School Choice is a hot button issue nationwide. Some governors have been championing this idea for years, but there has been a noticeable domino effect in the year’s spring legislative sessions. Perhaps it’s a delayed response to the crisis homeschoo ...
With billions of federal education dollars unspent, why does the Alabama Department of Education continue to ask for more?
Alabama’s K-12 schools have over $2 billion in federal stimulus funding that is yet to be spent, according to a recent report from al.com. The money was appropriated to the state by Congress beginning in 2020 under the guise of a federal health emerg ...
Educational insanity: What the 2022 NAEP scores actually tell Alabamians
What if I told you Alabama's eighth-grade reading and math scores are either worse or the same than they were more than two decades ago? Would you believe me over the various celebratory slogans touting Alabama's "progress in education achievemen ...
Colleges and universities must increase the value of an education
The annual cost of a college education has increased by 182% in the past 40 years. But are college graduates getting more for their money? It’s a fair question to ask in the wake of President Joe Biden’s announcement that up to $20,000 in student lo ...
API survey reveals lack of transparency in local public schools
Seventy-four percent of school board members who responded to a survey conducted by the Alabama Policy Institute oppose school choice. This is in stark contrast to the overwhelming number of Alabamians, 80%, who desire state-wide school choice expan ...
Options in Education Foster Increased Opportunities for Students
I grew up in poverty. I know what it’s like to be without electricity and to move because the rent is past-due. I’ve lived the struggles, the poverty that limited opportunity brings. I was one of the students you hear about on TV who receive a free ...
Higher Education’s Market Reckoning
Want to buy a college campus? Maybe you’d like to commission the services of a psychology department. Perhaps you’re hoping to hire an associate provost for diversity initiatives. If so, you’re in luck! It’s a buyer’s market. I use the word “market ...
This Back To School Season, Families Should Decide
Parents and other observers have many understandable questions about how their local school districts are responding to the challenges presented by COVID-19. At this juncture, I don’t think it’s helpful to lay much blame on anyone. There will be ple ...
To Educate Our Children
Children often bear the worst of our challenges, and our disagreements. When Alabama public schools shut down in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, we saw (again) that the promise of education is not equally available to all young people. Many go ...
Education in Alabama is Dead Last, It’s Insanity to Not Make a Change
They say the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing time and again, yet expecting a different outcome. But that's exactly what opponents of Amendment One on Tuesday's ballot are asking you to do. While our state's educational syste ...