Author: Ross Izard
-
State-chartered schools shortchanged in DougCo ballot bid
—
by
Ross Izard We all know that elected officials must make compromises. But in education, those compromises should never involve excluding students in your community from funding opportunities simply because of the public schools their parents choose. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the Douglas County school board has chosen to do by excluding two public charter schools…
-
Let’s expand school choice in Colorado
—
by
Ross Izard It’s National School Choice Week and once again Colorado has a lot to celebrate. But as the pandemic lingers and politics takes center stage, the state must be careful not to take a step backward. Colorado offers a wide variety of educational options. Perhaps most commonly known is that state law allows parents…
-
Prioritize all Colorado students amid COVID-19
—
by
Ross Izard This week, Colorado lawmakers returned to Denver for a special session aimed at deciding how to address the damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic in a tumultuous year. One topic of debate is K-12 education, which has been shaken to its core by both the virus itself and by the harsh restrictions and…
-
THE PODIUM | Kids won big in school choice ruling
—
by
Ross Izard Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a landmark ruling invalidating the use of state constitutional “Blaine Amendments” to bar faith-based schools from participating in K-12 scholarship programs. That ruling removes the largest legal impediment to private school choice in three dozen states and throws open the doors of opportunity…
-
BETTER SCHOOLS: ROSS IZARD | ‘Parental empowerment is the new normal’
—
by
Ross Izard Editor’s note: Colorado Politics presents “Which way to better Colorado schools?” We’re offering seven perspectives on upgrading education in the state. Empowered parents make empowered voters. And in many Colorado communities, thousands of these empowered voters simultaneously rejected a massive, statewide K-12 funding proposal and approved local funding initiatives. In so doing, they…
-
Foes of school choice in DougCo rest their case on an odious policy with a dark history
—
by
Debate surrounding state constitutional “Blaine Amendments,” which prohibit government aid to “sectarian” institutions, has reached a crescendo as a result of the high-profile school board race in Douglas County. As deeply consequential litigation over Blaine Amendments and parental choice hangs in the balance between two opposing slates of school board candidates, some anti-choice interest groups…
