Sometimes news is just news. And sometimes, someone's summary of it is news in itself. A telling example is the US Treasury news of proposed rules regarding the Education Freedom Tax Credit, also known as the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit. The Treasury Department also posted a summary of their own.

Take a moment to read the US Treasury summary before you read the CASE summary.

The first page of the CASE summary highlights in four bullets "outstanding questions [that] are addressed in the proposed rules". First they highlight two things states cannot do, and then the remaining two bullets address opted out states and that it looks like a state may change its mind and opt out in any given year, effective for the upcoming year.

Linda McMahon, US Secretary of Education, summarized "The Education Freedom Tax Credit, the largest expansion of school choice in history, will supercharge those opportunities for millions of children. I am profoundly grateful ... that every child has access to the education they need, not one limited by ZIP code, family income, or government‑imposed barriers." Can you feel the portent of this initiative in her statement?

CASE's most important thoughts are the ways in which our state cannot impede this opportity, and that we have near-term means to get out of the opportunity. In case you didn't get it, they take care to repeat on the third page their understanding that states can opt out in any year.

CASE's bottom line: "The immediate priority for district leaders is understanding the eligibility and accountability framework, monitoring Colorado's participation decision, and preparing for possible implications for enrollment, student services and local education planning."

There it is again - "monitoring Colorado's participation decision". Perhaps this is wishful thinking or inside knowledge of the other shoe on its way to the floor.

Continuing their hard-to-detect enthusiasm for a huge influx of funding to the education options parents actually want for their children, CASE couldn't resist pointing out, even if grammatically ineptly, "Nor do not [sic, intended 'Nor do they'] ... require districts to participate."

On page 5, they assert "Colorado's decision about whether to participate will be important." and they follow it with an "Outstanding Question", to whit, "If Colorado elects to participate, which state agency would oversee the program?" Did they not hear that Colorado already decided to participate, as indicated by the IRS site? If they say Colorado hasn't decided to participate enough times, do they think it will become so? Or do you think they intend to reverse Colorado's decision to participate? Do you hear a dirge as the backdrop to their insights?

And finally, in case you think that there is no genuine CASE bias toward outcome for Colorado participation in the Education Freedom Tax Credit, they left us with these two final bullets: "What happens if Governor Polis opts-in Colorado to the program but does not submit a list of SGOs by February 15, 2027? Similarly, could the next Governor withdraw the list of SGOs after being formally sworn in and what would that mean for the state’s participation in the program? If no SGO list is provided by February 15, 2027, is Colorado still opted into the program?" and "How will the next Governor approach the program if Colorado is unable to opt out until January 1, 2028?"

Once again, the Colorado leaders responsible for quality education opportunities for all Colorado children may be more focused on eliminating the education choices parents wish to make, so they can find erudite ways of telling those parents, "Your children will eat their education gruel, and they will like it!"