The examination of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, the only federally funded voucher program in the country, by the department’s Institute of Education Sciences, found that students who attended a private school through the program performed worse on standardized tests than their public school counterparts who did not use the vouchers.

By Henry J. Gomez @ BuzzFeed.com, April 27

[....] “I’m pro-environment, I’m pro-trade, I’m anti-debt, I’m pro-immigration, I’m pro-NATO,” Kasich continued. “And when I look at the party, I see it moving in a different direction. But I’ve always said I have the right to define what it means to be a Republican and a conservative.”

At a time when he clearly wants to remain a player on the national stage, Kasich is struggling with his political identity — and so is his party. If and where he fits in a GOP led by Donald Trump will say a great deal about the kind of Republicans who can succeed in it, and whether there’s still space for the open and internationalist values Kasich and other Republicans long have cherished.

Twice Wednesday — once during a forum at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and later in the SUV — Kasich said the day is coming when a well-funded independent can win the White House.

“Both parties, I think, are missing it,” Kasich said. “That’s why I said tonight, and I’ll say again in this car, that I think they’re going to matter less and less unless they get their act together.”

The big story of Kasich’s big media week isn’t the predictable swipes he takes at President Trump in the book. And it’s not that he is refusing to rule out a Republican primary challenge to Trump in 2020, though his visit here Thursday raises such speculation.

It’s that Kasich seems tempted by the idea of running for president as an independent [....]

Op-ed by Thomas B. Edsall @ NYTimes.com, April 27

The black upper middle class is ascending the economic ladder at a faster rate than its white counterpart.

Sure to be controversial, so everyone might as well know about it now.

By Sarah Kliff @ Vox.com, April 25

Republican legislators want to keep popular Obamacare provisions for themselves and their staff.

Suggestion: take a few moments to help this story go viral, then when it does, watch the "wavering" GOP moderates decide they can't vote for it. (If you haven't been following the news on this, the House Freedom Caucus has given their support.)

By Michele Cottle @ TheAtlantic.com, April 26

The Dems are trying to take advantage of the president’s tendency to make maximalist claims then retreat from them.

• President Trump on Wednesday proposed sharp reductions in both individual and corporate income tax rates, reducing the number of individual income tax brackets to three.
• The plan also called for the elimination of most itemized tax deductions.

By Alan Rappeport & Julie Hirschfeld Davis @ NYTimes.com, April 26

[....] “We want to move as fast as we can,” Steven T. Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said [....] “This bill is about creating economic growth and jobs.”

He vowed it would be “the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country,” in line with Mr. Trump’s grandiose portrayal. But there was no expectation that the White House would elucidate how the deep cuts would be financed, and administration officials are cognizant of the challenges of pushing through a proposal that could dramatically add to the national debt.

If, in fact, the proposal cuts taxes but fails to close loopholes or raise some other taxes, it would not be a true reform of the tax code. It would be a tax cut along the lines of President George W. Bush’s tax measure in 2001 and 2003. Nor is it clear that it would be the largest in history. Tax cutters from Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge to John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan vie for that title.

Mr. Mnuchin offered few specifics about the blueprint, other than confirming that its centerpiece will be a 15 percent business tax rate, which would apply not only to corporations, but also to small businesses and other large owner-operated conglomerates, such as Mr. Trump’s real estate empire. He also said the White House is not on board with the border-adjustment tax that is central to House Republicans’ tax plan “in its current form,” setting up an intraparty struggle over the elements of the plan and how to offset the deep reductions envisioned.

Mr. Trump also wants to increase the standard deduction for individuals [.....]

By Adam Nossiter from Paris @ NYTimes.com, April 25

Whole article reporting that the race has become a much worse version of  Melenchon = Bernie and Macron = Hillary. Recommended. Oh and gets into some of the nuances, too.

Like, what's eating Gilbert Grape? usually people who resign to spend more time with their family just kina fade away. But Jason's got a case of heartburn, and The Don'a just may be his roll of Tums. Look out, Stumpy Trumpy. Short fingers can still get burned.