Neal McCluskey

Grounding education in choice, not government schooling, is not a new idea. It certainly goes farther back than the 1950s. Indeed, as Fighting for the Freedom to Learn explains, it is older than public schooling itself.

Universities should steer clear of the Trump compact because it is highly prescriptive, and they should want to maintain their independence. It would be a ramping up of federal control. 

The school choice movement is not a conspiracy.

Standardized test scores are not everything. But they are something, and to the extent they tell us how well our K‑12 system is working, we have clearly been losing bang for our bucks.

We need to be prepared for schools of all types—public and private, K‑12 and college—to face enrollment challenges and, yes, go out of business. As they should: When demand falls, supply should shrink.

Ultimately, the ruling was grounded in fundamental liberty: government cannot condition receipt of funds on recipients adopting government-approved speech or ideas or punish disapproved ideas.

With Labor Day behind us, we are in full back-to-school swing. For the rest of the week, Cato Center for Educational Freedom scholars will be getting you up to speed on what’s happening in education policy as kids return to their assigned public elementary, pine-needle-cushioned forest school, hallowed Ivy League home, and more.

The field is looking more and more open for expanding freedom in education. As long, that is, as we can keep the feds at bay.

Private schools saw a burst in enrollment as they tended to return to in-person instruction faster than public schools. It is a burst that the latest Private School Enrollment Survey indicates might be ending.

The president of the United States is the chief executive, and determining how many people are needed to execute the laws created by Congress is the president’s prerogative. The Supreme Court rightly let that stand.