Dear Colleagues:


At some point in your life you’ve been asked: What do you want first? The good news, or the bad news?

I always opt to hear the bad news first. In that spirit, the bad news is that U.S. national debt is going way up, likely along with your taxes, in response to an “infrastructure” proposal announced yesterday by President Biden.

The Bad News. The colossal “infrastructure” spending package would spend $100 billion to help “upgrade or replace crumbling school buildings.” The plan also includes an additional $100 billion to expand broadband, $48 billion for workforce training, and $12 billion for community college infrastructure. School infrastructure spending is not the role of the federal government; it is the responsibility of districts—not Washington—to construct and maintain schools.

The $260 billion for education “infrastructure” in the proposal – which is just part I; part II is slated to drop later this month and will include everything from paid family leave to
“free” community college – comes on top of the $282 billion doled out to schools as part of the three COVID relief packages already in place. All told, if the new proposal were to become law, taxpayers will have financed more than half a trillion dollars in additional school spending over a 12 month period. I walk through the many problems with the package here <[link removed]>.

The Good News. OK – now that the bad news is out of the way, here’s the good news: this was an
unprecedented week for school choice.

On Monday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed into law the most expansive school choice program in the country, a nearly universal education savings account program. Less than 24 hours later, the Kentucky legislature overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a bill to create the Bluegrass State’s first school choice program—a tax credit-funded education savings account. And there’s more to come. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp will soon have on his desk a bill that expands eligibility for the state’s existing voucher program for students with special needs.

And that’s just this week. Dozens of others are considering measures to expand education freedom and opportunity to students. An unprecedented 29 states have already introduced similar measures this year that will create or expand vouchers, tax credit scholarships, and education savings accounts. You can read a full rundown in a piece I penned for the Daily Signal, In a Rebuke to Teachers Unions, School Choice Is Going Gangbusters in the States <[link removed]>.

In Case You Missed It

Jonathan Butcher talked with Bill O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone" <[link removed]> this week about the new "Equitable Math" standards and curriculum that says <[link removed]>"The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so. Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict."

So much for equipping students with the skills they need to be successful later in school and the workplace. Perhaps someone should mention that nearly 60 percent of 4th graders in the U.S.--more than half--cannot perform math at what is reasonably considered grade level today. Eighty percent of black students and 72 percent of Hispanic students score <[link removed]>in this low range.
Officials from L.A. Unified, the nation's second-largest school district, helped design Equitable Math. Sadly, moving away from "right" answers could not come at a worse time in L.A.: 4th grade students already score 11 points below <[link removed]>the average score for large cities and almost 20 points below the national average. Families and educators looking for more effective teaching materials can find resources on our Curriculum Resource Initiative <[link removed]>.

I sat down <[link removed]> with Dr. Ben Carson, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to discuss school reopening. As we discuss, many students have been out of school for a year. Imagine how consequential that would be for anyone at age 13, 14, 15. It’s not just the academics; it’s missed school sports, scholarship implications, counseling, access to friends, contemporaneous conversations with teachers, homecomings, and proms. An estimated 3 million children haven’t shown up for in-person instruction or online classes since March. You can watch the full discussion below.
Upcoming Event

Join us next Thursday, April 8th, for a virtual event: Redlining and Education: How 20th Century Practices Impact 21st Century Kids. The event will feature me, Derrell Bradford, Executive Vice President of 50CAN, and Tim DeRoche, author of A Fine Line: How Most American Kids are Kept Out of the Best Public Schools.

You can register for the event here <[link removed]> and can read our new paper on the issue Housing Redlining and Its Lingering Effects on Education here <[link removed]>.
Warmly,



Lindsey Burke
Director
Center for Education Policy
Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity
The Heritage Foundation

-