From the convention: Bush tells Democrats to ‘choose’ between unions and kids
Education finally got its place in the spotlight Thursday during the final night of the Republican National Convention, although it wasn’t Mitt Romney who put it there. It was Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who delivered the GOP message, devoting his entire speech to improving education — his signature issue while in office and his […]
From the convention: college students talk youth vote, higher ed cost
Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s joke from his Wednesday night speech about how t his IPod playlist compared to presidential candidate Mitt Romney did not impress a group of journalism students from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. Five students from the school, where the third presidential debate will be held in October, have spent […]
From the convention: A Romney adviser on how he’d take on unions and school choice
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has attempted to make his philosophy about how to improve American education widely known and easily accessible in recent weeks. But he hasn’t answered many specifics on the campaign trail. The Hechinger Report spoke with Jim Peyser, a member of Romney’s education team and a partner at the NewSchools Venture Fund, […]
From the convention: Will private schools even take voucher students?
Expanding school choice is a central piece of Mitt Romney’s education platform. But allowing more public dollars to follow low-income and special-needs children to private schools — one of Romney’s main proposals for reforming American education– does not guarantee those schools will open their doors to them. For example, a private school not far from […]
From the convention: Condoleezza Rice talks educational ‘crisis’
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined a long list of politicians—including both Mitt Romney and President Obama—describing education as the “civil rights issue of our day” in her speech at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night. “We need to give parents greater choice—particularly poor parents—whose kids, very often minorities, are trapped in failing neighborhood […]
From the convention: Local control versus national standards
One of the starkest differences between Republican and Democratic education platforms came to light in a series of panels that focused on two issues that presumably concern the millennial generation most: jobs and education. At “Conversations with the Next Generation,’’ Republican voices clamored for more local control of schools and less federal government mandates, while […]
From the convention: GOP platform considers school choice a ‘consumer right’
The Republican Party voted on its official platform Tuesday, calling for more local control and less government spending in education. The platform is similar to Mitt Romney’s proposed education policies in many ways, including a plan for federal money to follow low-income and special-needs students to the school – public or private – that they […]
From the convention: Education and the first night’s speakers
The theme Tuesday night for the Republican National Convention was “We Built It,” and speakers stuck to a script focused on jobs, the economy and the importance of small business—with very little mention of education. When the topic was broached, it was to draw a clear line between Republicans and Democrats, who often share more […]
From the convention: Education reform will require ‘getting ready for a fight’
Former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee called for classroom teachers unhappy with the system to brace themselves for battle. She spoke during a panel following the showing of “Won’t Back Down,” a film to be released this fall about a parent and teacher fighting to take over a failing school. “There is a difference in […]
From the convention: American Federation for Children and the push for school choice
Republicans in Tampa did more Tuesday than tally the state roll call. The party also voted on its official platform for the rest of the campaign season. In education, the GOP platform spells out its support for school choice, “whether through charter schools, open enrollment requests, college lab schools, virtual schools, career and technical education […]
