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Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms

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Education Week, 2/28/17

Weighing special ed. as a school choice option

Allowing federal special education money to follow students would be a radical departure from the current funding mechanism, a complex formula that is tied to a state’s overall share of students as well as its population of students in poverty. And if a voucher program were financed only with federal money, each student’s share would be small based on current funding levels: about $1,800 per student for those ages 3 to 21 with disabilities, according to U.S. Department of Education figures.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms
Washington Post, 2/10/17

Where school choice isn’t an option, rural public schools worry they’ll be left behind

Rural schools have trouble recruiting and retaining good teachers and principals because housing is so limited, pay is so low and working conditions so difficult, education advocates say. Trump has decried failing public schools that are “flush with cash,” but many rural schools — hobbled by a poor local tax base and weak state support — struggle with tight and often shrinking budgets.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms State Education Funding
NPR Education, 1/31/17

Under DeVos, here’s how school choice might work

The tax-credit structure is especially significant when considering what could happen under DeVos in the Trump administration, because it could be a way to promote school choice on a federal level without writing big checks. “There isn’t that much money that is fungible from the federal education budget,” points out Samuel Abrams, an expert in education policy at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms Federal Education Funding
Washington Post, 1/26/17

New bill offers glimpse of how Washington could use federal funding to expand school vouchers

Scott’s bill — the Creating Hope and Opportunity for Individuals and Communities through Education Act, or CHOICE Act — is a three-pronged approach to devoting more federal funding to voucher programs for children to attend the private schools and, in some cases, the public schools of their choice.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms Federal Education Funding
Arizona Central , 1/31/17

Arizona school-voucher expansion afoot

Empowerment Scholarship Accounts allow parents to take money that would otherwise go directly to their local public school, and put it toward private-school tuition, homeschooling, tutoring, therapy, and other education-related expenses. Critics of the program say it siphons money away from public district schools, and over time, could substantially erode school funding.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms State Education Funding
Time Magazine, 1/6/17

Opinion: Education is not a marketplace you can game with vouchers

School vouchers are dollar-based credits that parents can use to pay for schools beyond their neighborhood. Those options may include public schools in nearby districts, private schools and, occasionally, parochial schools. Unfortunately, the education “marketplace” is not ready to handle this game-changer. That’s because what makes a real marketplace work—good information, pricing flexibility and low friction—just doesn’t exist.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms
Washington Post, 1/17/17

Betsy DeVos wants ‘school choice.’ Chile tried that already.

Vouchers were introduced in Chile by free-market economists whose vision was similar to that of DeVos. When this vision held sway, from 1980-1990, public spending on education was cut essentially in half — from 5 percent to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. The state did relatively little to regulate the private schools that took vouchers.

Alternative Education Models and Funding Mechanisms Federal Education Funding