On July 28, 29, and 30, the Rio Grande Foundation hosted a series of lunch discussions on education policy with Dr. Matthew Ladner of the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute. Ladner is an expert on K-12 education policy and has extensively researched the successful, market-based reforms adopted in Florida under Jeb Bush. The PowerPoint slides from his presentation can be downloaded here.

These reforms have led to dramatic improvement in results on the respected National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test across the board, but with quite striking improvement by Hispanic and minority students as seen in the chart below.

As Ladner pointed out in his Rio Grande Foundation study, “Florida’s K-12 Lesson for New Mexico,” the K-12 reforms that Florida has enacted and their positive impact on educational results among all Florida students. Ladner’s study is available here.

These successful reforms include education tax credits, vouchers, elimination of social promotion, greater accountability for public schools, and alternative teacher certification. Learn more about how Florida enacted these reforms, what Ladner’s home state of Arizona has done to implement them, and interact with policymakers and discuss how we can bring these reforms to New Mexico.

• All events will last from noon to 1:00PM.
• The July 28th Albuquerque event location is the Marriott Pyramid Hotel at: 5151 San Francisco Place NE.
• The July 29th Las Cruces event location is the Building Industry Association of New Mexico at 2825 North Main Street in Las Cruces.
• The July 30th Santa Fe event location is the Santa Fe Women’s Club at 1616 Old Pecos Trail.
• Cost of the Las Cruces and Santa Fe brown events is $10 which includes a brown bag lunch and drink. The Albuquerque event price is $25 if reservations are made by July 20. Click here to purchase tickets online.

For more information and to make a reservation to attend, please E-mail us at:  rsvp [at] riograndefoundation [dot] org or send a check and specify attendee names and the location of the event you are attending to the Rio Grande Foundation at PO Box 40336, Albuquerque, NM 87196. Click here to purchase tickets online.If you have any questions, please contact us at 505-264-6090.

The Rio Grande Foundation and the Foundation for Educational Choice will honor Dr. Milton Friedman at these events as part of a national recognition for the Nobel Laureate, his work, theories, and contributions. The Friedman Legacy for Freedom Day is being celebrated in every state and in dozens of countries.

Although he typically is recognized for his economic contributions, Dr. Friedman spent the last decade of his life fighting to bring educational freedom to all of America’s children. In 1996, he and his wife Rose founded the Foundation for Educational Choice to promote his vision for universal school choice —an idea he first proposed in 1955.