"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

The Consequences of High-Regulation in School Choice

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. | January 14, 2016  National Center for Policy Analysis    Education Views 

As the public demand for school choice shifts into high gear, so does the focus shift from school choice to school quality.  Those same school choice backers who are fleeing government schools because of heavy regulations now do not trust the free market approach to bring quality.  Already they are calling for a rather heavy measure of regulations to ensure quality.

Homeschooling Growing In Favor Among Blacks

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. |  October 27, 2015  National Center for Policy Analysis

Many hoped that the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, would bring equalization of academic opportunity for black children.  However, the federal government’s solution to end “separate but equal” education has had disappointing results.

This has resulted in a growing movement among black parents actively seeking alternatives to public schools for a better education and safer environment for their children.

Will Federal Charters Become Our New Public Schools?

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D.  |   October 8, 2015  Education Views

The U. S. Department of Education has been so successful in wasting taxpayer dollars for an embarrassing public education system that it now wants to expand its unconstitutional intrusion further by diving into charter schools and mucking those up as well.Touting its support of education reform, the USDOE recently announced that it is spending $157 million to create and expand charters throughout the nation. 

The Come Back of the One-Room Schoolhouse

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D.   December 3, 2015  National Center for Policy Analysis      Education Views

The range of exciting school options continues to expand…oddly enough, in Texas where school choice legislation has been thwarted by those who oppose competition to government run schools. 

There was a time when almost every American child learned in one-room schools.  John Adams taught in a one-room school and Abraham Lincoln attended one, as did Henry Ford who loved his school so much that he moved it to a Michigan

Home-based Education Growing in Popularity

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. |  October 22, 2015 National Center for Policy Analysis

With the failure of the government school monopoly in the 20^th century, tension is building between advocates for parental choice and those for federal centralization of power over education.

Underlying the education debate is the debate over the family.  The real question is whether the technocratic state has primary authority over the rearing of children with “education experts” determining what is best for someone else’s child.

The Challenges of ESA Programs

By Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. |   October 1, 2015  National Center for Policy Analysis

America must think beyond the current system of government run schools to find market driven solutions for education. As parents continue to demand school choice, these policies will face increasingly difficult challenges:  administrative, constitutional, and regulatory.

While a traditional voucher can be used only in a lump sum, ESAs offer a different approach – funds are unbundled to allow access to a variety of private school options as well as options outside of traditional or private schools.