Not only does school choice produce high quality schools such as St. Johnsbury Academy, Thaddeus Stephens School, and The Riverside School, but it is cheaper to educate children in these schools than it is in traditional public schools.
Over the past 30 years of arguing for parental choice in education, I could always count on a left wing opponent, usually an ally of the teachers union, saying “Rich people can get their children to school, but poor people can’t afford transportation and will be left out.”
We should put parents and children in the driver’s seat of their education and allow them to find the schools that they judge to be most amenable to each specific child’s education. School choice can be used to fight racism in Vermont schools.
In “The Role of Government in Education,” Milton Friedman argued that basic free-market principles — such as competition and consumer freedom — should be reintroduced into the education marketplace.
Vermont’s fourth celebration of School Choice Week came to the Statehouse on Wednesday, with students sharing stories about the benefits of choice and education policy leaders calling for more action.
In one sentence at a press conference Wednesday, Brad Ferland of St. Albans declared the goal of National School Choice Week: “School choice should be expanded, and not taken away.”
National School Choice Week President Andrew Campanella explains, “We choose everything in this country — the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the candidates we vote for. Why don’t more parents get to choose the educational environments that are right for their children?”
Polling shows that about 70 percent of Americans support school choice, and an overwhelming majority support scholarship programs that allow parents to send their child to a school other than their local public school.
Students, staff and parents from home schools and private schools are invited to participate in National School Choice Week observations on Wednesday, January 29 at the Capital Plaza, 100 State Street, in Montpelier.
The Supreme Court seemed ready to rule Wednesday that states which subsidize private schools must also extend benefits to those run by churches or religious organizations.
He said that school choice and apprenticeship programs are part of the answer to help students rise above their circumstances to pursue an education and a productive place in society.