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Center for Education Policy |
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Dear Colleague,
Welcome back. We are excited to share the latest from The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy.
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Mathew Ladner Joins Heritage to Lead Work on Education Choice Implementation
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Matthew Ladner, Ph.D., has joined the Center for Education Policy as a senior advisor on education policy implementation.
A well-renowned scholar on education policy, Ladner has written numerous studies on education choice, charter schools, and special education reform. He joins Heritage after serving as the director of the Arizona Center for Student Opportunity at the Arizona Charter School Association. Previously, Ladner served as a senior research fellow at the Charles Koch Institute, senior advisor for research and policy at Excel in Ed, and vice president of research at the Goldwater Institute. He has decades of experience testifying before Congress, state legislatures, and the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
At Heritage, Ladner will work on ensuring that new education choice options enacted in state policy are well implemented and safeguarded for the future.
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Ready to make a difference on your local school board?
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Sign up for The Heritage Foundation's School Board Training to learn how to empower families and put kids' needs first in education. Designed for busy board members and parents, the training is available on demand so that you can learn at your own pace and when it's convenient for you.
Get the tools, knowledge, and resources you need to succeed in your role on the board. Get equipped with valuable tips and insights form education policy experts and experienced school board members who have succeeded at driving change at the local level. Get on demand access to training right now and get notified when new content is available.
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Tribune News Service, Lindsey Burke, Ph.D., Adam Kissel, & Jack Fitzhenry
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The Supreme Court saved American taxpayers more than half a trillion dollars by holding that President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona cannot cancel federal student loans under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, the "HEROES Act." "On the merits, Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, rejected the government's contention that the HEROES Act, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed the executive branch authority to cancel millions of student loans without Congress" Lindsey Burke, Adam Kissel, and Jack Fitzhenry explain.
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The Daily Signal, Jonathan Butcher
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On May 17, 1954, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Supreme Court "set aside" the "separate but equal" doctrine in education in its Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Racial segregation would no longer be permitted in K-12 public schools. "On June 29, 2023, the court finally buried the doctrine once and for all," Jonathan Butcher argues, "along with the prejudice that has haunted college admissions for more than 50 years."
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The Washington Times, Jonathan Butcher & Rachel Greszler
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In an interview last November, Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state and CIA director, called Randi Weingarten the most dangerous person in the world. "Ms. Weingarten is the head of the powerful American Federation of Teachers union, and Mr. Pompeo's assessment notwithstanding, President Biden's secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, just appointed her to serve on the Department of Homeland Security's school safety council," Jonathan Butcher and Rachel Greszler write. According to Mr. Mayorkas, the council will advise the department on school safety and help it "counter the evolving and emerging threats to the homeland."
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The Daily Signal, Jason Bedrick
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Just before Independence Day, Ohio families could finally declare independence from the district school monopoly. "Over the weekend, Ohio lawmakers passed a state budget that expands eligibility for the state's EdChoice Scholarships to all K-12 students," Jason Bedrick explains. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law on Monday, making Ohio the eighth state in the nation to pass a universal school choice policy and the sixth state to do so this year, following Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Utah.
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National Review, Jason Bedrick
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Should teenage girls be forced to share locker rooms with males as they undress and shower? Should girls on overnight school trips be forced to share sleeping arrangements with males? Should schools address children by names that are not theirs, and use pronouns that differ from their sex, without their parents' knowledge or consent? "To all these questions, Arizona's legislature answered a resounding no, only to have Governor Katie Hobbs respond with a vehement yes," Jason Bedrick explains.
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The Daily Signal, Jason Bedrick
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Virginia has trailed other states in adopting robust education choice policies. But that could change after the results of last week's GOP primaries in the commonwealth. "The Virginia General Assembly is nearly evenly divided," Jason Bedrick explains, "with Democrats holding a slight majority in the state Senate (22-18) and Republicans holding a slight majority in the House of Delegates (50-46, with four vacancies)."
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The Daily Signal, Jonathan Butcher
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The school year is over, but a new race-based missive from Washington will loom over teachers and students all summer. Just before Memorial Day, federal education officials issued a "Dear Colleague" letter telling the nation's educators that the Biden administration is resurrecting a policy of investigating and coercing schools to adopt more lenient discipline policies. "This policy originated under President Barack Obama's administration but was rescinded in 2018 by a commission led by then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos," Jonathan Butcher writes. The reprieve from race-based federal manipulation was short-lived.
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Heritage Expert in the Media:
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The Alarming Rise in Teacher Absenteeism
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Heritage experts Jay Greene, Ph.D. and Jonathan Butcher explain that research shows teacher absences can result in significant learning loss, as well as have negative impacts on nonacademic and behavioral outcomes. They further explain that students are the most important school professionals but cannot contribute to student learning or character formation if they are absent from the classroom at a high rate.
Read the full report here.
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Created Equal: A Road Map for an America Free of the Discrimination of Racial Preferences
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Heritage experts Lindsey Burke, Ph.D., Jonathan Butcher, Mike Gonzalez, Adam Kissel, Hans A. von Spakovsky, and Delano Squires explain that the continued use of racial preferences in college admissions threatens the social cohesion of this large, diverse, dynamic country. They further explain that racial preferences make true equality impossible when even the perception of lowered standards can taint the accomplishments of individuals within the favored groups who are the "beneficiaries" of the preferences.
Read the full report here.
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It's Time for Congress to Dismantle the Higher Education Accreditation Cartel
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Heritage experts Lindsey Burke, Ph.D. and Adam Kissel alongside Armand Alacbay and Kyle Beltramini from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni explain that higher education accreditation creates barriers to entry for innovative start-ups while being a poor gauge of program quality and student outcomes. They further clarify that any substantial higher education reform must include accreditation reform: decoupling accreditation from student aid, ending regional monopolies, and inhibiting abuses of power.
Read the full report here.
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World's Largest Education-Content Publisher Promotes Radical Political Agenda in U.S. Schools and Government
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Heritage expert Jonathan Butcher explains that the commitment of Pearson, the world's largest educational publisher, to the woke orthodoxy may conflict with state and federal civil rights laws. He further explains that Pearson is free to produce the materials that it chooses, even to embed the discriminatory ideas of "anti-racism" into all of its content -- but taxpayers should not have to pay for content based on discriminatory philosophy.
Read the full report here.
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