It's a new year and new fights loom in state legislatures. In Utah, buoyed by a study suggesting that it might save $1.2 billion in K-12 costs by allowing students to enroll in private schools, proponents plan to push a tuition tax credit plan. But they've got the state's biggest newspaper, the Salt Lake Tribune, against them, as well as the teacher unions. A similar fight is brewing in South Carolina, where Governor Mark Sanford wants a $3,000 tax credit passed this year. In Massachusetts, a state judge has allowed a case brought by three townships against the state Department of Education to continue to a hearing, and named a Marlborough charter school as a co-defendant. The case turns on whether the Advanced Math and Science Academy was improperly issued a charter (read more here). Bay State charter advocates fear that an adverse ruling could result in hostile new charter regulations. Meanwhile, Massachusetts charter schools and Governor Mitt Romney plan to reignite the debate on lifting that state's restrictive enrollment cap this year.
"Report fuels debate on school choices," by Ronnie Lynn, Salt Lake Tribune, December 23, 2004 (archived)
"Out-of-state donors big players in tuition credit debate," by Paul Rolly, Salt Lake Tribune, December 25, 2004
"School choice," by Claudia Smith Brinson, The State, January 3, 2005
"Case against charter school allowed to continue," by Kristen Bradley, MetroWest Daily News, January 4, 2005