Phoenix Principles

Jason Bedrick is a senior research fellow at the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Bedrick is the coeditor and coauthor of two books, including Educational Freedom: Remembering Andrew Coulson, Debating His Ideas and Religious Liberty and Education: A Case Study of Yeshivas vs. New York. His writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Fox News, Politico, National Review, National Affairs, the Journal of School Choice, and Education Next, among many other publications. Bedrick previously served as a legislator in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Education Freedom, and as director of policy at EdChoice. Bedrick received his master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was a fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government. Bedrick resides in Phoenix with his wife and six children.James V. Shuls is the head of the Education Liberty branch of the Institute for Governance and Civics at Florida State University. A nationally recognized scholar on education policy, his work focuses on school choice, education finance, and the philosophical foundations of education policy. Shuls has published in leading academic journals such as Educational Researcher, Journal of Education Finance, and Social Science Quarterly, and his commentary has appeared in outlets including National Review and RealClearEducation. He is the coeditor, with Neal McCluskey, of Fighting for the Freedom to Learn: Examining America’s Centuries-Old School Choice Movement, a volume exploring the historical and philosophical roots of educational freedom. Prior to his role at Florida State, he served as department chair of Educator Preparation and Leadership at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and as dean of the College of Education at Southeastern University. A former public school teacher, Shuls taught 1st and 5th grades in southwest Missouri.

“Everyone knows about the crisis in American education. Some people, mostly for ideological reasons, want to pretend it doesn’t exist. Many people acknowledge the problem and its gravity, but don’t know what can be done about it. The authors of The Phoenix Principles have taken the trouble to study the crisis, think carefully about it, and offer concrete ideas for how we as a nation can address it. They point the way to reform and revitalization.”—Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University