Welcome to NSTA's WebNews Analysis, a new monthly feature to help science educators monitor and study the latest issues in education and science. The NSTA WebNews Analysis offers teachers a digest of online news articles focusing on a particular issue of importance to science educators.
We hope this new service will enable you to catch up on the news you may have missed during the past month, but more importantly, NSTA's WebNews Analysis can help you stay on top of issues affecting your science classroom. Don't forget to look for NSTA's WebNews Analysis on the last Friday of every month!
School Vouchers
The issue of vouchers, or school choice, has been a controversial topic for educators and lawmakers for many years and that continued to be the case across the country during the month of May. Giving parents the option of sending their children to private or parochial schools at taxpayer expense generated newspaper headlines in Colorado, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia. The issue also garnered attention in Education Week and from the Associated Press on CNN’s website.
Science educators will learn through the articles listed below how the Bush administration has been in discussions with political leaders in the District of Columbia to devise a plan city officials would support. Analysts note that if lawmakers approved a voucher plan, it would likely be a pilot program exclusively for low-income families in the nation's capital.
Louisiana lawmakers, on the other hand, have not been supportive of vouchers. The state's Senate Education Committee defeated three bills in May that would have provided state-financed vouchers for students from low-income families. And in Colorado, where a school voucher program was enacted earlier this spring, a coalition of civil rights groups, teachers unions, and parents have filed a lawsuit challenging the new law claiming it violates "a state constitutional ban on public financing of religion."
Science educators interested in learning more about the issue of school vouchers can refer to the website called National Issues. The website offers an explanation, a list of pros and cons, and additional articles on school vouchers.