How the PERS Pac-Man Eats Teacher Salaries
By Steve Buckstein and Kathryn Hickok What do Pac-Man and public pensions have…
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Children’s Scholarship Fund Gives Low-Income Parents Real Education Choices
By Kathryn Hickok This spring, the Children’s Scholarship Fund-Oregon program sponsored by Cascade…
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Underestimating Public School Spending
By Steve Buckstein A 2017 national poll on education issues found, among other…
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School Choice Leads to Student Success
By Kathryn Hickok Parents know a solid education prepares their children for life,…
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Charters Schools Are a Laboratory for Innovation Within Public Education
By Kathryn Hickok This is National Charter Schools Week. Did you know almost…
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Amateur Hour at the State Land Board
By John A. Charles, Jr. Oregon owns 1.5 million acres of School Trust…
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End PERS—For a Day!
By Steve Buckstein Most Oregonians know that our state’s Public Employees Retirement System…
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Study: School Trust income would go up by 600% if lands were sold
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: John A. Charles, Jr. 503-242-0900 john@cascadepolicy.org PORTLAND, Ore….
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Time to Decentralize Oregon’s Education Reform Efforts
By Kathryn Hickok and Steve Buckstein Three years ago, Oregon state government killed…
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Four Strikes and You’re Still Out: Oregon’s Ongoing Quest to Centralize Education Policy
By Steve Buckstein In 2015 Oregon state government killed off what should have…
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What’s at the Root of Oregon’s Education Problems? (Steve Jobs Already Told Us the Answer)
By Steve Buckstein The Oregon legislature will embark on an “impossible mission” to…
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Oregon Parents Deserve to Be the Voice for Kids’ Education Options
By Bobbie Jager For the second year in a row, Oregon has reported…
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School Choice Is More Than “Just Choosing a Different Brick Building”
By Kathryn Hickok This week is National School Choice Week, the world’s largest…
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Cascade Policy Institute Celebrates National School Choice Week 2018
January 16, 2018 For Immediate Release Media Contact: Steve Buckstein 503-242-0900 Oregonians will…
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National School Choice Week Celebrates Diversity in K-12 Education
By Kathryn Hickok National School Choice Week is the world’s largest celebration of…
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Give Oregon Kids the Power of Educational Choice, Like Kids in Florida
By Kathryn Hickok Denisha Merriweather failed third grade twice. Today, she is finishing…
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Taxpayers Aren’t at Fault for Oregon’s Abysmal Graduation Rate
By Kathryn Hickok Willamette Week recently reported that, sadly, Oregon has the third-lowest…
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Military Families Want Flexible Education Options for Their Kids
By Kathryn Hickok EdChoice recently conducted a groundbreaking survey of military-connected families seeking…
Read Blog DetailWin $15,000 for a video telling your school choice story
Choices in Ed Video Competition Entry Deadline is December 1, 2017 Dear School…
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Why Protesters of Betsy DeVos Can’t Understand What She’s Talking About
By Steve Buckstein What would you do if you read an article about…
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Choice Thinking: Why does the public ignore, distort or reject school choice facts and arguments?
by Richard Meinhard, Ph.D. and Steve Buckstein September 10, 2001 (contact information updated…
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“Shuffling” Is for Playing Cards, Not School Kids
By Kathryn Hickok Portland Public Schools is redrawing the boundaries of more than…
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On 25th Anniversary, Charter Schools Have Much to Celebrate
By Kathryn Hickok America’s charter school movement celebrates its 25th anniversary this month….
Read Blog DetailLet Parents Wield School Spending Power
By Kathryn Hickok Are we missing the trees for the forest in Oregon…
Read Blog DetailWho says Oregon pays public school teachers more than other states? The National Education Association, that’s who!
By Steve Buckstein As Oregon legislators wrestle with how much money to spend…
Read Blog DetailOregon Legislature Should Give Kids a “Ticket to the Future” Today
By Kathryn Hickok and Steve Buckstein Derrell Bradford has spent his adult life…
Read Blog DetailWho says Oregon spends $13,230 per public school student? The National Education Association, that’s who!
By Steve Buckstein Ever since Oregon’s property tax limitation Measure 5 shifted the…
Read Blog DetailEducation Savings Accounts Treat Kids Like the Individuals They Are
By Kathryn Hickok Six years ago, Arizona became the first state to pass…
Read Blog DetailProposed Oregon ESA Law Would Offer Students Choices While Breaking Even for Public Schools
By Steve Buckstein Senate Bill 437, under consideration this legislative session, would offer…
Read Blog DetailEducation Savings Accounts Can Help Students Without Hurting Public Schools
By Steve Buckstein School choice programs allow students to choose schools or other…
Read Blog DetailArizona’s Universal Education Savings Account Law: A “Breakthrough” in Education Financing for Students Today
By Kathryn Hickok Six years ago, Arizona became the first state to pass…
Read Blog DetailEducational Choice: An Economic Development Catalyst for Urban Neighborhoods
By Kathryn Hickok A case study on urban renewal suggests that private and…
Read Blog DetailNow Is the Time: Oregon’s Educational Opportunity Act, The Power of Choice
By Steve Buckstein Oregon now has the chance to become an early adopter…
Read Blog DetailThe Road to Success Travels Through 3rd Grade Reading
By Kathryn Hickok Denisha Merriweather failed third grade twice. Today, she is finishing…
Read Blog DetailParental Choice Champion Betsy DeVos Confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Education
By Steve Buckstein Opponents of Betsy DeVos tried everything they could to keep…
Read Blog DetailThe Past, Present, and Future of School Choice in Oregon
By Steve Buckstein The vast majority of Oregonians attended public schools assigned to…
Read Blog DetailAn Oregon Education Solution Whose Time Has Come
By Kathryn Hickok Derrell Bradford has spent his adult life passionately advocating for…
Read Blog DetailAn Oregon Education Solution Whose Time Has Come
By Kathryn Hickok Derrell Bradford has spent his adult life passionately advocating for…
Read Blog DetailThe Oregon Education Solution Whose Time Has Come
By Kathryn Hickok Next week is National School Choice Week, the world’s largest…
Read Blog DetailCascade Policy Institute Welcomes Oregon’s 2012 “Mother of the Year” to Celebrate National School Choice Week 2017
For Immediate Release Media Contact: Steve Buckstein 503-242-0900 steven@cascadepolicy.org Portland, Oregon to play…
Read Blog DetailEducational Choice: A “Ticket to the Future” for Every Child
By Kathryn Hickok Derrell Bradford has spent his adult life passionately advocating for…
Read Blog DetailHow Much Is the Elliott State Forest Worth to Oregon Schools? (Don’t Forget the Value of Compounding)
By John A. Charles, Jr. Advocates of public schools frequently complain about the…
Read Blog DetailMeasure 97 and the Mirage of School Funding
— Voters are destined for disappointment By John A. Charles, Jr. Proponents…
Read Blog DetailFreedom in Film: Won’t Back Down (2012)
With students everywhere heading to class, we hope you enjoy Part 3 of…
Read Blog DetailFreedom in Film: Waiting for “Superman” (2010)
With students everywhere heading to class, we hope you enjoy Part 2 of…
Read Blog DetailFreedom in Film: To Sir, with Love (1967)
With students everywhere heading to class, we hope you enjoy Part 1 of…
Read Blog DetailImprove Education Outcomes Through Education Savings Accounts, Not Measure 97’s Hidden Sales Tax
On the third day of the new school year at Portland’s Madison High…
Read Blog DetailOregon Land Board Low-Balls Elliott Timber with Fixed-Price “Bidding”
Last week the Oregon Department of State Lands announced the “fair market value”…
Read Blog DetailPortland Schools Need Radical Change, Not Just a New Superintendent
Portland school superintendent Carole Smith abruptly resigned in July, after nine years on…
Read Blog DetailFreedom in Fiction: Ida Elisabeth
Ida Elisabeth had every reason to leave her husband. He was foolish, immature,…
Read Blog DetailTen Years After Milton Friedman
One of the greatest minds of our era passed away in November 2006….
Read Blog DetailCelebrating the “Christopher Columbus” of School Choice, Milton Friedman
School choice has entered a new world. Because Americans are increasingly vocal about…
Read Blog DetailPortland Schools Need More Than a New Superintendent
Portland school superintendent Carole Smith announced her resignation this week after nine years…
Read Blog DetailTrust Lands Should Be Auctioned to High Bidder to Benefit Schools
In his recent guest column in The Oregonian, Director of the Oregon Department of…
Read Blog DetailChildren’s Scholarship Fund Closes the Achievement Gap for Low-Income Kids
Since 1999, the nonprofit Children’s Scholarship Fund has empowered more than 152,000 low-income…
Read Blog DetailNew Orleans’ Miracle School District
Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the southeastern United States, displacing more than…
Read Blog DetailWashington, D.C. Charters Called a Laboratory for Innovation in Public Education
Did you know that almost half of Washington, D.C.’s public school children attend…
Read Blog DetailFlexibility Is Key: The Next Generation of Parental Choice Solutions
Families in five states now have access to a special program called Educational…
Read Blog DetailEarning Their Keep: Do Elected Officials in the Portland Region Show up for Meetings?
By Nick Pangares and John A. Charles, Jr. Most elected officials who serve on…
Read Blog DetailFreedom in Fiction: A Man for All Seasons
“If you’re going to be a good and faithful judge,” said Supreme Court…
Read Blog DetailExtending Oregon’s Public School Open Enrollment Law Empowers Parents
This week the Oregon State Senate passed an extension of Oregon’s open enrollment…
Read Blog DetailNot One Dollar More
The State of Oregon will sell 84,000 acres of the Elliott State Forest…
Read Blog Detail2016’s Record-Breaking Celebration of School Choice
This week is National School Choice Week. Every January, National School Choice Week…
Read Blog DetailOregon Legislature Should Continue Open Enrollment in Public Schools
By Bobbie Jager This week marks National School Choice Week, and states across…
Read Blog DetailPress Release: Largest Celebration of Education Reform in U.S. History Begins January 24
January 22, 2016 For Immediate Release Media Contact: Steve Buckstein 503-242-0900 or steven@cascadepolicy.org…
Read Blog DetailU.S. Supreme Court Today Hears Teachers’ Case to Be Free from All Union Dues
The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments this morning in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case aimed at protecting the First Amendment rights of free speech and free association for public employees nationwide, including Oregon.
Read Blog DetailThe Time is Right for School Choice
By John A. Charles, Jr. In early December, President Obama signed a bill…
Read Blog DetailEducational Savings Accounts: The “Smartphones” of Parental Choice
Yesterday the Senate Interim Education Committee of the Oregon Legislature held an informational…
Read Blog DetailHow Would You Spend $100 Million?
How would you spend $100 million? If you’re Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the…
Read Blog DetailScaling Down: The Power of One
Is it truly possibly for one person to make a positive difference in…
Read Blog DetailPolicy Picnic – September 16, 2015
Please join us for our monthly Policy Picnic led by Cascade guest speaker Herb Grey…
Read Blog DetailWhat Gets Kids “Ready for College and Life?”
Students across Oregon are back in school. Have you ever thought about how…
Read Blog DetailNew Orleans’ Miracle School District
Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the southeastern United States, displacing more than…
Read Blog DetailWhat They Say vs. What They Do: How PCC Students Really Get to School
By Anna Mae Kersey, Emma Newman, and Thomas Tullis TriMet is considering the…
Read Blog DetailWill “Free” Tuition Make College Cost More?
By Thomas Tullis On July 17, Governor Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 81,…
Read Blog DetailNevada’s Education Innovation
By Emma Newman According to the U.S. Department of Education, Oregon’s 2013 graduation…
Read Blog DetailHow the State of Oregon Gambles Away Its Lottery Proceeds
By Thomas Tullis When Oregon politicians pretend to be experts on venture capital…
Read Blog DetailU.S. Sees Huge Growth in Homeschooling
What does it mean for parents and kids today? The Center for Education…
Read Blog DetailTennessee Special Needs Kids Get Choices in Education
Tennessee just became the 28th state to enact a private school choice program,…
Read Blog DetailLow-Income Scholarship Recipients “Highly Successful” in High School and Beyond
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice just released an exploratory study examining the…
Read Blog DetailAlternative Paths to College Education: First Learn a Job
By William B. Conerly, Ph.D. The old advice about college isn’t working anymore….
Read Blog DetailPortland Set to Approve Public Shaming of Building Owners
For members of the Portland City Council, the end always justifies the means….
Read Blog DetailOregon Children Deserve the Right to Try
Oregon hopefully will join twelve states that have enacted Right to Try legislation, allowing…
Read Blog DetailIf the state loses $1.4 billion for schools and nobody notices, did it really happen?
The Oregon legislature is in the midst of its biennial quest for more…
Read Blog DetailMandating Common Core, High-Stakes Testing Drives Oregon Further into the "Bureaucratic Trap of Good Intentions"
The Oregon Department of Education currently requires Oregon school districts to align instruction…
Read Blog DetailIs Your Five-Year-Old Ready for Full-Day Kindergarten?
The Oregon State Senate is considering a bill that would lower Oregon’s compulsory,…
Read Blog DetailShould Compulsory Schooling Start at Age Five?
Every state in the union has what are known as compulsory school attendance…
Read Blog Detail“Don’t Say You Represent the Students”
Republican politicians may no longer be the loudest critics of teachers unions. Influential…
Read Blog DetailEducation Savings Accounts Should Be in Oregon’s School Choice Future
School choice is widespread in America, including in Oregon—unless you are poor. Affluent…
Read Blog DetailHow Do Children Learn? Let Us Count the Ways
“I wish that the education system could understand that not every child fits into the same sized box, and everyone needs to do what is right for their family,” says Lisa, a Portland-area mother whose children receive tuition assistance from the Children’s Scholarship Fund-Portland.
Read Blog Detail2015’s Forward-Looking Celebration of School Choice
Next week is National School Choice Week. Every January, National School Choice Week…
Read Blog DetailScaling Down: The Power of One
Last fall I had the pleasure of attending the awards ceremony for the Broad Prize for Urban Education. In the ensuing days, many bloggers and journalists weighed in with criticism, including one who pointed out that “although recent winners of the Broad Prize show positive results compared to many large urban districts, their scores are largely flat—or worse—over the past several years.”
Read Blog DetailPress Release: Legal Analysis Finds Land Board in Breach of Trust over Elliott State Forest
November 25, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: John A. Charles, Jr. 503-242-0900…
Read Blog DetailMore Tax Dollars for College ― Or Prepare Students to Succeed There?
Oregon voters are being asked this November to authorize spending more tax dollars…
Read Blog DetailDissing Online Education
One can imagine that blacksmiths and buggy whip makers didn’t take kindly to…
Read Blog DetailMolalla Patriots
Join us as Kathryn Hickok will be presenting to the Molalla Patriots on…
Read Blog DetailReport Shows Possibilities for Elliott State Forest to Make Money for Oregon Schools
Today, the Cascade Policy Institute released a report analyzing the range of policy…
Read Blog DetailCascade Policy Institute Encourages a ‘No’ Vote on Measure 86
The Board of Directors for the Cascade Policy Institute recently voted to oppose…
Read Blog DetailSchool Choice Fosters Students’ “Profound Gratitude,” Author Says
Students everywhere are back in school, including grade school children from low-income families…
Read Blog DetailThe Votes Are In: Small Scholarships Have a Big Impact
The Children’s Scholarship Fund is a nationally recognized, privately funded scholarship program which…
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