AFC Policy Summit: Off to a Great Start!

So many people filled the room at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland for the first break-out session at the AFC’s 2013 National Policy Summit that the hotel had to bring in stacks of chairs to accommodate!

What they heard from AFC’s national government affairs director Jonathan Nikkila during the first break-out session shows promising growth across the nation: states with already-established educational choice programs are growing bigger and bolder.  From coast to coast, there are 34 educational programs that have expanded to add thousands of students during the past year, thanks to increased bipartisan support.

Additionally, even legal challenges can be seen as a positive, according to Dick Komer with the Institute for School Justice, who has worked over the past year to defend programs in five states.

“This is a nice indicator of the broad interest in school choice,” Komer said.

Choice programs have so far been successfully defended from litigation in three states: Texas, Colorado, and Indiana.  Komer is hopeful pending litigation in New Hampshire will bring a victory for the state’s business tax credit program.

“School choice is no longer this crazy idea.  It’s a very serious threat [to the status quo],” Komer said, “But on your side, you have us.”

If you can’t make it to the summit, you can live stream each session by going to the AFC Policy Summit website and clicking on the “Live Stream” box.

We’ll have more updates from the summit throughout the day on our blog, Twitter, and YouTube!

Alliance for School Choice, Institute for Justice Respond to Bullying with Legal Defense Fund

All week, we’ve been telling you about the bullying tactics of special interests trying to scare schools out of participating in the newly-expanded statewide voucher program.  Now, thanks to the Alliance for School Choice and the Institute for Justice, there is something you can do about it.  Check out the new legal defense fund to help protect schools that are attacked by lawsuits for participating in the voucher program.

The Louisiana Defense Fund, created in response to the letter sent by the Louisiana Association of Educators that threatened to sue private schools that participate in the program, will protect Louisiana schools against legal threats from the local teachers union.

And while defenders of the status quo are reaching new lows to stop a scholarship program designed to help students from low-income families that are stuck in failing schools, those standing for children have been hard at work.  The Department of Education recently announced the awarding of 5,637 scholarships—just more than half of the 10,300 applications received.

The program is set to move forward at the beginning of the school year, while the trial to determine the constitutionality of the program is set to begin on October 15.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

Organizations Continue Fighting Back in Defense of Louisiana Voucher Program

Check out this video from WFAB in Baton Rouge, which not only highlights the importance of the Student Scholarship for Educational Excellence program -- the recently-expanded, statewide voucher program -- but also our friends the Black Alliance for Educational Options, who have fought for expanded school choice in the Bayou State for years. It also gives a well-deserved shout out to the Institute for Justice, the organization that is working hard to defeat special interests who are determined to use the legal process to deny families the right to choose their education.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice

BREAKING NEWS: Louisiana Judge Allows Expanded Voucher Program to Proceed with August Enrollment

We've got great news from Louisiana: Judge Tim Kelley today ruled that the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence program, which was expanded statewide earlier this year and faces several lawsuits from opponents to education reform, will be allowed to proceed in August.  The judge ruled against an injunction, citing a state law that says injunctions cannot be implemented if it would cause a budget deficit in a state agency, according to the Baton Rouge Business Report.

This is a minor sigh of relief for many Louisiana families, who will now be able to send their children to the school of their choice in August.  While the lawsuit is moving forward, the Institute of Justice—representing parents, the Black Alliance for Educational Options, and our sister organization the Alliance for School Choice—will defend this vital program.

School Choice Now! will keep you updated on all the legal happenings as advocates work to protect the expanded Student Scholarships for Education Excellence program.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

Opponents to Education Reform are at it…Again

Families across Louisiana celebrated a legislative victory earlier this year thanks to a bipartisan coalition in the state legislature and the strong leadership of Governor Bobby Jindal. Together, they expanded New Orleans’ voucher program statewide, making almost 400,000 additional families eligible for school choice.  Later this week, we'll get official numbers as to how many of those families followed up and applied to participate in the program; early estimates put the number in the thousands. 

But not everyone was happy.  Opponents—including teachers unions and local school boards—are focused on maintaining the status quo.  They decried the expanded program, and, instead of focusing on giving all children an education that is tailored to their needs, they sued, wanting the court system to disband this program.  

But the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national civil liberties law firm has filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuits against the program.  Representing parents, the Alliance for School Choice, and the Black Alliance for Educational Options, IJ has a long track record of defending—and winning—these cases. 

Preventing disadvantaged children from accessing a quality education is shameful.  And AFC Senior Advisor Kevin Chavous, who has worked in the state for years building legislative support for private school choice, echoed that sentiment:

The demand for this program has been demonstrated by the thousands of Louisiana families pleading for more educational options not only in New Orleans, but across the entire state.  We’re confident that IJ’s strong legal presence will prevail for those families seeking the quality educational options their children have long deserved.

More than 380,000 students are eligible to participate under the expanded Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence program, which is designed to help students from low-income backgrounds who attend persistently poor-performing public schools.  In the 2011-12 school year, more than 1,800 students living in Orleans Parish participated in the program.

Check out a release from the Alliance for School Choice on we're standing with IJ, BAEO, and parents from across the state.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

You're Invited! "The Results of 2011, The Promise of 2012" - Thursday, Jan. 26, 1 p.m.

On behalf of the Alliance for School Choice, we here at School Choice Now! want to make sure you're aware of a free event we're hosting this Thursday, January 26 at 1 p.m. in Washington, D.C.

In conjunction with National School Choice Week, we're excited to let you know that we'll be unveiling our School Choice Yearbook 2011-12, the sixth edition of our award-winning publication, at an event titled "The Result of 2011, The Promise of 2012," cohosted by the Fordham Institute and the Institute for Justice. In addition to the first look at cutting-edge data from our new Yearbook, you'll hear from families who have benefited from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program here in Washington. The details are below:

The event is free and open to the public, and lunch will be provided! Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP at www.SchoolChoice2012.com. We hope you'll be able to make it, and we encourage you to tell your friends to join us as well. Click here to read the press release we sent out about the event last week -- and feel free to send that along to your friends, too. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions, and we hope to see you Thursday!

- American Federation | Alliance for School Choice, MAG

The Institute for Justice Opens Schoolhouse Doors in Indiana

Our friends at the Institute for Justice had a busy summer, helping to defend Indiana's new Choice Scholarship voucher program against attempts by special interests to stop the new plan. We told you in mid-August when a Marion County judge decided against blocking the voucher program, but that decision didn't come in a vacuum; it was the result of a strong effort from various school choice champions to make the case for the legality of the program.

And foremost among those champions was IJ. Now, they're out with a new publication that speaks to Indiana's place in the long history of the courts' support for school choice. In "Opening the Schoolhouse Doors," by IJ's Angela C. Erickson, read how they helped the Hoosier State stay on the cutting edge of the national movement to expand educational options to families who need them.

You can download the full PDF of the publication here. And be sure to read more about the document on the IJ website.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MAG