Students who took advantage of the school choice option committed fewer crimes than counterparts in public schools. As young adults, these students committed about 53 percent fewer drug crimes and 86 percent fewer property crimes.
School choice breaks down the barriers of arbitrary school district lines — these glass walls defined by zip codes — by empowering all parents with the resources they need to either find the right school for their children or start their own schools if the right school can’t be found.
Options are a good thing, especially when it comes to education. But today, most American parents remain at the whim of whatever district school they live in. Education choice gives students the opportunity to pick their own schooling option.
Fifteen years later, fellow parents and I have witnessed a sea change in our kids’ education, with more than 10,000 scholarships awarded to attend private schools. These scholarships have helped deserving low-income kids.
National School Choice Week raises awareness about the different types of schools and educational opportunities for parents and their children. School choice options include traditional public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online academies and homeschooling.
Today, school choice programs in the states include education savings accounts, tax credits, and vouchers, and are accessed by about 482,000 students. That’s a more than twofold increase in participating students from 2011, the year National School Choice Week was launched.
If the objective is to eliminate a lot of the mid-level bureaucracy at the supervisory union level while — and this is key — devolving decision-making power back to local principals and local volunteer school boards, this would be great.
American families aren’t accessing the school types they prefer and do not trust the federal government, according to results of an annual report “Schooling America”, produced by EdChoice.
We have the oldest, and I would argue, the most comprehensive and dynamic school choice system in the country. Maybe it’s time to shout that fact from the rooftops and let the country know of our role in “the civil rights issue of our time.”
Out of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria came an opportunity to reform the ailing education system on the island.
Independent school students celebrate National School Choice Week at the Vermont Statehouse in January. A day of awards, recognition and learning is planned again this year, and all independent schools — including home schools — are welcome to participate.
EdChoice.org produced a summary of the 36 governors’ positions on what EdChoice Board member Virginia Walden Ford argues “is the civil rights issue of our day.”