Trends in the News
The Scholarship Alliance could not say how many Rhode Island students are on the waiting list for the scholarship, but it said the demand is large. Only 15 of the 130 businesses that applied to donate in 2017 were accepted before the $1.5 million cap was reached. An increase to $5 million could potentially expand the program to serve over 1,000 students, Lancia said.
While Rauner has listed the new funding formula as one of his top achievements as he seeks re-election, the Republican governor said Monday that lawmakers failed to address a technicality that would prevent at least 36 Catholic and independent schools from benefiting from a new scholarship program he’s pushed.
This is a quick primer of 12 groundbreaking education storylines we’ll be following in the new year, including: teachers unions, high school graduation rates, higher education debates, personalized learning, New Orlean’s next chapter, NYC’s turnaround plans, Illinois’ pension crisis and more.
In this spirit, here are three big, important questions for 2018, the answers to which have implications not only for the coming year, but for the next decade and beyond.
Charter schools introduce market forces so that the revenue follows the child, and students can attend the school of their choice no matter where they live. This way, if schools fail to provide what students need and parents want, the school loses students and revenue. And gradually, as parents increasingly choose charter schools, the idea of competition in the production of education will gain a foothold in the public square and allow the political transition to purely private schools.
Washington D.C.: Five other states have education savings account programs but all are restricted to certain groups of students, such as students with disabilities, or the children of military families. If the Cruz-Meadows measure becomes law, the District’s program would be the first to allow any K-12 student to enroll in private school with public money. (Nevada introduced an education savings account program in 2015 that would have been open to any child, but it was struck down by the courts.)
North Carolina has three taxpayer-funded school-choice initiatives, all created by the Republican-controlled General Assembly since 2013, and Julian could benefit from all three. None of the money — up to $21,200 annually — would go to waste, his mom said.
If high schoolers can get a jump on college credits, state lawmakers figure the state will save big later when those same kids get to college and need fewer classes to gain a degree. But here’s the problem: Our recent cost analysis in three states reveals that dual enrollment yielded no state savings at all, though they did lower students’ direct costs for earning the same credit.
Venture Capital firms don’t invest in industries to disrupt — they invest in industry disruptors, and many now support them operationally. Foundations should consider following suit.
U.S. schools could save at least $3 billion a year on educational technology by sharing information about how much they pay for hardware and software, according to estimates in a new study by the nonprofit Technology for Education Consortium. Discrepancies between the highest and lowest prices districts pay for the same hardware and software product can range between 20 percent and 40 percent, the researchers found.