Gay students and children from gay families barred from private Christian...
The Star News in Wilmington reports that Myrtle Grove Christian School, which is eligible to receive taxpayer-funded private school vouchers beginning with the 2014-15 school year, will also begin...
View ArticleKey supporter of private school vouchers says schools barring gays should not...
Rep. Marcus Brandon, a key proponent of private school voucher legislation that made it through the General Assembly last summer, told NC Policy Watch that private Christian schools adopting policies...
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Debunking the pro-voucher spin
If you haven’t already done so, check out today’s edition of the Fitzsimon File in which Chris highlights the most recent cynical efforts of anti-government crusaders to cloak their efforts to...
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Your tax dollars at work…promoting specific religious beliefs
As an excellent essay in this morning’s edition of Raleigh’s News & Observer by veteran education policy expert Greg Malhoit makes clear, North Carolina is on the verge of commencing a long,...
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Charter school’s failure a testament to inadequate standards and oversight
It’s funny and sad how humans have to constantly relearn basic lessons of history. The latest exhibit here in North Carolina comes from the world of education where, once again, we’ve been reminded of...
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Luncheon will explore school voucher case, preview Supreme Court argument
Mark your calendar for the next N.C. Policy Watch Crucial Conversation luncheon on Tuesday, February 10: “The constitutional challenge to school vouchers: Where do things stand? What happens next?”...
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State dollars to teach creationism? Luncheon to explore whether State Supreme...
If it strikes you as odd and troubling that North Carolina has started bestowing “failing” grades on public schools even as it writes checks to unaccountable private schools which teach that humans and...
View ArticleOp-ed tells it like it is on school vouchers
In case you missed it the other day, Asheville writer Martin Dyckman published an excellent essay in the Asheville Citizen-Times that explained the real deal with North Carolina’s toxic and troubling...
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What the Right really has in mind for public education
If you still harbor any doubts about what the American far right has in mind when it comes to the future of public education, there’s a helpful reminder in Texas right now where ideologues are...
View ArticlePrivate Christian school receiving $100,000+ in publicly funded school...
A private Christian school in Fayetteville that has received more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded school vouchers is now the subject of a criminal investigation into allegations that the head of...
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Sex offender who worked at Christian voucher school charged, head of school...
A registered sex offender who worked at a Fayetteville private Christian school that has received more than $100,000 in publicly-funded school vouchers is now facing criminal charges—and the head of...
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State lawmaker says he expects House education committee to mull...
N.C. Rep. Ed Hanes Jr., D-Forsyth One day after N.C. Policy Watch reported the story of a voucher-eligible Lee County private school’s arguably discriminatory admissions policy, N.C. Rep. Ed Hanes Jr.,...
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New report points to segregation in private schools
Last month, we reported on the widening racial and economic divisions in North Carolina’s two largest school systems, despite ample evidence that high concentrations of impoverished children in any...
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North Carolina has spent $12 million on private school vouchers this year
The Citizen-Times of Asheville is reporting this week that North Carolina has spent about $12 million this academic year, out of a budgeted $17.6 million, on the state’s controversial private school...
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Rep. Ed Hanes, controversial Winston-Salem Democrat, talks working both sides...
Rep. Ed Hanes is used to controversy by now. The Winston-Salem Democrat, an outspoken education reformer, has a reputation for cross-party alliances. Now in his second term in Raleigh, Hanes has been a...
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In session’s final hours, teacher background check bill advancing in N.C....
With the N.C. General Assembly winding down its short session, lawmakers are hoping to speed though the final bills on their agenda Friday, one of which sets a new statewide background check standard...
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Director of voucher-eligible private school in Raleigh accused of sex with...
According to ABC 11, the director of a Raleigh-area private school, which is eligible for publicly-funded vouchers from North Carolina, has been charged with having sex with children. From ABC 11’s...
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Under new federal education law, more public dollars may be bound for private...
At Policy Watch, we’ve reported extensively on the new responsibilities entrusted to state education leaders under last year’s Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal update to the long-unpopular No...
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Trump’s pick for education secretary has no background in public schools
Much has been made of President-elect Trump’s controversial picks for his still-forming Cabinet. Now, a fascinating report today from Education Week‘s Alyson Klein is only likely to fan the flames for...
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A play-by-play on Betsy DeVos’ remarkable, combative confirmation as...
President-elect Trump and his nominee for U.S. education secretary, Betsy DeVos The Senate confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees have been, for lack of a better word, wild....
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Report: Trump nominee Betsy DeVos may have plagiarized in Senate questionnaire
Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education Breaking news from The Washington Post: The paper is reporting this morning that President Trump’s nominee for U.S. education...
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Public school chief downplays teacher pay shortfall, offers public support...
N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson addresses the media Friday in Winston-Salem. N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson downplayed reports Friday that, despite...
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How controversy, and federal law, could limit Betsy DeVos if confirmed
President Trump and his nominee for U.S. education secretary, Betsy DeVos Education Week has offered up a thought-provoking examination into how controversy, and a new state-friendly federal education...
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Michelle Rhee: Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos must reach out to...
Former D.C. teachers’ union head George Parker and school reformer Michelle Rhee take questions in Raleigh Tuesday. Just months ago, Michelle Rhee, a polarizing school reformer in D.C., was on the...
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Duke report blasts lack of accountability, results in North Carolina school...
Calling accountability measures in North Carolina’s private school voucher program “among the weakest in the country,” a new report from a Duke University law clinic shreds the state’s lack of data,...
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Despite criticism, House lawmakers approve corporate perks for charter...
Rep. John Bradford, R-Mecklenburg N.C. House lawmakers signed off Tuesday afternoon on a controversial Republican bill dishing out corporate perks to charter partners, setting aside half of any...
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Controversial charter growth bill sails through the state House
Rep. Mark Brody, R-Anson, Union Despite criticism from the Republican chair of the State Board of Education, members of the state House of Representatives voted Thursday to clear speedy expansion for...
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Federal K-12 spending poised to fall, but lawmakers break with Trump on...
President Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Federal spending on the U.S. Department of Education appears poised to fall in the coming year, but the Republican-controlled Congress may break...
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Report: Some charter school leaders slam “company” charter bill
Some North Carolina charter leaders are fired up over a legislative proposal to set aside half of a charter school’s enrollment as a corporate “perk,” a new report from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation’s...
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Trump budget, as expected, to roll out massive school choice expansion
President Trump and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos In the midst of last week’s near-constant stream of Russia-Trump news, you could be forgiven if you’ve forgotten President Trump has plans to...
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Report: Trump education budget slams the working class that helped elect him...
President Trump’s newly-released K-12 budget would hurt the working class voters who helped elect him president in November, according to a new report from The Atlantic. The report comes with Trump...
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N.C.’s compromise budget: Teacher pay raises, voucher boom, DPI cuts, school...
North Carolina state lawmakers unveiled a compromise budget package Monday that bundles a new round of teacher pay raises amid steep cuts for the state’s top K-12 agency and support for school choice...
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Reports: Traditional school enrollment down in N.C., charters and private...
Multiple North Carolina news outlets have reported this interesting tidbit of the day: According to state data, enrollment in the state’s traditional public schools declined in 2017, while charter and...
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Florida investigation: Private schools pull in $1 billion in public funds...
In a story that’s sure to only galvanize critics of North Carolina’s fast-expanding private school voucher program, a recent and extensive Orlando Sentinel investigation takes on Florida’s oversight of...
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Betsy DeVos, Jeb Bush, gather with school choice champions in Tennessee
Some of the country’s most prominent school choice champions—including U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and former GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush—will gather once again this week to push a...
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N.C. State researcher hints at controversial voucher study to come
Friday Institute Director of Policy Research Trip Stallings A pending study of academic outcomes in North Carolina’s controversial private school voucher program isn’t likely to be “non-controversial,”...
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Editorial: Voucher study offers little clarity on private school performance
A new study from N.C. State University is sure to provide fuel for fans of the state’s so-called Opportunity Scholarship program, which offers vouchers for low-income students to attend private...
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School choice groups fire back over criticism of another voucher expansion
Accountability is a slippery word to the leadership of the N.C. General Assembly. Republican legislators in the House and Senate oft crow about the need for accountability — financially and...
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Senate bill would increase maximum amount families receive for school vouchers
In a move that’s sure to spark controversy, Senate Republicans on Wednesday filed a bill to increase school voucher awards by $2,300. Parents use state vouchers to help pay tuition at private and...
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