public schools

As part of National School Choice Week, the White House hosted an important school choice roundtable event today with U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and American Center for Transforming Education Director Keri Ingraham was in attendance. The Trump Administration continues to recognize Ingraham’s significant contributions toward advancing education freedom in our nation through her leadership of the American Center for Transforming Education. School choice, empowering parents, and creating a free-market K-12 education are the much-needed solutions. Also, this week, Ingraham attended the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing titled “Empowering Families Through Educational Choice in America.” The committee is chaired by Senator Bill Cassidy, who opened the event, providing sound clarity. Read More ›

It’s National School Choice Week in America, and the advancement of education freedom is sweeping the country. Governors are opting-in their states to the new federal tax credit scholarship at rapid rates. The scholarship allows taxpayers to contribute up to $1,700 per year to a qualified non-profit scholarship-granting organization and receive a nonrefundable dollar-for-dollar tax credit. Organizations like ACE Scholarships award scholarships to K-12 students. Federal tax credit scholarships can be used for a variety of educational expenses, including tuition, fees, books, tutoring, transportation, and services for students with special needs. The landmark legislation was fittingly signed into law on Independence Day last year by President Donald Trump as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill. Already, nineteen states are set to participate in the federal Read More ›

As the price tag of a college degree soars, the perceived value by parents, students, and employers alike is decreasing. A 2024 essay in The Wall Street Journal found, “Nearly half of parents say they would prefer not to send their children to a four-year college after high school, even if there were no obstacles, financial or otherwise.” Additionally, the report noted that two-thirds of high school students believe “they will be just fine without a college degree.” Furthermore, the findings of a November 2023 survey revealed that an astonishing 55 percent of US companies eliminated bachelor’s degree requirements for employment eligibility. Instead, employers are valuing skills and experience over education. Employers face growing challenges filling specialized jobs due to the misalignment between college Read More ›

There was a mass exodus from district public schools during the prolonged school closures when parents had a front-row seat in their child’s classroom through the remote Zoom sessions. They witnessed the infiltration of radical political agendas and the lack of quality academic instruction. When schools were unresponsive to their concerns, parents who could exit the system for alternative education avenues for their children did so. But it wasn’t just families who left district public schools. Teachers have also found the door. According to a new report from Independent Women, titled “Give Teachers a Break: Cutting Red Tape to Unleash the Potential of America’s Great Teachers,” an astonishing 16% of teachers “left their schools between 2020 and 2022.” Additionally, the Read More ›

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 ›

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 ›