The new school ratings are out, and some education leaders are saying the new A-F rating system is tougher than the old model. The fact is that the new system changed nothing except the labels. It did nothing to toughen the formula that is used to derive those labels, and in fact it was actually easier to achieve an A or B this year because the State Board of Education voted to exclude graduation rates from their grading formula this year. (more…)

Contrary to what was reported in this newspaper on Sunday, I did not "help design the [state health insurance] exchange used today," and I have consistently opposed the creation of an exchange under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A brief call to my office before publishing these inaccuracies - and others - would have been helpful. (more…)

MARKETS WORK BETTER THAN MANDATES

This is a stunning expansion of the government's power over our lives. It violates the principles of our nation's founders. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy will continue to fight for free-market solutions to our nation's health care problems. (more…)

Newsweek magazine did a cover series titled, "Why Public Schools Are Flunking." 

Listen to this:  The roll call of problems is almost as familiar as the ABCs. (more…)

One of the objections to charter school legislation I'm hearing more and more is that the regular school districts ought to be given the same freedoms that charter schools would have. (more…)

One of the concerns about charter schools is that the money will follow the child to the school. Whatever would be spent on a child in public school A would now be spent on that child in public charter school B. If the money going to a child's current school - money which is supposedly appropriated to educate that child - is not accomplishing that goal, wouldn't it be better to use that money at a school where he or she will learn? (more…)

Let's get a few things straight about charter schools. First of all, there is no such thing as a private charter school. Charter schools are, by definition, public schools. They cannot charge tuition, they administer the same tests and are rated under the same system as regular public schools, and they must accept all students who apply, unless there's not enough room, in which case they draw names, giving all students an equal chance. (more…)

A statistician says if you have one foot in a bucket of scalding water and the other in a bucket of ice, on average you're pretty comfortable. That seems to be the attitude of the people who don't want charter schools near so-called "successful" schools. If there are enough high-scoring students to offset the low-scoring students, on average the school is doing pretty well, and no other options are needed. But what about those students who are not doing well? (more…)

When a school district is rated Successful by the state, you might be tempted to think it's doing well. But there are twelve districts in our state where at least half the schools are underperforming but the district is rated Successful. Even worse, in two districts, all the schools are rated below Successful, but the district itself is rated Successful. This happens because those districts took their schools from being really awful to being just pretty awful. (more…)