The fifth annual National School Choice Week is wrapping up, and organizers say this year’s events totaled over 11,000 across the country—double the number held this time last year.
Celebrating #SCW at the Arizona Capital Museum! Got choice? @schoolchoicewk #SchoolChoice #schoolchoicenow pic.twitter.com/pLzKiitlYh
— Hispanic CREO (@HispanicCREO) January 30, 2015
Meanwhile, parochial school leaders, students, and parents recognized Catholic Schools Week, which also took place this week.
What about neighborhood schools? They’re declining, but Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews asks, does it matter?
The traditional system of assigning students to the nearest school is still the norm. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 73 percent of public school children attended a school assigned to them in 2007. That, however, was a drop from 80 percent in 1993. The portion of children attending a school their parents chose increased from 11 percent to 16 percent between 1993 and 2007. Twelve percent of all children in 2007 attended private schools, often some distance from their neighborhoods."
Does more = better? School choice doesn’t necessarily mean parents have the tools to make good decisions—or even good schools to choose from.
Some cities have tried to simplify school-selection for families, but challenges remain: http://t.co/ZCxXw9HXnA pic.twitter.com/FROnVlm7cB
— Education Week (@educationweek) January 28, 2015
But $100 could make the choice a lot easier ...
An Indiana charter school is under fire for offering $100 gift cards to a grocery store to anyone who referred a student who enrolled in the school. This practice is illegal in some states, but not in the Hoosier state, according to the blog Chalkbeat Indiana.
And just in time for Super Bowl Sunday ...
The Virginia House passes a “Tebow Bill” to allow home-schooled kids to play on public school sports teams. “Tebow bills” are named for former Denver Broncos quarterback and Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow who was home schooled while growing up in Florida but allowed to play football for the local high school.
And in other football/school choice news ... a charter school co-founded by Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Deion Sanders in Austin, Texas is on the brink of being closed.
Have an idea for next week’s news roundup? Tweet it to @ChartersNChoice or leave it in the comments section below.