Tag: private schools

Commentary: The Rapid Growth of Educational Freedom Is Unprecedented

Virginia Star Staff

According to the latest ABCs of School Choice  – EdChoice’s comprehensive report about all matters pertaining to education freedom – policymakers in 40 states have debated 111 educational choice bills in 2023, 79 percent of which related to education savings accounts. (ESAs allow parents to receive a deposit of public funds into a government-authorized savings account with restricted, but multiple uses. Those funds can cover private school tuition and fees, online learning programs, private tutoring, community college costs, higher education expenses, and other approved customized learning services and materials).

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Commentary: Compulsory Schooling Laws Have Got to Go

Virginia Star Staff

When Massachusetts passed the nation’s first compulsory school attendance law in 1852, parents were mandated to send their children to school under a legal threat of force. Today, that threat remains stronger than ever.

Prior to that law, and those that followed in all other US states over the subsequent decades, cities and towns were compelled to provide schooling for those who wanted it, but parents were under no obligation to use those schools. Many didn’t, choosing instead to send their children to private schools, church or charity schools, “dame schools” in their neighbor’s kitchen, apprenticeships for older children and teens, or to homeschool.

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Commentary: Tennessee’s Private Schools Have Authority to Establish ‘Firearms Friendly’ Policies

Virginia Star Staff

In 2016 Tennessee passed two new statutes with bi-partisan support that addressed the issue of whether Tennessee’s private schools, both K-12 and “higher education,” could establish their own policies with respect to whether and to what extent civilian possession of firearms would be prohibited on their campuses. These laws are codified at Tennessee Code Annotated Sections 49-50-803 and 49-7-161.

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New Kentucky Law Expands Definitions Related to the Use of School Resource Officers

The Center Square

Kentucky lawmakers hope they have already have taken steps that can help avoid a tragedy such as took place in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday.

On Friday of last week, legislation was signed into law allowing parochial and other private schools to develop pacts with local law enforcement agencies or the Kentucky State Police to have school resource officers on their campuses. House Bill 540, sponsored by state Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Nicholasville, was signed by Gov. Andy Beshear.

In Tennessee on Monday, a shooting at Christian elementary school left three children, three adults and the shooter dead.

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Government School Districts Plan K-12 Closures as Student Enrollment Plunges

Susan Berry, PhD

Some of the largest public school districts in the nation are planning to close K-12 schools as they face plummeting student enrollment rates. “Nationwide, public school enrollment fell by more than 1.4 million students to 49.4 million between fall 2019 and fall 2020—a decline of roughly 3%, according to data from the U.S. Education Department,” reported the Wall Street Journal in January. “The following school year, enrollment failed to return to prepandemic levels and remained roughly flat.”

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New York State Board of Regents’ Regulation Requires Private Schools to Provide Education ‘Substantially Equivalent’ to Government Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

A new regulation announced by the New York State Board of Regents requires all of the state’s 1,800 private and religious schools to provide an education that is “substantially equivalent” to that offered by public, government-run schools.

The Board of Regents passed the new regulation last week unanimously and without debate, reported WABC.

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Michael Bloomberg Blames Teachers’ Unions for Keeping Money Flowing to Traditional Government Schools and Away from Charter Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

Former Democrat New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says teachers’ unions were responsible for keeping schools locked down during the pandemic, a move that has enabled a mass exodus of students from traditional government schools throughout the country.

Given the generally poor academic achievement of America’s students, the steep drop in enrollment means states are now paying more to educate fewer children, and, “paying more for failure,” he asserts.

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Thales Academy Opens First Rural County School in Pittsboro, North Carolina

Susan Berry, PhD

Thales Academy opened the doors of its brand new building in Pittsboro, North Carolina, Monday, as about 100 students from the academy’s Cary campus moved to the new facility in rural Chatham County.

“Chatham is the first time that Thales has been in a rural county,” Bob Luddy, the founder and chairman of Thales Academy, told The Star News Network. “So, my thought was having a facility of that quality in a rural county that’s a private initiative is going to change the way people think about K-12 education.”

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Biden Education Department ‘Declares War’ on Charter Schools as School Choice Becomes Overwhelmingly Popular in America

Susan Berry, PhD

As more families and teachers flee government schools, the Biden administration – bound to the teachers unions – has now “declared war” on charter schools, as Robert Maranto, editor of the Journal of School Choice, wrote at National Review Monday.

The Biden education department is now on a path to sabotage the federal grant program that funds charter schools, public schools that are privately managed, with its proposal of new rules that appear to actually deter applicants from seeking grants.

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Delegate Tim Anderson Commentary: A Legal Analysis of Executive Order Two – Masks in Schools

Admin

I have received many requests from you regarding how Gov Youngkin’s order applies to school masking requirements.

For private schools – the answer is easy. Private schools were ordered by the former health commissioner to require masking in schools. That order is rescinded. Private schools should rely on the parental choice option and create a policy allowing mask wearing to be optional.

Public schools: This is more complicated. Last year a law was passed (SB1303) that requires public schools (only public – not private) to be open for in-person learning 5 days weeks while requires “ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

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Report: America’s Top 25 Private Schools Are Pushing Anti-Racism, ‘Equity’ Initiatives

Virginia Star Staff

A website that tracks critical race theory (CRT) in K-12 schools and higher education institutions released a study Monday that shows CRT, “equity” and other initiatives are being pushed at the U.S.’ top 25 elite private schools, according to a database compiled by CriticalRace.org.

Some of the schools “have embraced CRT explicitly, while others have a continuum of programming, such as ‘antiracism,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ that does not easily fit into a Yes/No construct,” according to the CriticalRace.org database. The database found that seven of the 25 schools has a mandatory form of anti-racism training, while 20 of the 25 schools had some type of anti-racism, CRT or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirement.

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Guzman and Davis Debate Future of Education in Virginia

Eric Burk

Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-Prince William) and Delegate Glenn Davis (R-Virginia Beach), who are both running for lieutenant governor, started their education debate on Twitter during the 2021 General Assembly session. On Saturday, the two candidates met on Zoom to continue their discussion about the future of education in Virginia.

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Survey: Private, Charter Schools More Likely to Provide Meaningful Education During Shutdowns

Admin

Several reports and national surveys indicate that private and charter schools provided more meaningful educational services during state shutdowns than public schools did, and more parents are choosing nontraditional educational options this fall.

A nationally representative survey conducted by Education Next found that while there was “a lot of lost ground on learning” during coronavirus shutdowns in the spring semester, there was “a more robust response in the charter school sector and in the private school sector” among respondents.

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Analysis: Public School Funding Per Student Averages 80 Percent More Than Private Schools

Virginia Star Staff

According to the New York Times, one of the main reasons why public K–12 schools are reopening more slowly from Covid-19 lockdowns than private schools is because public schools generally have less money. Times reporter Claire Cain Miller makes this claim three times in a single article, but her assertion is the polar opposite of reality and has been so for decades.

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Conservatives Praise Supreme Court for Ruling States Can’t Discriminate Against Religious Schools

Anthony Gockowski

The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday that states can’t cut religious schools out of programs that send public money to private education in a 5-4 ruling. 

Hailed as a victory for religious freedom, the justices upheld a Montana scholarship program that allows state tax credits for private schooling in which almost all the recipients attend religious schools.

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