The Bottom Line | Page 2

During a legislative special session on Thursday, the Tennessee Senate passed the Education Freedom Act of 2025 by a vote of 20 to 13. The bill had passed the House 54 to 44 earlier in the day. It now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature. With the stroke of Gov. Bill Lee’s pen, Tennessee will become the 13th state in the nation to enact universal (or near-universal) school choice. While it’s not official yet, there is no question regarding whether Gov. Lee will sign the bill into law. He has been an enthusiastic education freedom champion and called the Tennessee General Assembly for a special session with the purpose of passing the Education Freedom Act. Last month, Gov. Lee said, “When it comes to education, more freedom Read More ›

It is National School Choice Week in America, and the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam scores were released on Wednesday. The horrifically low student academic performance scores make the undeniable case that American government-run K-12 education is an epic failure. According to the NAEP results provided by The Nation’s Report Card, 69% of fourth-grade students and 70% of eighth-grade students aren’t proficient at reading — that’s only 3 out of 10 schoolchildren learning to read soundly. When students can’t read at grade level, it significantly hinders their other academic learning. The NAEP math scores similarly confirm that a change of course in K-12 education is desperately needed. An astonishing 61% of fourth-grade students and 72% of eighth-grade students aren’t proficient in math. As a nation, Read More ›

The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress exam results showing dismal reading scores for America’s 4th and 8th grade students should not be surprising. Organizational design expert Arthur W. Jones noted that “all organizations are perfectly structured to obtain the results they get.” Applied to our public schools, rather than being surprised by the mediocre results we’re seeing throughout the country, it’s what we should expect. If we want to improve the performance of our schools, which is crucial to our nation’s economic health and security, we need to change the structure of the educational system. All successful systems have several key elements: Leadership Successful organizations are led by effective leaders. If we want better schools, we need better leadership, namely Read More ›

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on Victory News live on Wednesday, January 29 to talk about National School Choice Week 2025, to bring awareness to the historic victories that have occurred over the past four years, and to discuss President Trump’s campaign commitment to empower parents with school choice. (Starts at 17:41)

Most state 2025 legislative sessions kicked off last week or this week. The remaining states will have their sessions underway by early February. Louisiana is the only exception, and it is not scheduled to convene its legislature until April. During the legislative sessions, K-12 education will continue to be a common top policy area throughout the country. Efforts to enact and expand school choice legislation will be front and center in several states, as has been the case since 2021. The prolonged public district school closures gave parents a front-row seat in their children’s classrooms through the remote Zoom sessions. What they saw concerned them greatly — a lack of quality academic learning and far-left political indoctrination. Public support for Read More ›

President Joe Biden’s appointed secretary of education, Miguel Cardona, is out the door as President Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office. The end of Cardona’s tenure couldn’t come soon enough. K-12 student learning achievement is pitifully low. Chronic absenteeism has skyrocketed. Condoned college campus protests are a disgrace. Federal student aid, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (known as FAFSA) form and process, is a mess. Despite four catastrophic years, Cardona released a glowing report last week. It boasts about the U.S. Department of Education’s “accomplishments” under his watch and opens with a full-page letter from the secretary. “This report, The Impact: Fighting for Public Education, is about more than documenting the successes under the Biden-Harris Administration. Read More ›

Huge historical legislative victories have occurred over the past four years, advancing school choice in states nationwide. In some states, the wins have entailed the creation of new school choice programs, while in other states, it has involved expanding existing programs to reach more students. Most noteworthy has been the enactment of universal or near-universal school choice in 12 states since 2021. Introduction The public education monopoly isn’t working, and it is failing to fulfill its function to a greater degree than in years and decades past. There is a better way: education freedom, which allows parents to choose the school or other learning avenue that best fits their unique child. A few years ago, widespread school choice was nearly Read More ›

[Editor’s Note: This is Part One of a two-part article. Click to read Part Two: Blacks Need High-Quality Education, Not a DEI Agenda — Part 2.] John Deere, Harley-Davidson, Ford Motor Company, and other major corporations are backtracking on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and returning to hiring based on merit. Make no mistake. A work environment featuring diverse ideas and opinions is highly conducive to success. Similarly, it is important to have a work culture that includes all players on the team. But most often, DEI is focused on prioritizing race and sexual orientation over the applicable criteria of merit. This DEI agenda is problematic. Some people counter that the “E” in DEI implies a commitment to equitable outcomes in addition to equal opportunity. In other Read More ›

As just the latest example of elite universities coddling students, classes were canceled following the election result of Donald Trump’s victory, allowing students time and space to cope. At Harvard University, some professors “canceled their Wednesday classes, made attendance optional, or extended assignment deadlines,” while others offered safe spaces for students. Multiple Princeton University professors canceled classes the day following the election, and one professor told students later that week they could “leave if they could not emotionally handle participating.” According to National Review, Princeton University Health Services provided “Post-Election Listening Circles” for students. Georgetown University created a “Self-Care Suite” where students had the opportunity “to play with Legos, color with crayons, and eat milk and cookies” to deal with the stress of the Presidential election Read More ›