School Choice
Article:
"Gary Hart, author of California’s charter school law, reflects on its impact,"
By John Fensterwald, EdSource, August 13, 2018
Article:
"A Quite Revolution: Charter schooling's first 25 years"
By Andy Smarick, The Weekly Standard, October 24, 2016
Opinion:
"School choice is the latest battle for liberty: Guest commentary"
By Alan Bonsteel and Larry Sand, Los Angeles Daily News, June 30, 2015
As we approach the birthday of the land of the free and the home of the brave, we have much to be thankful for. (31 KB)
Opinion:
"Cheating casts doubt on STAR standardized school test online sharing of old exams voids claims of ‘rising test scores.’"
By Alan Bonsteel, Orange County Registrar, June 21, 2012
After years of misleading results, the STAR test – which makes up almost all of California's Academic Performance Index, or API – has been undermined by massive cheating, with a crushing blow coming when hundreds of STAR examinations were posted on Facebook and Twitter. (28 KB)
Op-ed:
"Education System a Titanic problem "
By Alan Bonsteel and Larry Sand, April 12, 2012
Without enough education lifeboats, millions of school kids are drowning. (22.4 KB)
Opinion:
"School choice reforms are more vital than ever "
By Alan Bonsteel and Larry Sand, Los Angeles Daily News, January 19, 2012
As we honor National School Choice week beginning Sunday, one fact stands out: 2012 marks the year when there can be no turning back in school choice reforms. (25.1 KB)
Op-ed:
"California needs more charter schools "
By Alan Bonsteel, San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 2010
The California Department of Education issued a news release Monday touting 10 years of uninterrupted progress on the Academic Performance Index. By contrast, on the test that researchers use to evaluate real performance, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, California students' scores have been flat during that same time. (7.89 KB)
Opinion:
"School choice is the key to improving education "
By Alan Bonsteel, Los Angeles Daily News, July 7, 2010
On June 15, the state of California missed the constitutional deadline to pass a budget. The next weeks will see the ugliest and most heart-wrenchingly painful budget negotiations in the history of the state as we deal with a $20 billion deficit after having already cut to the bone last year. (27.7 KB)
Op-ed:
"Revolution in U.S. education is in California "
By Alan Bonsteel, M.D., San Francisco Chronicle, January 10, 2010
The greatest revolution in education in the United States today is taking place in Los Angeles. It is the mandate of the Los Angeles Unified School District School Board to convert almost a third of its schools either to charter schools, the public schools of choice that are the one shining light in an otherwise dysfunctional system, or other alternatives such as magnet schools. The change is not only a mighty one for the state's largest school district, but in time it could double the number of public schools of choice in California. (8.72 KB)
Article:
" 'The Blind Side' should trouble as well as inspire"
By Star Parker, November 30, 2009 >
Oher's story is about private individuals, about personal choices and responsibility, and about Christians. (50 kb)
Op-ed:
"Do as we say, not as we do
Stats show teachers far more likely to choose private schools for their own kids "
By Alan Bonsteel, M.D., Orange County Registrar, September 10, 2004
It's
hard to think of who would be a better expert on the quality
of Orange County's public schools than the teachers who
work there. It may come as a shock, therefore, to discover
that these public school teachers are abandoning their government-run
schools and sending their own kids to private schools at
a far higher rate than the general public. (9.50 KB)
On June 6, for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the world saw an unprecedented show of unity. For the first time, a head of state of Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, attended what will probably be the last major commemoration of an event that may well have saved the world. (10 KB)
Op-ed:
"Rescuing School - Choice From Its Friends"
by BY John E. Coons, America, August 13-20, 2001.
THIS
GENERATION HAS WITNESSED many proposals for school choice,
but only a few have taken root in law and practice. What
do states such as Wisconsin and Ohio understand that remains
opaque to their sisters? Though the 10-year-old Milwaukee
program is effective and popular, its vital insight has
so far eluded those who draft statewide initiatives. (144
kb)
Op-ed:
"School voucher opposition hypocritical"
by Alan Bonsteel, Los Angeles Daily News February
22, 2000.
In
back-to-back speeches to the state Democratic convention
in San Jose recently, Al Gore and Bill Bradley traded barbs
about education. Gore flanked on the stage by Gov. Gray
Davis and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine
Eastin attacked the educational platform of Bradley, who
is on record as having voted for school vouchers in the
Senate and who supports public school choice and charter
schools. (7.39
kb)
Op-ed:
"Parents deserve a better option than an inept public education
system"
by Alan Bonsteel and Carl Brodt, Los Angeles Daily News
September 5, 1999
Within
the next three years, California voters will be asked to vote
on a school choice initiative involving both vouchers for
private schools and funding for Charter Schools –independent
public schools of choice– and Los Angeles parents will
play a role in that battle. (107 kb)
Article:
"After the Derailment, A Californian looks at the Future
of School Vouchers in his State"
by Carl L. Brodt, May 1998
On election
night in 1993, as opponents of Proposition 174, the California
School Voucher Initiative, frolicked at lavish parties at the
prestigious Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and other locations
around the state to celebrate the derailment of the Voucher
Movement in California, the activists supporting Proposition
174 gathered in small groups at private homes, huddled around
television sets, and watched the election returns come in.
(227 kb)
