Speaking of the CARES Act, the Hunt Institute has a helpful breakout of each state's plans for its GEER funds (Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund). Meanwhile, John Schilling has a report out for the American Enterprise Institute encouraging governors to use their GEER funds to advance educational choice and giving examples of how this can be done.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has appointed the head of CAPE's state affiliate in California to the board overseeing the "Nation's Report Card." Ron Reynolds, Executive Director of the California Association of Private School Organizations (CAPSO), has begun a four year term on the National Assessment Governing Board. According to the Department of Education, "The 26-member Governing Board is responsible for deciding which subjects NAEP assesses, determining the assessments’ content, setting achievement levels that describe student performance, and pursuing new ways to make NAEP results useful and meaningful to the public." Congratulations to Ron and to the Governing Board, which found itself a good one.

The CATO Institute has been tracking private school closures during the pandemic and on October 13 posted an "Update on The State of Private Schools under COVID-19." According to Cato's Neal McCluskey, "Private schools are not folding at the rate we feared, but they are hurting, even as they have responded more quickly to families than have public schools." See here for more detail.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has named the recipients of the 2020 Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership. On that list is Maryann Hayslip, principal of Saint Aloysius School in Pewee Valley, KY.

According to the Department, "Named for the second U.S. Secretary of Education, the Bell Award honors school leaders who are committed to education as a powerful and liberating force in people’s lives. The award is part of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Principals are nominated by their school communities during the final stages of the National Blue Ribbon Schools application process."

The Council of Economic Advisers has released a new report laying out the "dramatic expansion" of school choice programs over the last thirty years and explaining how choice "empowers families and pressures schools to deliver more value."

According to the report, "Research suggests that low-income and minority students tend to enjoy the greatest benefits, and the evidence on procompetitive effects suggests that substantial gains are possible from scaling up school choice. As a result, continuing to grow school choice programs is a promising way to reduce opportunity gaps and create a level playing field for all children."

A report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) asserts that a state law designed to make vacant Milwaukee schools available to charter and private schools has been thwarted by local officials.

Empty Handed: How Milwaukee Thwarted a State Law Meant to Help Schools cites as an example "Right Step, a private school in the MPCP that educates students who have been expelled from other schools. Right Step school is the last resort for many of their students to even receive a high-school diploma. However, city politicians and the public school establishment worked together to prevent Right Step from purchasing the building, ultimately preventing the sale at the Board of Zoning Appeals in 2016. The building was eventually sold to a development company in 2018."

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the US Department of Education has set up a webpage to share testimonials written by parents, teachers, and school officials sharing their positive experience bringing students back to school. The page continues to be updated and new submissions are encouraged using this address: reopeningschool@ed.gov.