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THE WAR ON CHARTERS. The current US House of Reps, spurred on by teachers unions, is using the budget process to assault one of the only opportunities disadvantaged children have to receive a great free public education. The attack is aimed at the dozens of education services providers (ESPs) who help parents and educators be able to focus on supporting students, e.g. companies like National Heritage Academies, Academica and CSUSA to name just a few. Imagine telling a school district they could no longer buy computers from for-profit companies or textbooks, let alone food and supplies.

That wouldn’t happen because the House is most concerned with the system controlling education funds, not parents and teachers. Shame on you Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro and your colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee.

PUNITIVE, COUNTER PRODUCTIVE AND DUMB are some of the milder and apt descriptions of this effort. As the WS Journal notes about other cuts in federal support for public charter schools, this “funding raid on charters is an act of sabotage that will deny many children, especially poor and minority children, the quality education they deserve.” Charters and advocates across the country are rising up regardless of political affiliation to pressure the House to back down. Join them

THE REASON. The Blob’s attacks stem from the credible growth of education opportunities this year alone in the wake of their disastrous handling of education during Covid. Thank God, teachers were there to hold the fort down wherever they were allowed to. Consider over 15 states have added or improved school choice laws just this year, and charter schools are chief among the improvements. Want to know what is giving opponents agita? Just look at the National Charter School Law Ranking & Scorecard and the increasing Parent Power our kids first teachers have now.

INNOVATORS WHO LED THE WAY. Refresh your memory about how “choice” schools and innovators provided education – many times nonstop – during the past year.   We remain in awe of the leaders, teachers and parents who continued to deliver quality education this past year, several of whom we profiled in monthly meetings online. Watch the fabulous COVID Action Series and the many lessons here that are just as important today as when the evil virus first appeared.

ESCAPE THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY. It’s never humid in San Diego, and the average August temperature is 77 degrees with humidity in the high 50s. No, really – and even better it can be a working vacation.  Join us at the annual ASU – GSV Summit, August 9 – 11 where the best, the brightest, the innovators, the dynamos of the education choice movement will gather.  You might even see a couple of familiar faces, as our own Jeanne Allen and Ian Rowe, Chairman of Vertex Partnership Academies will take center stage to discuss  “Equality of Opportunity, Individual Dignity, Common Humanity and America. “ Jeanne would love to see you there!

In San Diego or wherever you are, we hope you get some “R & R”, recharge your batteries and get ready for the quickly approaching new school year. And as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance to you, your kids or your school.

THE CURTAIN HAS BEEN PULLED BACK, as Forbes Contributor Nick Morrison points out in “There’s no going back now parents have seen behind the classroom curtain.” As one expert also told the author, “The greater use of technology in the classroom allows parents and teachers to communicate much more quickly and effectively.”  “Of all the shifts in education occasioned by the pandemic, perhaps the most significant and the one with the most far-reaching consequences is the greater involvement of parents in their children’s schooling.” It’s about time!

INNOVATIONS ABOUND.  “Parental ingenuity, combined with the creativity of our educators, businesses, and community leaders, led to new instructional settings like learning pods,” says LearnLaunch chief exec and former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift, but “our priority as leaders must be getting the innovations which have proven effective during the pandemic extended to all students and families.” She’s right that innovations are not equitably distributed.  Even more reason why funds must follow families, not failure.

WHAT MOST PARENTS SAW was not a vibrant effort to create home-based learning pods, or deploy the best of digital technologies. What they saw was districts delivering emergency education as best they knew how, entirely unprepared for what came before because they’ve been unable to change how they operate.  And that’s why so many students received an education like that reported from Baltimore just days ago, where a jaw-dropping, truly scandalous 40% of city schools students earned a grade of “D” or less. And from Chicago comes news that the union now demands over 4,000 new positions before they will teach again. No wonder many are reporting that increasing numbers of parents are hesitant to send their children back to the same system; their trust is shot.  New York Magazine pointed out just last week, “The Kids Were Safe From COVID the Whole Time.”

But the real story behind the tragic year that students lost is best described by this jaw-dropping opinion piece in the New York Post which argues cogently that  “If your child didn’t attend school regularly last year, Randi Weingarten is likely the reason why.”

CITY OF ANGELS VERSUS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS?  Like the wicked witch of the west, the Los Angeles school district denied millions in Title 1 funds to Catholic schools in 2019, despite both the law and what should be a moral obligation to ensure that schools that serve (and actually work for) the neediest of kids have what they need. Thankfully the courts ordered L.A. to pay what is owed to the Catholic Schools, but it shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit.

THE LATEST AT THE PIAZZA. If you’re not a subscriber yet you will be after listening to the talented and brilliant Ian Rowe, who shared his thoughts about how we might reclaim opportunity for all across the world. Let’s start with what kids are learning and what he calls ‘surmountable racism’ in America, and, well, you’ll want to hear the rest for yourself.  It’s just a preview of what is to come at the annual ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego on August 9-11, where Ian and CER’s Jeanne Allen will take center stage to discuss Equality of Opportunity, Individual Dignity, Common Humanity and America. And don’t forget to join us in Piazza for ongoing diverse discussions with CEOs and leaders in business, entertainment, education, religion and more, all dedicated to transforming public life.

CHEER AND JEERS…(you can decide which is which!) Show Me State Governor Mike Parsons signed the law creating the first private school choice program in the state of Missouri. In Florida, a K-12 IDEA Charter School is partnering with Jacksonville University to soon welcome 1,500 students to a brand new campus.  Getting Smart tells why ‘Small is the Next Big Idea’ in education innovation. And kudos to Southern Nevada Urban Micro Academy (SNUMA) which operated in-person every school day this past year and ensured that 100% of SNUMA students made at least one full year’s academic growth in reading/English language arts, and 87% posted at least two years’ growth.  The Volunteer State just approved 27 new virtual schools so that Tennessee parents would have an option. Maybe the Garden State needs to take a visit down south. New Jersey officials have told parents who want a  virtual option this year to take a hike.

OPPORTUNITY ON CHOPPING BLOCK. The U.S. House of Representatives is planning to kill a program that has saved more than 11,000 low-income families since it began in the 2004-2005 school year. It was the seminal plot of the movie Miss Virginia with Uzo Aduba, featuring the story of Virginia Walden Ford who fought valiantly to have it available to the lowest income parents, including herself, struggling to find an education that meets their children’s needs. Since then, the OSP students uncharacteristically for DC traditional public schools have a better than 95 percent graduation rate and nearly 87 percent college enrollment rate.

THE WASHINGTON POST HITS A HOME RUN as it comes out swinging in favor of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program – and reiterating its long-standing support of the only federally authorized voucher program in the country, the District’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The OSP is a part of the three-sector approach to federal funding for the traditional, charter and voucher communities in our nation’s capital. It was created by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Joe Lieberman, Speaker of the House John Boehner, Democratic Former Mayor Anthony Williams, and Democratic Former Councilmember Kevin Chavous.

HOLMES NORTON HYPOCRISY. The Post also called out long-time opponent and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton for fighting a program that supports low-income minority families with an average annual income of $23,668 while she exhaustively supports another federally funded program (for college access) in which families with an income of $515,000 can participate.

THE SAME HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS BILL would prevent tax-paying companies from contracting with charter schools to deliver education services, instruction or whatever, under the misplaced theory that when a company that is considered for-profit works with schools they are tainted. I guess the same Congress wouldn’t mind then firing all of its contractors, or requiring all public schools only contract with non-profit providers for their computers, food, supplies and transportation?

IS THIS A PROFIT, TOO?  News reports that AFT head Randi Weingarten makes over $560,000 per year has many cringing. But at least her union is non-profit, right? (Sarcasm intended).

CELEBRITIES CELEBRATE OPPORTUNITY.  It’s awesome when the stars come out to play with education. We’ve all known about – and some of us have seen Pitbull’s Sports Leadership Arts and Management Charter School, for example, that opened in Miami in 2012, and is expanding. “Rapper and activist Common, who has won an Emmy, a Grammy and an Oscar, helped launch the charter school Art in Motion on the city’s south shore in 2019,” as has NBA star Jalen Rose in his hometown of Detroit. Kudos as well to George Clooney, Dr. Dre and LeBron for contributing to education, but you guys might want to take a page from your colleagues above whose contribution also ensures parents, not systems, make the ultimate choice.

$6,000 MORE ISN’T ENOUGH?  School system leaders are reportedly already complaining that, even though they have received an additional $6,000 per student, on top of an average of $13,000 per student, it’s not enough. Today’s New York Times reports that while “Schools Get a Stimulus Windfall,” they “Find That It May Not Be Enough.” Not only are they worried about funding cliffs, such that if they spend money now they won’t be able to pay for the same things later, but they are complaining about an alleged lack of flexibility in the American Rescue Plan’s $122 billion. That plan, geared towards ensuring K-12 schools reopen with a strong plan to counter learning loss from COVID, mental health supports for children and families and any related facility upgrades needed, doesn’t permit construction projects, for example, nor should it.  As our CEO told the Times, “It’s aggravating, and is to a lot of rank-and-file citizens, that districts want to talk about capital when there are so many things we need to be doing for students.”

The latest report from the Census Bureau shows 5% higher per-pupil spending in the year before COVID. It’s about helping kids succeed, but apparently, they aren’t exactly sure how to do that. There are also reports of Florida field trips and other “journeys” to help mitigate learning loss. Really? Yet another reason to Fund Families, not failure.

AMERICA WAS THE MIRACLE many folks didn’t understand or outright hated (British imperialists, for instance) in 1776. Some still do after 245 years.  Then there are education imperialists, who oppose freedom for families, even just among innovative public schools. Just take the NEA as one example, which ironically this week debated whether to adopt resolutions which further wrest parental freedoms.

EDUCATION FREEDOM MIRACLE.  American ingenuity and our unique ability to find and celebrate the solution for almost everything is contrasted to how some treat the solution of charter school opportunities in this exceptional new video, from Kite & Key Media which they call The Education Miracle Everyone Hates… Actually, it’s not everyone, it’s only a small number of very loud, powerful people and their unassuming followers, but can feel like everyone sometimes.

If you do nothing else today, watch it and share.

PARENTAL FREEDOM will once again be debated at the US Supreme Court (another uniquely American entity that remains largely hated and misunderstood). The independent judiciary need not worry about political winds, and thankfully the teachers unions can’t touch them, which is why Maine families will get a fair hearing in their quest to be given the freedom to choose a religious school as their choice option. At issue is a Maine law that provides tuition assistance to families – but only if they choose a non-religious school.  That kind of discriminatory activity – originating with 19th century  “Blaine amendments,” was found unconstitutional just a year ago.  As IJ argues, “Despite that ruling, in October 2020 the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a religious exclusion in Maine’s tuition assistance program for high school students.”  Justices will debate the issue this fall and issue their ruling next spring. Stay tuned.