There’s A Place In The Sun

Where there’s hope for everyone…

Last Week In Sunny San Diego

The annual ASU+GSV Summit - its 15th - was one of the best in recent memory. Positive, affirming to a myriad of voices and incredibly collaborative, our teams that manage CER and the Yass Prize met and talked to literally hundreds of people about their work, advancements in technology and the many rays of innovation that emanate from the creative educators we all meet annually, and particularly through our work. 🌞 Our friend and Yass Prize alum Keith Brooks of the National Fellowship for Black and Latino Male Educators (standing in pic above) said it best:

“None of the great ideas we’ve talked about at this summit will happen without the conditions improving in schools. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

I would urge you to check out the Summit videos and in particular, this brief but impactful panel we did. An exhilarating and exhausting week but a blast nonetheless. And Karaoke one night wasn’t so bad either. 😉 

Things Are Much Brighter Now

With an homage to Petula Clark (Downtown, released 1964), things are definitely much brighter now in Georgia, where Governor Brian Kemp just signed the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act into law. An additional 20,000 students enrolled in the bottom 25% of public schools will now be able to use a significant portion of their state money -  $6,500 - to select the best educational pathway forward for them. 

Bright days are ahead for the Cornhusker state, too, where Governor Jim Pillen, long-time advocate and term-limited Senator Lou Ann Linehan and other education freedom champions amended the original 2023 Opportunity Scholarships Act which was delayed due to union and school district shenanigans.  Passed on the final day of this current legislative session the new law appropriates $10 million each year to scholarship funds for low-income families to attend private and parochial schools.

Incredible that 32 states now give parents various opportunities to choose the right path for their child’s education that includes opportunities outside traditional public schools. THIRTY TWO.  And, one in five students now lives in a state with expansive choice programs. Extraordinary. Not all those laws are on par with what is needed, however. This is but one conclusion coming soon from CER’s 2024 Parent Power Index! to be released this May 7th. 

While states may pass laws providing choices, the work is just starting when the ink is dry. Ensuring true access and expanding eligibility, for one, ensuring funds are available for all who may want and need different options that are available by the local district… and honoring those families who increasingly recognize that what they thought they signed up for in moving to that community or more likely, didn’t sign up but had no other choice - is not what their child needs, nor deserves.

Sun Bursts Of Parent Power Already Evident

According to NBC News, K-12 public school enrollment “continued its downward trajectory in 2022, and experts say it’s more than just declining birth rates.”

Indeed it is in fact parents - and teachers - making the decision to move their business and profession to other types of education, which I predict will just continue to grow.

“Policies that make private, charter and homeschooling options more available to families — dubbed “school choice” by advocates — have expanded rapidly since 2022. Such policies grant families public funds for alternative schooling in the form of vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, refundable tax credits and more. In 2023, at least 146 school choice bills were introduced across 43 states, according to FutureEd, an education-focused think tank at Georgetown University.”

Yep.

Bright Spots

The interview booth for in Piazza was abuzz all week as celebrities and ed tech entrepreneurs stopped by to share their vision for the future, and how they are using their talents to benefit others. MIT prof and EdX Founder, the wicked smart Anant Agarwal, talked of the power of AI to spread the impact of exceptional higher education learning to the masses. NFL stars - like Jason Pugh and Chase Edmonds -  who are part of the Pro Athlete Community founded by serial education entrepreneur Chip Paucek - shared big news about their new business efforts. The incomparable Jane Swift, former Governor of Massachusetts and education executive-extraordinaire and Katie Jenner, Indiana Education Secretary, both talked about what makes education work for millions of kids. These interviews and more will be out soon so be sure to follow in Piazza to learn when the episodes are released!

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🎶 Little darling, it’s been a long cold 🎸 lonely winter… 🎼 Here comes the sun… and I say, it’s alright. 

Ciao! Jeanne