Tag: public schools

‘Voting With Their Feet’: Australian Parents Flocking to Private Schools

A survey conducted by the Australian Broadcasting Cooperation (ABC) has shown that Australian parents believe that they get better outcomes for their children with private schools than public schools. The Australia Talks National Survey 2021 collected data from 60,000 Australian parents from the public and private sectors, with the private sector being broken down into schools…


Vancouver School Board’s Phase-Out of High School Honours Courses Axes What’s Best for Students

Commentary Sergio Valdez is the son of Mexican immigrants who attended public school in East Los Angeles in the 1980s. He took Advanced Placement Calculus taught by the exceptional math teacher Jaime Escalante and was an integral part of NASA’s Mars missions. Had Valdez attended high school in Vancouver today, however, none of this would…


Board of Education Opposes Bill That Takes Aim at Charter Schools

The Orange County Board of Education passed a resolution June 2 to oppose a bill that it claims would harm charter schools. Introduced by California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), AB 1316 will move through the State Assembly in June. The bill would cut funding by 30 percent for non-classroom-based charter schools, Orange County Board of Education vice president Ken…


Giving Parents the Choice

Commentary With widespread school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the debate over school choice has once again taken center stage. For the past seven years, approximately two-thirds of Americans have consistently supported school choice. Additionally, support is largely bipartisan, with 82 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of Independents, and 55 percent of Democrats in favor…


Former AG Bill Barr Calls Inner City US Public Schools Systemically Racist

Former Attorney General Bill Barr criticized the U.S. public school system during his first speech since leaving the Justice Department, calling the current system in the inner cities racist because of what he described as low-quality, secular, progressive teachings that are pushed throughout the schools. “The real issue of systemic racism in our country, which is our public…


Dumbing Down Public-School Math in the Name of Social Justice

Commentary In the interest of “math equity”—doing something about racial disparities in accelerated mathematics classes for gifted middle-school and high-school students—the state of California is considering simply doing away with public schools’ accelerated math track altogether. The current system, which allows youngsters with demonstrated math proficiency to start algebra in the 8th grade and take…


Biden Meets School Reopening Goal, Can’t Take Credit, Data Indicates

While President Joe Biden has met his school reopening goal almost a month ahead of schedule, data indicates his policies did nothing to accelerate a reopening trend already underway when he took office. An effort to reopen the majority of schools within his first 100 days was among Biden’s core promises prior to taking office….


Biden Can’t Take Credit for Meeting School Reopening Goal, Data Show

While President Joe Biden has met his school reopening goal almost a month ahead of schedule, data indicates his policies did nothing to accelerate a reopening trend that was already underway when he took office. An effort to reopen the majority of schools within his first 100 days was among Biden’s core promises prior to…


Orange County Charter Schools Offer Students, Parents Choice

ORANGE, Calif.—When organizers of the Orange County Classical Academy (OCCA) set out to open the doors of their own charter school in August 2020 in the city of Orange, they had no idea they’d be doing it in the middle of a pandemic. They simply wanted to offer children what they felt was a better…


Supreme Court to Hear First Amendment Case Over High School Cheerleader’s Snapchat

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a long-running First Amendment case that may decide whether public schools have the authority to discipline students for their off-campus, online speech. The case in question stems from a 2017 incident in which a Pennsylvania high school student, identified as B.L., posted a profanity-loaded message on the…