In a major address and policy white paper on education, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney proposed to allow students enrolled in special education programs to use the federal dollars tied to their disability to attend a public, charter, or (when permitted by state law) private school of their choice. The basic principle behind Romney's plan--that…

New York City's leading teachers' union signaled that it will not give up its fight to keep the city from closing bad schools. The Department of Education administers voluntary surveys to parents and teachers in each of its public and charter schools. The results of these surveys account for about 10 percent of the accountability score used to…

To all the other fiscal travails facing this country's states and largest cities, now add their pension obligations, which are far greater than they may realize or are willing to admit. This paper focuses on the crisis in funding teachers' pensions, because education is often the largest program area in state budgets, making it an obvious target…

A recent review of data provided by the New York City Department of Education reveals that African-American charter school students were 60 percent more likely than their public school counterparts to earn a seat in one of New York City's specialized high schools in 2009. For Hispanics, the rate of acceptance was twice as high for charter school…

New Jersey is considering a tax reform called "Cap 2.5," under which a municipality's tax levy on existing property could not grow more than 2.5 percent in any year, unless its voters pass a referendum allowing a greater increase. This reform is similar to Massachusetts's Proposition 2.5, which that state adopted in 1980. New Jersey lawmakers may…