Donald Nielsen

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Group of school kids showing thumbs up.
Image Credit: aekkorn - Adobe Stock

Private School Choice Is Laying the Groundwork for the Transformation of Public Education

Last week, Wyoming enacted universal school choice, which brings the total to 15 states with universal school choice in America. These state leaders recognize that parents are the primary educators of their children and must be empowered to decide where and how their children are educated. Because of these recent legislative events, millions of parents have regained control of their children’s education. This is a giant step forward in forcing public schools to improve. Competition fuels innovation, and public education needs all the innovation it can get. Accountability is fostered by granting parents a portion of their child’s education funding to allocate toward the education avenue they select. When students are restricted to an assigned government school, on the other hand, Read More ›

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Sunrise at the national mall
Image Credit: Carly - Adobe Stock

Time to Pull the Plug on the Department of Education

Whether ecstatic or demoralized about the recent election, Americans should all welcome a fresh review of how the federal government carries out its work. For too long, the massive federal bureaucracy has been allowed to grow while becoming less and less efficient in how it spends tax dollars. In fact, it would be an exercise in futility to name any government program in anyone’s lifetime that achieved its intended goals in the time frame predicted and within the budget allocated. This reinforces the principle that the government should be the last option to fix a problem, not the first. Perhaps the most glaring example of government ineffectiveness is the Department of Education (ED). Established near the end of the Carter Read More ›

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A boy is going to school for the first time. A boy with a bag goes to primary school. Child open gate to school. Back to school.
Licensed via Adobe Stock

Closing Schools Should Be the Last Resort, Not the First

Earlier this month, the Seattle Public Schools (SPS) announced plans to close 20 elementary schools. According to the district, SPS simply has too many schools for too few students. This is not a new problem, as enrollment has been declining for several years. Between 2019 and 2023, the district lost over 5,000 students, most due to the COVID-19 shutdown. Read More ›
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Bored and discouraged student
Licensed via Adobe Stock

Uniform Schools Yield Uniformly Poor Results

Parents who have two or more children know how totally different children can be. Even with the same two parents, living in the same house, eating the same food, and having very similar learning experiences, children will still turn out to be different in personality, interests, and even appearance. So why would we stick with an education system that treats all children alike? Read More ›