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IN THIS EDITION |
What to Watch
Five school choice proposals being considered in Texas. | Number of the Week
The exorbitant 10-year cost of the Obama Administration's new preschool plan. | Quote of the Week
John Griffing of National Review Online speaks out on Common Core. | Don't Miss
Pulling a Reagan against Common Core. | |
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Obama Budget Ends Funding for D.C. School Choice Program By Lindsey Burke
Yesterday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan testified before the House Appropriations Committee about Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request for the Department of Education. Congressman Andy Harris (R–MD) took the opportunity to question Duncan about a glaring omission from the budget: funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP).
The DCOSP provides vouchers to low-income children in the nation’s capital to attend a private school of choice. According to the Department of Education’s scientifically rigorous evaluation of the program, the DCOSP has been a wild success: Students who received a voucher and used it to attend a private school had a 91 percent graduation rate—21 percentage points higher than their peers who did not receive a voucher. The evaluation, without a doubt, showed that scholarships led to the dramatic gains in school completion.
Congressman Harris questioned Secretary Duncan on why the Obama Administration is pushing to create a massive new federal preschool program when there is little evidence that such an initiative would work, while at the same time pushing once again to eliminate funding for the objectively successful DCOSP. |
| What To
Watch |  | Five School Choice Proposals in Texas
Lawmakers are considering multiple pieces of legislation that would, if approved, be the state’s first private school choice programs. | |
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Number of the Week
$75 Billion
The 10-year cost of the Obama Administration’s new preschool plan.
The federal government already funds 45 childcare and early education programs at a cost of $20 billion, and evaluations show that government preschool programs have little to no impact on children’s academic outcomes.
See Obama Budget Ends Funding for D.C. School Choice Program.
| | | Quote of the Week |  | “The critics’ basic thrust is that Common Core is invasive and in many cases replaces state oversight and teacher direction with federal authority, violating the constitutional division of power. It is incontrovertible that Common Core directly affects classrooms and drastically reduces teacher discretion and district flexibility.."
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Don’t Miss
Pulling a Reagan Against Common Core
Now is the time for leaders to push back against Common Core national education standards. Read the full report >> |  | |
 | About The Heritage Foundation
Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute -- a think tank -- whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. | |
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