1. Two reminders: Fundraising Appeal & Milton Friedman Celebration Dinner
2. What to Ask Candidates about Education
3. Free online classes
4. Conclusion of Round-Up of School Choice in the States
5. Correction

Vermonters for Better Education is in the midst of an annual fundraising drive. Letters and emails went out in the past month but there’s still time to send in a donation.  

Here’s a brief round-up of VBE’s activities and accomplishments:

• A regular e-newsletter with more than 2,000 subscribers
• A web site (vermontersforbettereducation.com) that registers up to 5,000 hits per month
• A new lobbying arm, EdWatch, that promotes school choice, parental rights and education reform
• An expanded presence in Montpelier that covers the State Board of Education meetings, legislative work in education, executive branch actions, and more
• Expanded behind-the-scenes work with other educational leaders and organizations 
• Liaisons with national groups interested in school choice (including litigation)
• Publications on education issues for political candidates
• Booklets on “How to Privatize a School” (available online) and “How to Choose a School” (available soon) 

Thank you!

The late Dr. Milton Friedman, a former resident of Ely, Vermont and a Nobel Laureate in Economics, was a great champion of human freedom. At this second annual celebration in his honor, the program will focus on the major cause of his final decade, parental choice in education.

This subject is particularly relevant to Rutland County, with its tradition of strong independent schools and voter support for expanding choice in education.
 

The discussion participants:

David Wolk, President, Castleton State College and former Commissioner of Education
Peter Giancola, chairman, Rutland Catholic School Board
Curtis Hier, founder, First Class Education for Vermont, Fair Haven
Peter W. Lind, board member, Rutland Area Christian School
Charles Scranton, headmaster (ret.), Burr & Burton Academy, Manchester 
Dr. Art Woolf, UVM associate professor of economics
Chris Robbins, former chairman, Vermont School Boards Association (moderator)
Rutland Supt Mary Moran and Bishop Salvatore Matano of the Diocese of Vermont will also be participating.

Please reserve your seats by calling or emailing the Ethan Allen Institute (802) 695-1448 or eai@ethanallen.org). The price is $30, and may be paid either in advance or at the door.

The annual Friedman Dinner is co-sponsored by the Ethan Allen Institute and Vermonters for Better Education.

Every candidate for political office will express a commitment to “better education.”  So how do you tell if a candidate supports your particular ideas for getting to that goal?  

Below are ten questions VBE suggests asking candidates to determine the specific education priorities of candidates beyond a desire for “better education.”  These questions should also get at a candidate’s commitment to school choice policies—policies that allow all parents, regardless of financial means, the opportunity to choose a school for their children.

1) What are your three overall education priorities that, in a perfect world, you would accomplish during your tenure in office? How will you achieve them?

2) What role does money play in improving schools?

3) Do you think Act 150 (the law that allows a small number of students from each public high school to choose another public high school in their region) should be expanded? If so, how?

4) Do you support Vermont’s tuition towns where parents have the right to choose among public and private schools at the high school level?

5) Do you believe dual enrollment programs, allowing high school students to start college early or to take college courses in lieu of high school courses, should be continued and expanded? How should they be funded?

6) What do you think should be done to ensure that all Vermont students are proficient (according to state and/or national tests) in gateway skills like reading, writing, and math?

7) Vermont’s student population has been declining yet per pupil costs remain the same or get higher. How would you deal with this problem?

8) Who do you think should appoint the Commissioner of Education?

9) Do you think it’s a good thing for schools to be held accountable for failing to educate all their students in gateway skills? How so?

10) The teachers union and some other education groups in the state oppose school choice programs. Have you received money or endorsements from any education groups? If so, which ones?

GlobalClassroom, an organization that offers free online education resources to teachers world wide, is making three web career courses available for free to Vermont high school students, according to GlobalClassroom Executive Director Joseph Thibault.

“The courses we are offering all are categorized under the title Introduction to Web Careers,” says Thibault. 

Each course is six weeks long and is the equivalent to a 1/2 high school unit (though this varies depending on districts, says Thibault).  The courses available for high school aged students are meant to supplement their current high school instruction with a course or two (or three) that are not otherwise offered to them locally. 

The courses are: 

• Dreamweaver and Web Design
• Photoshop and Web-based Marketing
• Flash Animation and Web Programming

“There is a short application process,” says Thibault, “but no students will be turned away until we completely fill all seats.”

For more information, visit: http://globalclassroom.us/

Continuing with the VER’s look at school choice programs around the world and the country, the following summaries of school choice programs in other states are from the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation’s excellent round-up of what’s happening in the U.S.:

LA Personal Tax Deduction
Louisiana provides a personal tax deduction for educational expenses, including private school tuition and fees as well as uniforms, textbooks, curricular materials and any school supplies required by the school. This deduction helps mitigate the cost of choosing a private school, making it easier for families to exercise choice. The deduction also includes tuition and fees at university-run “lab schools,” as well as educational expenses for public school and home school students. It was enacted in March 2008.

ME Town Tuitioning Program
Just as in Vermont, many small towns in Maine do not operate local high schools, and some do not operate local elementary schools. Students in these towns are eligible for a voucher to attend public schools in other towns or non-religious private schools, even outside the state. The “sending” towns pay tuition directly to the “receiving” schools. While most towns allow parents to choose which schools will receive their students, some towns send all their students to one school. In 2003-04, 113 towns let parents decide where to send their children, while 33 towns contracted with one school.

MI Tax Credits and Deductions for Educational Expenses
Minnesota provides a tax credit and a tax deduction covering educational expenses for students in any private or public school. The tax deduction lowers a family’s taxable income; the tax credit reduces the family’s total tax liability. They both cover books, tutors, academic after-school programs and other non-tuition educational expenses. The deduction also includes tuition payments at private schools, while the credit does not. The credit and the deduction make it a little bit easier for families to choose a private school for their children.

OH Autism Scholarship Program
Ohio students who have autism (including autism-spectrum disorders) may use a voucher to receive education services from a private provider, including tuition at a private school. After participating students receive education services, they apply to the state for reimbursement of expenses.

OH Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program
Families who live within the boundaries of the Cleveland Municipal School District are eligible to use a voucher to send their children to private school. The voucher also may be used at public schools bordering the school district, but currently no public schools have chosen to participate. No more than half of new recipients may be students previously enrolled in private schools. In addition, the state gives tutorial grants to public school students for services beyond those provided by public schools.

OH Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program
Ohio students attending chronically failing public schools are eligible for vouchers to attend private schools.

PA Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program
The Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program provides a tax credit on the state’s corporate income tax for contributions to Scholarship Organizations (SOs), which give private-school scholarships to eligible children, or Educational Improvement Organizations (EIOs), which support innovative programs in public schools. A company may claim a tax credit worth 75 percent of its contribution. Alternatively, if it commits to two consecutive annual contributions, it may claim a tax credit worth 90 percent of its contribution. In either case, the maximum tax credit is $200,000 in each year that a donation is made. The total of all tax credits awarded is limited to $67 million annually – $44 million for SOs and $22 million for EIOs. Credits are awarded to companies on a first-come, first-served basis until the cap is reached.

RI Corporate Tax Credits for Scholarship Organizations
Starting in 2007, Rhode Island will provide a credit on corporate income taxes for donations to Scholarship Organizations (SOs), privately run non-profit organizations that support private-school scholarships. Corporate taxpayers contributing to SOs may claim a tax credit equal to 75 percent of their contribution, or 90 percent if they donate for two consecutive years and the second year’s donation is worth at least 80 percent of the first year’s donation.

UT Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship Program
Most students with disabilities are eligible to receive a voucher to attend a private school. Participation is limited by the amount of money appropriated to fund the program.

WI Milwaukee Parental Choice Program 
Eligible low-income families in Milwaukee may send their children to a participating private school of their choice within the city of Milwaukee. This is one of the nation’s largest voucher programs, and by far the most prominent.

An astute reader notified us of an error in the last VER. An article headlined School Choice in the Netherlands began with “In Denmark…”  Obviously, that should have read “In Holland…”  The Danes are not the Dutch, as the VER and its readers know. The VER regrets the error and thanks the reader for pointing it out! 

We do!  Please consider a gift to Vermonters for Better Education, the publisher of the weekly Vermont Education Report, Vermont's ONLY continual source of education news. Send donations to: VBE, PO Box 255, Woodbury, VT 05681. VBE is a nonprofit organization and contributions are tax-deductible.

The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education PO Box 255, Woodbury, VT 05681 - 802-472-5491. The Vermont Education Report may be reprinted with the editor's permission. For more information contact: VBE@comcast.net or visit us on the web: http://www.schoolreport.com

VERMONTERS FOR BETTER EDUCATION is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to enlist parents and the public at large in achieving quality educational opportunities for all the children of Vermont by monitoring the state of education in Vermont; promoting the value of educational freedoms for all parents; and giving parents the evaluative tools with which to identify excellence.

Retta Dunlap, executive director
VBE@comcast.net