Stephen Bowen's Blog - Maine School Choice

School Choice working for families in Lincoln County

A terrific column by Matt Stone in this weekend's Kennebec Journal outlines how Wiscasset High School is working to attract students in the new RSU of which it is part, and how all the families in the region are benefiting from the competition school choice brings. The new Sheepscot Valley RSU "stretches from Westport Island in the south to Palermo in the north to Chelsea in the west." Wiscasset High, the only public hi… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on March 30, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Upcoming RSU votes with implications for school choice

According to the state, 20 RSU plans are still awaiting approval by voters, and a number of them have implications for school choice: Alton/Bradley/Greenbush/Milford/Old Town: RSU plan would protect school choice in all towns except Old Town, which does not have choice. Sedgwick/Penobscot/Deer Isle-Stonington CSD/Brooksville/Brooklin/Blue Hill/Castine/Surry: AOS plan would protect school choic… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on January 19, 2009 at 1:05pm — No Comments

Could consolidation lead to MORE school choice?

MHPC has done quite a bit of work to publicize the fact that school choice in Maine is under threat. Is it possible that school choice could be expanded as a result of consolidation? The Times Record reports that residents of Wiscasset, which is destined to be the only non-choice district in its new RSU, are thinking… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on November 14, 2008 at 10:46am — 2 Comments

School choice saved in Raymond and Orland, lost elsewhere...

Voters in Raymond and Orland both voted to preserve school choice. The vote in Orland was very close, 671 to 644. That means Orland will continue to have at least some school choice after merging with Bucksport, assuming the merger plan passes when the time comes. That plan would limit high school choice in Orland to only 35% of students. The other 65% will be required to attend Bucksport High School. School choice in Raymond was upheld by a better than two-to-one margin, 1923 to 788. This mea… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on November 11, 2008 at 8:33am — 4 Comments

Update on Consolidation and School choice

As I described in an op-ed in yesterday's Kennebec Journal, the district consolidation effort is not moving forward quite as well as some would have us believe.

With regard to school choice that may be a good thing. As we've reported repeatedly, school choice options are under threat from consolidation efforts in many parts of the s… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on September 4, 2008 at 12:45pm — No Comments

School Voucher advocate Milton Friedman being recognized today

It was more than fifty years ago that the late Dr. Milton Friedman first proposed expanding school choice options through the use of taxpayer-funded school "vouchers." Arguing that government-run schools, which he characterized as "islands of socialism in a free-market sea," could not be justified in a predominantly free market society, Friedman proposed funding students directly and allowing the free market to create for the nation the high quality schools it needed then and still needs still t… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on July 31, 2008 at 10:42am — No Comments

New RSU launched today, choice lost in Bath area

Though it seems to have escaped the attention of most newspapers, the Forecaster reports here that Bath-area RSU 1 takes effect today as the state's first "reorganized" school district. This means the end of the Bath municipal school system as well as School Union 47, which, until today, included Arrowsic, Georgetown, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich. Georgetown residents voted against joining the RSU 1, but the four other town… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on July 1, 2008 at 9:01am — 1 Comment

Who is Tuitioned Where??

The link below takes you to a very interesting Excel file, from our friends at the Maine DOE, which has tons of data about Town Tuitioning in Maine. It lists the school units (SAU's) that tuitioned students as of last fall, tells which schools they went to, the grade levels of those schools, and how many students were sent. As you'll see, tuitioning is widely used in Maine, though many districts use it just to send students to specialized schools for such things as special education services. O… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on June 25, 2008 at 2:32pm — No Comments

School Choice Battle in the Nation's Capitol

As I mentioned in a previous blog, the eyes of the school choice world are currently turned to Washington DC, where Eleanor Holmes Norton, the delegate to Congress from the District of Columbia, is working furiously to cut off federal funding for a school voucher program in the nation's capitol that has shown great promise. The Washington Post, which has editorialized not once, but… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on June 17, 2008 at 1:37pm — No Comments

Judith Jones, of the Maine Association for Charter Schools, on School Choice

What follows is an excellent column on school choice by Judith Jones, who heads the Maine Association for Charter Schools. 5/22/08 Why School Choice is So Important in Maine Education is such a keystone for a democracy that states require all children to be educated. The challenges of our evolving world make us all aware of the importance of educating each child well. Since children differ dramatically in their educational needs, each s… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on June 16, 2008 at 7:01am — No Comments

Charter Schools in the News

While school choice in Maine seems to be barely holding its ground, the concept of school choice is becoming more popular elsewhere with each passing day. Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, a Democrat, made news yesterday by outlining a proposal for what he called "readin… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on June 13, 2008 at 9:38am — No Comments

School Choice in the News this week

School Choice was all over the state's papers this week. Monday, the Portland Press Herald and the Waterville Morning Sentinel both ran a piece by Beth Quimby which discussed the threats to choice outlined in my recent paper. Tuesday, the Herald ran an… Continue

Added by Stephen Bowen on June 5, 2008 at 8:00pm — No Comments

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