Earlier this week I wrote about a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Blaine Amendment laws which prohibit the flow of public dollars to organizations with a religious affiliation. Think private schools affiliated with, say, a church. I noted that there might be implications in the law for school choice proposals. Here in North Dakota our…
Supreme Court Ruling Could Have Big Implications for School Choice Policy in North Dakota
For years now proponents of school choice here in North Dakota have proposed policies which would direct, through one mechanism or another, public dollars to private schools. Essentially different iterations of school choice policy, where public dollars follow students to whatever schools their parents choose be they public or private. The roadblock to implementing this…
Senate Narrowly Defeats Tax Deduction For Private School Expenses
HB1254 would have allowed parents who send their kids to private school to deduct up to $5,000 worth of expenses (defined as “books and tuition”) in each calendar year. It passed the state House by a wide margin, 69-24, back in February but it was defeated in the Senate today. I was told by a…
Congressman Kevin Cramer Posts His Kid's "Common Core" Math Homework Again
A few days ago North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer posted his son Abel’s “Common Core” math homework on Twitter, criticizing the method being used to teach subtraction. Now he’s back again, this time on Facebook. Post by Congressman Kevin Cramer. Here’s the thing about the Common Core debate, or any debate over teaching methods in…
On Television: School Choice, NDUS Hypocrisy And Guns In Schools
Here’s the video from my weekly segment with Chris Berg on Valley News Live from last night. It’s split into two segments as Rep. Mark Dosch (R-Bismarck) was supposed to be on to discuss school choice in the first segment but due to technical difficulties didn’t make it until the second. So I ended up…
From The Left: How About School Choice In Public Schools?
As the ongoing Common Core argument has taught us, there are few issues that get people talking and debating more than K-12 education. There are very few undisputed truths in education. First off, our education system has made our country great. If you are reading this, you have many teachers to thank. Education is at…
Fargo School District To Spend Taxpayer Dollars Fighting School Choice, Protecting Common Core
Over at Watchdog I have an article up today about the Fargo Public School District (yes, the people who threatened to lower education quality after voters shot down property tax levy measure) vowing to lobby against school choice legislation and to protect Common Core. I’ve written pretty extensively about how ugly the Common Core issue…
Indiana Supreme Court Rules School Vouchers Don't Violate Blaine Amendment
Recently here in North Dakota we had a debate over school choice policies and how they relate to archaic, bigoted language in the state Constitution banning state funding for “sectarian schools.” Unfortunately, the state legislature rejected both the school choice legislation introduced by Rep. Mark Dosch and a constitutional amendment introduced by Rep. Bette Grande…
SAB On Television: School Choice And Higher Ed
Chris Berg was kind enough to invite me on to his 6:30 POV program again last night opposite John Strand of the High Plains Reader. It was a fun discussion covering higher education issues and school choice bills. Valley News Live – KVLY/KXJB – Fargo/Grand Forks Strand said my complaints about the anti-Catholic religious bigotry…
ND Dems Uphold Anti-Catholic Constitutional Language To Protect Against School Choice
I’ve written before about North Dakota’s “Blaine amendment” language in the state constitution. The language prohibits the use of tax dollars raised for the purposes of public education being used for “sectarian” or religions schools. It was born of the anti-Catholic bigotry of the 19th century, the era of the “Know Nothing Party,” and unfortunately…
- 1
- 2