Alliance for School Choice

Vouchers and the Art of Ardent Lovemaking

Submitted by Anonymous on Tuesday, 12/12/2006 6:10 pm
Bolick's BookMonths ago, voucher warrior Clint Bolick announced he would leave his position as head of the Alliance for School Choice. It may have been more of a career change than we realized -- writing romance novels. Bolick has decided to release his first self-proclaimed work of fiction, Nicki’s Girl, just in time for the holiday shopping season: One on-line book seller offers the following description:
When talented young architect Kevin Gibbons meets Nicole Petri, he is quickly swept away. Nicki's otherworldly beauty, sweet disposition, and ardent lovemaking seem almost too good to be true. Even after she reveals alarming personality traits, Kevin marries her. Eventually Nicki bears the daughter she desperately desires. But despite the fact that Alexandria is the spitting image of her mother, her arrival does little to purge Nicki's demons. Alex's behavior in turn veers between angelic and terrifying, forcing Kevin to struggle furiously to save both his little girl's life and his own sanity.
Along with this brief synopsis, one can find several stellar reviews. Alliance for School Choice communications director calls her boss’s book a “page turner.” Libertarian lawyer and Goldwater Institute staffer Jordan K. Rose says Bolick’s “foray into fiction” is a “must read.” And "Diane Bolick" objectively opines that she “can’t put it down.” The voucher movement has suffered a number of setbacks recently, but it remains to be seen if the public will appreciate Bolick’s fiction any more than they support school vouchers.

Alliance for School Choice Blogger: Islam is Spreading Evil Among Us

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 10/11/2006 7:32 pm
Writing on the Alliance for School Choice blog, right-wing activist Nancy Salvato uses a recent controversy over a Harry Potter book in Georgia to claim that public schools are being used to indoctrinate children into radical Islam. The Georgia controversy started when a parent complained that the book promotes the wicca religion and demanded it be removed from an elementary school library. Salvato, an aide to Illinois state senators Ray Soden and Carole Pankau. says that debating wicca is a waste of time. The real danger, she says, is Islam:
We are facing clear and immediate dangers to our way of life and shouldn’t waste time entertaining the paranoid delusions of any person(s) declaring that Wicca is being proselytized through the Harry Potter series, especially anyone who hasn’t bothered to read an entire book. Indeed, from everything I’ve ever read about Wicca, it is a very peaceful practice. Yet, one can conclude that another religious practice is spreading evil amongst us; those who believe in the inalienable rights of every person to pursue life, liberty, and happiness; and respect and defend the U.S. Constitution which protects these rights…Radical Islamists, in the name of Allah, will commit indiscriminate, non-selective and suicidal acts of terror, as has been demonstrated on American soil. Despite this, in our nation’s public schools, children are being taught about Ramadan… This is what the mainstream media should be reporting, this is what parents should be worrying about. Harry Potter is a fantasy, and though no one is telling readers which characters are good and evil, it can be agreed that most kids fantasize about being Harry, the good guy, not Malfoy (the bad guy). Do the kids indoctrinated into radical Islam understand good and evil? They haven’t had enough experiences to recognize that they are being brainwashed. Let this be on what our energy is focused, not distractions like magic and witchcraft. Leave that to the imagination.
The Alliance for School Choice has made many outlandish accusations against public education, but the suggestion that our public schools are in danger of becoming virual madrassas is certainly…novel. Clearly the not-so-subtle difference between teaching about religion and indoctrination is lost on Salvato.

A Voucher Warrior Steps off the Battlefield?

Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, 10/6/2006 1:33 pm
bolick.bmp The voucher movement has been dealt some serious set-backs in recent months. In July, a study by the Department of Education found that public school students outperform their private school peers – undercutting the right-wing’s basic argument that private schools are better. In August, a similar study found that public school students also learn more than students in charter schools. Last month, a survey released by Gallup and the non-partisan education organization Phi Delta Kappa found that public support for vouchers is in a free-fall. A poll of Indiana residents by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy came up with similar results. And recently major fractures have occurred between different factions of the Right over the proposed national voucher program and the Bush administration’s implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. All this may have proven to be too much for one of the privatization movement’s biggest stars. An Arizona paper announced yesterday that Clint Bolick, president and general counsel for the pro-voucher Alliance for School Choice has taken a position with a Scottsdale law firm. In recent years, Bolick has committed himself to fighting against public education, he first rose to prominence a crusader against affirmative action as a disciple of Clarence Thomas. He was co-founder of the right-wing legal group called the Institute for Justice and a prominent player in the conservative libertarian community. This news may not indicate Bolick’s outright surrender in the Voucher Wars, but could it be the beginning of a strategic retreat and reorganization at the highest levels of the right-wing coalition against public education?

Voucher Group Defends Coulson’s Deception

Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 9/21/2006 1:31 pm
UPDATE: Within hours of this post, Cato removed the offending article from its website. A few days ago Right Wing Watch noted that Cato’s Andrew Coulson was caught falsely casting aspersions on an academic research center in Indiana. The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy recently released a survey that found falling public support for vouchers. Unwilling to believe the results, Coulson launched an untruthful ad hominem attack on CEEP claiming that their study couldn’t be trusted. Now, Clint Bolick’s Alliance for School Choice has stepped up to defend Coulson.
The folks over at PFAW's blog must have at least pulled a muscle when they stretched to take a swipe at Cato's Andrew Coulson. Here's PFAW's account: Earlier this month, Andrew wrote a column in the Indianapolis Star critical of Indiana University's Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. CEEP periodically polls Indianans on school choice, and recent poll results have shown declining support for school choice among respondents. Andrew's principal complaints: CEEP's financial ties to IU's Department of Education make the group biased against school choice, and the question design was flawed. CEEP's Jonathan Plucker fired back that CEEP is financially independent of IUDOE; that the costs of the poll are likewise paid by CEEP to prevent any hint of bias; and that CEEP works with outside polling experts to make sure the results are accurate and reliable.
Bolick’s group , does not dispute that “Andrew” was lying. Instead, they praise him for issuing a purported retraction, to which they provide a link.
However, PFAW oddly fails to mention that, five days after the column ran in the Indy Star, Coulson subsequently posted this on Cato's blog.
Sure enough, there is a post on Cato’s blog, dated 9/8, in which Coulson acknowledges his error:
In a recent op-ed for the Indianapolis Star, I wrote that Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP) had a vested interest in finding school choice to be unpopular with voters — because it was a part of the University’s Department of Education, and that department could well be rendered obsolete under a large scale school choice program. As it turns out, the Center is largely financially independent of the Department, and so would not likely go down with the ship under a voucher or education tax credit program.
But on that same day, Coulson’s column, including the passage he admits is false, was posted on Cato’s website, where it still appeared without the correction nearly two weeks later. Coulson himself may have apologized, but Cato and the Alliance for School Choice don’t seem to have a problem perpetuating his false allegations.
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Alliance for School Choice Posts Archive

Vouchers and the Art of Ardent Lovemaking
, Tuesday 12/12/2006, 6:10pm
Months ago, voucher warrior Clint Bolick announced he would leave his position as head of the Alliance for School Choice. It may have been more of a career change than we realized -- writing romance novels. Bolick has decided to release his first self-proclaimed work of fiction, Nicki’s Girl, just in time for the holiday shopping season: One on-line book seller offers the following description: When talented young architect Kevin Gibbons meets Nicole Petri, he is quickly swept away. Nicki's otherworldly beauty, sweet disposition, and ardent lovemaking seem almost too good to be true. Even... MORE >
Alliance for School Choice Blogger: Islam is Spreading Evil Among Us
, Wednesday 10/11/2006, 7:32pm
Writing on the Alliance for School Choice blog, right-wing activist Nancy Salvato uses a recent controversy over a Harry Potter book in Georgia to claim that public schools are being used to indoctrinate children into radical Islam. The Georgia controversy started when a parent complained that the book promotes the wicca religion and demanded it be removed from an elementary school library. Salvato, an aide to Illinois state senators Ray Soden and Carole Pankau. says that debating wicca is a waste of time. The real danger, she says, is Islam: We are facing clear and immediate dangers to our... MORE >
A Voucher Warrior Steps off the Battlefield?
, Friday 10/06/2006, 1:33pm
The voucher movement has been dealt some serious set-backs in recent months. In July, a study by the Department of Education found that public school students outperform their private school peers – undercutting the right-wing’s basic argument that private schools are better. In August, a similar study found that public school students also learn more than students in charter schools. Last month, a survey released by Gallup and the non-partisan education organization Phi Delta Kappa found that public support for vouchers is in a free-fall. A poll of Indiana residents by the Center for... MORE >
Voucher Group Defends Coulson’s Deception
, Thursday 09/21/2006, 1:31pm
UPDATE: Within hours of this post, Cato removed the offending article from its website. A few days ago Right Wing Watch noted that Cato’s Andrew Coulson was caught falsely casting aspersions on an academic research center in Indiana. The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy recently released a survey that found falling public support for vouchers. Unwilling to believe the results, Coulson launched an untruthful ad hominem attack on CEEP claiming that their study couldn’t be trusted. Now, Clint Bolick’s Alliance for School Choice has stepped up to defend Coulson. The folks over at... MORE >