Has Opened Parents’ Eyes More want a voice – and a choice. “I want to see parents more involved with the board of education,” said Scarlett Johnson who leads the Mequon-Thiensville parents group and is seeking election to the school board. “And I want to see less ideology in the classroom.” National School Choice Week is a celebration of parents using publicly funded vouchers to send their children to private schools. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a movement of parents who want more say in directing their child’s public-school education. When schools went virtual in March 2020, parents became very involved in their children’s education overnight and needed the schools to open up as soon as possible. When Mequon decided to go virtual in the fall of 2020, a group of concerned parents began meeting and held some of the town’s first protests. Once schools opened in later September 2020, this parent group shifted their attention to curriculum concerns exposed through virtual learning. For instance, in spring 2020, Mequon Thiensville paid $42,000 for Blaquesmith Consulting to bring “The Talk” and “Realizing Our Vision” to the district. “Our ‘homework’ was to read ‘White Fragility,’ Ibram X Kendi and Paulo Freire’s Marxist guide to indoctrinate youth titled ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed.’ Freire was an admirer of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution in China and he helped facilitate Fidel Castro’s brutal reign in Cuba,” Johnson said. “This is why parents like myself are outraged.” Mequon’s high school has long been considered Wisconsin’s best public high school. However, test scores have been declining. From the 2015-2016 year to the 2020-2021 year, third through eighth grade reading proficiency fell from 71% to 58%. The pandemic only perpetuated this decline with grade-level reading rates falling from 67% to 58% between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years.

Heritage Foundation Elisha Doerr would not have had an opportunity to attend Wisconsin Lutheran High School, a Milwaukee-based private boarding school, if it weren’t for a school choice program. The school’s excellent curricula and the religious community were valuable to Doerr, 18, who now attends Harvard University and is deciding between majoring in government or computer science. Raised in rural Waupun, Wisconsin, with six younger siblings, Doerr’s choice for a superior education in his hometown appeared limited. His parents, who had homeschooled Elisha, looked at Wisconsin Lutheran High School for its religious affiliation, but they needed financial assistance to send their son there.

The Hill The Supreme Court of the United States is expected to decide whether to hear Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a case that reveals the harm a state constitutional amendment marked by religious bias can do to families. Kendra Espinoza, who suddenly became a single mom, sought a better education for her daughters. In their public schools, one daughter was bullied and the other struggled academically. Both later would thrive in parochial school. After the Montana Supreme Court struck down her state’s education tax credit program, Espinoza was denied access to scholarships her children badly needed. She and two other Montana moms facing similar plights have asked the nation’s highest court to weigh in. Nationally, over 250,000 students benefit from private-school choice through education tax credits. The basis for the Montana court’s decision was the state’s 130-year-old anti-aid, or Blaine, amendment. The state constitutional provisions in Montana, along with those in our respective states of Massachusetts and Michigan, represent distinct but formidable legacies of a dark, bigoted chapter of history that still limit educational opportunities for students and families who need them most.

Center Square The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a wide-reaching Montana case dealing with school choice and the First Amendment. The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will take up the case Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, which is being litigated by the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm. The case stems from a scholarship program passed in 2015 by the Montana legislature that would give tax credits to those who donated to private scholarship organizations, which would then give scholarships to students in need who wanted to attend private schools.

Powerline This opinion video by the New York Times (Johnny Harris and Binyamin Applebaum) was published earlier this month, but has continued to get attention. The video begins by noting the Democrats’ professed commitment to housing opportunity, progressive taxation, and quality education. It then asks the question, what are the Democrats actually doing on these fronts in the states where they exercise complete control? The answer is, they are doing poorly. The fact that red states are doing better than blue states is no surprise. People are abandoning California, New York, Illinois and Minnesota, and moving to Texas, Florida, Tennessee and South Carolina. These basic migration patterns, and parallel changes in economic growth, are driven by red-state economic policies–low taxation, controlled spending and rational regulation. But the Times liberals come at the issue from a different perspective, and indict their fellow liberals not for bad policy ideas, but for hypocrisy: Sure, liberals don’t want “affordable housing” near their multi-million dollar mansions. Who can blame them? But governments in states like California have many policies in place that discourage housing development, not just in the heart of Palo Alto, but throughout the state. The video indicts liberal states for not sharing property tax revenues equally among school districts. But money isn’t the problem: in Minnesota, for example, property tax revenues are shared equally among school districts, and it makes no difference. The problem in inner-city public schools is not money, which in many cases is overflowing. The problems are 1) cultural, and 2) the result of the fact that the teachers’ unions run the schools, not for the benefit of kids but for the benefit of union members. And, of course, the Times video doesn’t mention the fact that in blue states, school choice, the one realistic path to a better education for poor urban children, is blocked not by conservatives–who advocate for school choice, but in any event have no power in those environments–but by Democratic Party liberals who owe their souls to the teachers’ unions. For all of the above reasons, achievement gaps in red cities are lower than those in blue cities, as liberals have recently admitted.

Washington Times Dina’s son was struggling with his grades. He was being bullied by the other students. Not surprisingly, he didn’t care much for school. So his mother took advantage of our statewide expansion of school choice in Wisconsin. She used a voucher to send him to a private school. Dina’s son was a completely different student. He received good grades. He joined the football team. He even played in the band. Best of all, he loved going to school. When I first met Dina, she was thrilled with her son’s transformation but scared that liberal politicians would take away her ability to send her son to the school that was right for him and she didn’t make enough money to pay for it on her own. She was careful not to criticize the public school her son had attended but made the point that this was not the right place for him. The results proved her right.