Senior Advisor for K-12 Policy Implementation, Heritage Foundation
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Articles by Matthew Ladner
Arizona drops regulation of school choice in settlement
(The Center Square) – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has withdrawn a policy requiring families using the state’s school choice program to document every purchase made for “general educational supplemental materials.” The policy removal comes as Mayes, the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Department of Education reached an agreement on a settlement in a lawsuit that is being dismissed with prejudice.
New york will now force some drivers to put device in car or risk registration
(Daily Caller News Foundation) – New York’s Democratic governor signed legislation Wednesday authorizing authorities to make drivers with a dangerous number of speeding violations install speed-limiting devices in their vehicles. Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s legislation will allow the pilot program to target so-called “super speeders” in New York City, with the potential to expand into other parts of the state, WABC reported.
Can American Students Understand Our Monuments?
In the year 1204, Arab scholar Abd Al-Latif Al-Baghdadi visited Egypt.
Latest Media Attack on School Choice Withers Under Scrutiny
Emerson famously noted that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Opponents of Arizona’s school choice program seem determined to field legions of such monsters. Exhibit A: the reporting of Craig Harris. Harris has over the years repeatedly filed anti-school choice stories which were riddled with errors. His latest salvo against Arizona’s popular Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESA) program is no exception.
Arizona ESA Growth Skyrockets While Criticisms Crash
Arizona educators have been set free to create their own schools and education services. And families can now select between them to find the best fit for their child. Arizona lawmakers in the 1990s created the nation’s most robust charter school law, the first scholarship tax credit program, and statewide district open enrollment. Education flourished in the process as Arizona lead the nation in the creation of new public schools and statewide academic achievement improved.
Modernizing Student Transportation for an Era of K–12 Choice
The Venn diagram of K–12 choice and student transportation overlaps in a large way.
【國際瞭望】美最新教育評估 顯示監管失敗| 台灣大紀元
⊙Jason Bedrick & Matthew Ladner 9月9日美國教育部公布了2024年全國教育進展評估（NAEP）12年級數學、閱讀及8年級科學的成績。結果令人失望。這表明美國學校未能履行其最基本的使命：確保學生真正學習。 評估結果顯示，只有35%的12年級學生閱讀能力達到「熟練」（proficient）水準，這是自1992年NAEP開始評估以來的最低分數。令人震驚的是，數學成績甚至更差，只有22%的學生達到熟練，這是自2005年現行測試開始以來的最低分數。在科學方面，只有31%的八年級學生達到了熟練標準。 客觀來看：研究人員通常將NAEP數學和閱讀評估中的10分等同於大約一年的學習。自1990年代初以來，12年級的閱讀成績下降了10分。這意味著如今的高中畢業生平均比30年前的同齡人落後一年。在數學方面，12年級學生比2015年的同齡人落後了大約半年。 未能兌現支出和監管承諾 幾十年來，教育官僚改革者和政策制定者一直在承諾，結合「增加教育支出」和「自上而下的監管問責制」，能夠扭轉教育停滯的局面。而如今看到的結果，卻是學生的學習成績在一路下滑。...
Secret Service discovers illegal telecommunications network near U.N. General Assembly - The Lion
The U.S. Secret Service has dismantled a vast network of electronic devices allowing anonymous communications near the United Nations with the ability to disable all telecommunication systems in the New York tristate area. “The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement.
Latest Education Scores Reveal Failure of Regulatory Accountability and DEI
A school crosswalk sign in Petersburg, W.V., on Aug. 27, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times Commentary The latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress are nothing short of catastrophic. They are an indictment of an education system that has been subject to decades of top-down “accountability” and consumed trillions of dollars—more and more each year—only to deliver worse results. We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser.
The Washington Post Was Sold an Arizona School Choice Story
Arizonans have a pet peeve involving people from “back East” who judge us before they understand us. The Washington Post jumped into this with both feet by publishing a story with the headline Public schools are closing as Arizona’s school voucher program soars. The story, which prominently features the long-troubled Roosevelt Elementary School District’s decision to close five schools, has multiple problems. The paragraphs below will document one of the main problems.
New NAEP Results Demonstrate Why Our Education System Deserves an 'F'
The latest results from the National Assessment of Education Progress are nothing short of catastrophic. They are an indictment of an education system that has been subject to decades of top-down “accountability” and consumed trillions of dollars—more and more each year—only to deliver worse results. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education released the 2024 NAEP scores for 12th grade math and reading and eighth grade science. The results are ugly.
Everything counts in large amounts
The EdChoice blog recently delivered some good news, specifically that the number of students using private choice programs increased by 25% last year. In fact, if you cobble together some previous years’ data from the EdChoice ABCs of School Choice reports, the trend looks like: Overall, a doubling of private choice participation since Arizona and West Virginia adopted universal policies in 2022 is looking like a good start.
Florida invites Success Academy to come on down and scale up
During a 1916 football game between Georgia Tech and Cumberland, Georgia Tech coach John Heisman famously urged his players on to victory- “You’re doing all right, team, we’re ahead. But you just can’t tell what those Cumberland players have up their sleeves. They may spring a surprise.
Who is busting what budget exactly?
Choice opponents have been known to throw contradictory arguments out against private choice programs. One moment they will claim that the majority of kids using universal choice programs were already going to private schools. A few moments later they will claim such programs are draining district schools of students and money.
The Washington Post was sold an Arizona school choice story
Arizonans have a pet peeve involving people from “back East” who judge us before they understand us. The Washington Post jumped into this with both feet by publishing a story with the headline Public schools are closing as Arizona’s school voucher program soars. The story, which prominently features the long-troubled Roosevelt Elementary School District’s decision to close five schools, has multiple problems. The paragraphs below will document one of the main problems.
The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers
Advanced search Journal of School Choice International Research and Reform Latest Articles Submit an article Journal homepage Full Article Figures & data Citations Metrics Reprints & Permissions Read this article /doi/full/10.1080/15582159.2025.2542621?needAccess=true "The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers." Journal of School Choice, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp.
School choice didn’t close Arizona schools
The Washington Post’s recent article on Arizona school closures offers a textbook example of how to tell a compelling story while omitting the most important — and inconvenient — facts. The piece focuses on the Roosevelt Elementary School District’s decision to close five schools, painting it as a cautionary tale about the dangers of school choice, particularly the expansion of eligibility for Empowerment Scholarship Accounts to all children in 2022.
Adventures in babysitting
Recently, someone representing a state official responded to an Arizona media outlet inquiry about the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program and referred to “tutoring and babysitting.” Consequently, Arizona’s school district industrial lobbying complex went predictably bananas, even though babysitting is not now, nor ever has been an allowable expense under the program. Even though the official has since clarified their statement to note that babysitting is not an allowable expense.
Against the divine right of (philosopher) kings
**SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 8** Western cultures, for some strange reason, involve rituals where we pretend that various “fairy creatures” exist, particularly with children: the Tooth Fairy, a jolly old elf with flying reindeer who brought me an awesome Big Wheel in 1973, egg and goody hiding rabbits, etc. When I became a parent, I played along with these rituals, but then at some point questioned why I was doing it.
Here we are now, going to the supply side
Last week, I had the opportunity to make a presentation about how lawmakers can support teachers who want to start their own schools. The four key features: Universal eligibility: Everyone eligible to attend public schools should also be eligible to participate in a choice program. 2. Formula funding/demand-driven funding: Whoever applies for a choice program should receive funding if eligible. 3.
Krewe throwing beads ~= states giving schools “A” grades, but all is not lost
Last week, the Heritage Foundation released a study from yours-truly called From Mass Deception to Meaningful Accountability: A Brighter Future for K–12 Education. The basic argument: the good intentions of the No Child Left Behind era were completely undermined by opponents, who both defanged state rating systems and tamed charter school laws.
Arizona’s $7.8 Billion Question: Why Are School Districts Hoarding Cash While Criticizing ESA Balances?
A man with a beam in his own eye should certainly address that before seeking out motes in others’ eyes. School-choice critics obsessed with the motes in Arizona’s popular Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program would do well to heed that advice, especially when there is a gigantic beam in the public school system.
Education reform has 99 problems…
A recent interview by Tyler Cowen of John Arnold has been making the rounds in ed reform circles, see Michael Goldstein’s write up here. Here is a taste of the interview: Tyler Cowen: There’s a common impression—both for start-ups and for philanthropy—that doing much with K–12 education or preschool just hasn’t mattered that much or hasn’t succeeded that much. Do you agree or disagree? John Arnold: I agree. I think the ed reform movement has been, as a whole, a significant disappointment.
Technocrats wear a political dunce crown
David Osborne recently predicted academic doom for red states having recently passed universal private choice programs. “This will accelerate the process of the rich getting richer while the poor fall further behind,” Osborne asserted. Osborne problematically ignored our nation’s actual experience with universal choice programs, making his column more a litany of faith than a clear-eyed analysis.
Imagine if the District of Columbia Public Schools gave peace a chance in special education
“War, huh, yeah What is it good for? Absolutely nothing” — Edwinn Starr, “War” The District of Columbia Public School system has a troubled history with special education.
New Schools, facilities and the rise of the microschool
EdChoice has an interesting survey question comparing what sort of school parents would prefer (district, charter, private or home) and comparing the results to actual enrollment patterns. In 2024 it looked like this: There is a lot happening in that chart, starting with the apparent desire of approximately 50% of the parents of district students to have their students somewhere else.
We don’t need no Klanducation; We don’t need no thought control
June 1, 2025, marked the 100th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Pierce v. Society of Sisters– effectively the first victory of America’s school choice movement. In 1922, the voters of Oregon had passed a ballot proposition, Measure 6, which required public school attendance for school age students, creating fines and jail sentences for non-compliance. Supported by the Ku Klux Klan and other nativist groups, the measure passed by a margin of 53% in favor, 47% opposed.
From Mass Deception to Meaningful Accountability: A Brighter Future for K-12 Education
The United States cannot regulate its way to educational excellence. —Tom Loveless, education researcher Franklin Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Woodrow Wilson Administration. As President, Roosevelt quipped that he served as his own Secretary of the Navy. The leaders of the Navy did not appreciate what they viewed as presidential meddling, engaging in a variety of tactics ranging from passive resistance to outright refusal to follow Roosevelt’s direction.
Thumbs up for Roosevelt students
Jason Bedrick and I published a piece at the Daily Signal about the Roosevelt Elementary School District in South Phoenix. The Roosevelt district has experienced enrollment loss for decades, and the school board of the district has announced plans to close five schools. I first learned of Roosevelt Elementary School district some 20 years ago when a Roosevelt student brutally assaulted a co-worker’s child.
Don’t Blame School Choice for Arizona School Closures—Blame School Leaders
School choice opponents have long predicted that policies like Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program would destroy the public school system. For years, Gov. Katie Hobbs has warned that it would “decimate” the state budget and “bankrupt” the state, yet the program has a history of surplus and savings.
Get thee behind me, Bootlegger!
Longtime NextSteps readers know that your humble author has been holding forth on the Baptist and Bootlegger problem that helped throttle the growth of the charter school movement. The term “Baptists and Bootleggers” comes from economics and references prohibition, which Baptists supported out of religious conviction, and bootleggers supported to limit competition in their manufacture and sale of alcohol.
Teachers give anti-ESA propaganda a failing grade
Opponents of education freedom, facing a series of legislative defeats, have responded by going off the deep end with conspiracy theories and crackpot fables. The formula works something like this: start with tortured and incomplete reading of the research on school choice which ignores a large majority of the findings and studies.
Oklahoma should avoid the example of Vercingetorix
Julius Caesar led Roman forces to victory in the decisive battle of the conquest of Gaul at Alesia. Having pursued the Gauls to a fortified city, Caesar first surrounded the city with a wall (to keep the Gauls trapped in Alesia) and then a second wall (to keep Roman forces protected from a relief army). Having completed these and other siegeworks, Caesar began the process of starving a surrender out of Alesia.
Arizona districts should lower the velvet rope for students with disabilities
Tim DeRoche featured the tale of an Arizona boy named Brayden in a Time Magazine piece on the shortcomings of open enrollment practice and law for students with disabilities: “In May 2022, an Arizona mom named Karrie got a heartbreaking message from the local public school: Her son Brayden wouldn’t be allowed to return as a second-grader in the fall. The reason?
The inevitable is always certain but not always punctual: self-driving school carpools
Back in 2017, techno-optimist Jason Bedrick made the skeptical Robert Pondiscio a bet on the adoption rate for self-driving cars in the Phoenix area: “Robert and I are putting our money where our mouths are. Although I expect that in five years, few people will be sending their kids to school in autonomous vehicles, I predict that at least 25 percent of children in the Phoenix area will get to school via a self-driving car by the 2022-23 school year.
Texas choice triumph calls for celebration and a shift for the movement
Texas school choice opponents are strong. I recall going to look up the number of lobbyists on retainer by groups opposed to choice during the 2013 legislative session, and the number was well over 100.
Lessons from SNAP wargames
On Dec. 16, 2017, the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture held a committee hearing on “Pros and Cons of Restricting SNAP Purchases.” SNAP is a federally financed food assistance program that faces many of the same dilemmas policymakers face over education savings accounts.
Passover wisdom for a nation losing its memory
(The Daily Signal) – America is suffering from a cultural Alzheimer’s. An ancient Jewish ritual—the Passover seder—may hold the cure. Last year, more than 7 in 10 Americans failed the basic civic literacy quiz administered annually by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Even among college students, knowledge of basic facts about American history and civics is shockingly low.
Open enrollment is the King Kong of Arizona district enrollment loss
If you look at enrollment trends in the Arizona districts with the largest total enrollment losses, look at the Arizona Open Enrollment report and the Quarterly ESA report, you get Figure 1. In Figure 1, both the gains from open enrollment (blue columns) and the losses to other districts and to charter schools (red columns) are presented. The purple columns represent the ESA enrollment of students who live in each of these districts.
Arizona continues to build Schools to Nowhere
In examining the 2024 NAEP results for Arizona, a rather stark picture emerged that Arizona charter and Arizona districts had strongly diverged– Arizona charter schools show academic recovery, whereas Arizona district scores sank, in some cases, to all time lows. This came despite district spending standing not only higher than charters on a per pupil basis and standing at or near record high levels.
Texas 2025 debate resurrects Edgewood Horizon claims
The current debate over ESAs in Texas has brought irresponsible claims about the Edgewood Horizon program back to life. A voucher program funded by philanthropists, Edgewood Horizon made all Edgewood Independent School District students (located within San Antonio) eligible to receive a voucher to allay private school expenses. The Horizon program ran from 1998 to 2007, peaking at approximately 16% of Edgewood’s enrollment.
It all keeps adding up
I received some interesting responses to last week’s post where I showed some math on how few votes it could have swung control of the Arizona State Senate in the 2024 elections and noted that one of the Arizona political parties having proposed eliminating five popular choice programs may have helped Republicans expand their previous narrow majority.
Soaring levels of non-English speaking students may be driving national reading test scores into ground
(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Rapidly-increasing levels of non-English speaking students in schools across the nation may be contributing to the abysmal reading scores reported in recent years nationwide.
Arizona legislative races may have swung on K-12 choice in 2024
Arizona’s politics might be described as “Chaotic Purple,” but 2024 elections proved quite red at the state legislative level, with Republicans making gains in both the Arizona Senate and House. It may be the case that some of those gains happened because of the unrelenting level of hostility to school choice on the part of the nominated candidates of the Arizona Democratic Party for state legislature.
Nation’s report card has better grades for charter schools
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) created a new measure of socioeconomic status for the 2024 exams. This is a welcome addition, and a has proven revealing, specifically regarding charter school performance. Shifting eligibility criteria made the reliability of the old standby, free and reduced-price lunch, questionable over time. The new socioeconomic status variables incorporate surveyed measures of the number of books in the home and parental education into a new measure.
Why school systems fail
Authors Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson distinguished between “inclusive” and “extractive” institutions in their 2012 book “Why Nations Fail.” Inclusive political institutions allow broad political participation and are a precursor to inclusive economic institutions, which broadly protect individual property rights and provide incentives for workers to increase labor productivity.
Nation’s Report Card Shows Failing Public School Performance but Growing Catholic School Advantage
The National Center for Education Statistics gives academic exams to random samples of students in all 50 states, producing what is known as the annual “Nation’s Report Card.” The latest release of 4th and 8th grade mathematics and reading results from the report card, officially known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, show that America’s public schools got a D-minus. Fortunately, the results also demonstrate which narratives to reject in searching for an explanation.
Can Arizona regain the lost golden age of NAEP improvement?
“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” — William Shakespeare, “As You Like It” Arizona students led the nation in improvement on NAEP between 2009 and 2015.
Nation’s Report Card documents continued academic decline
The NAEP released 2024 results last week, and the results continued to disappoint, especially for disadvantaged student groups. While scores began to recover among high end performers, the decline continued among lower performers, as can be seen in the eighth grade math chart below: Rick Hess summarized the bad news: Fourth- and 8th-grade reading scores declined again. Between 2019 and 2024, 4th-grade reading is down (significantly or otherwise) in every state but Louisiana and Alabama.
O’Neil’s ‘Woketopus’ dark money trail started with the Southern Poverty Law Center
In unwinding the financial means by which progressives have captured the federal bureaucracy, there was one test case that stood out to Daily Signal Managing Editor Tyler O’Neil. Having literally written the book about the nexus between the Southern Poverty Law Center and progressives that twisted an ostensible civil rights group into a weapon of hate and false accusations against conservatives, O’Neil began to notice similar patterns with other groups, he told The Lion.
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