School Choice: Empowering disadvantaged communities nationwide
TOMMY SCHULTZ
Since AFT’s Randi Weingarten is now speaking at her conference, here are some facts on school choice and a response to her statements.
School Choice: Empowering disadvantaged communities nationwide
The recent attack by union boss Randi Weingarten calling private school choice programs the “polite cousins of segregation,” is a hurtful attack on the families who utilize school choice today to level the playing field.
Since the inception of the first private school choice program in 1991, private school choice has been a vehicle to provide equal opportunity in education. School choice has existed in our country since its founding, but until recently was an exclusive form of education for the wealthy who could afford private tuition, or move to a “nice” public school district, or – for the lucky few – were able to secure a rare, privately funded scholarship.
Today, private school choice programs nationwide serve almost exclusively low-income to working-class families, and are largely utilized by minority families. These kids now have the same opportunity that Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Sonia Sotomayor all had: to attend the school of their parents’ choice.
Statement from Traci Woodard, parent of a student who used the Educational Choice Scholarship Program in Ohio:
“How dare Randi Weingarten accuse someone like me of being aligned with segregationists, when all I’ve wanted to do was give my son the chance to have an opportunity with his education. Our local public school was classified as a failing school. I thank God that my son had the chance to use a voucher, because I knew he’d end up six feet under or in prison if I kept him in that dangerous public school environment. He thrived in his new private school, and is now in college studying to be a journalist. I’ll never apologize for fighting to give my son a better life.”
School Choice: Empowering disadvantaged communities nationwide
The recent attack by union boss Randi Weingarten calling private school choice programs the “polite cousins of segregation,” is a hurtful attack on the families who utilize school choice today to level the playing field.
Since the inception of the first private school choice program in 1991, private school choice has been a vehicle to provide equal opportunity in education. School choice has existed in our country since its founding, but until recently was an exclusive form of education for the wealthy who could afford private tuition, or move to a “nice” public school district, or – for the lucky few – were able to secure a rare, privately funded scholarship.
Today, private school choice programs nationwide serve almost exclusively low-income to working-class families, and are largely utilized by minority families. These kids now have the same opportunity that Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and Sonia Sotomayor all had: to attend the school of their parents’ choice.
Statement from Traci Woodard, parent of a student who used the Educational Choice Scholarship Program in Ohio:
“How dare Randi Weingarten accuse someone like me of being aligned with segregationists, when all I’ve wanted to do was give my son the chance to have an opportunity with his education. Our local public school was classified as a failing school. I thank God that my son had the chance to use a voucher, because I knew he’d end up six feet under or in prison if I kept him in that dangerous public school environment. He thrived in his new private school, and is now in college studying to be a journalist. I’ll never apologize for fighting to give my son a better life.”
Quick Facts on School Choice Programs:- Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program – 68% minority enrollment; $24,074 average household income
–Louisiana Scholarship Program – 88% minority enrollment
–North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program – 59% minority enrollment
–Washington, D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program – 97% minority enrollment; $21,434 average household incomeQuick Reading Material:
The 74: Undoing ‘Separate but Equal,’ Six Decades After Brown v. Board of Education
Quick Polling (Beck Research, January 2017):
School Choice support:
75% – Latinos
72% – African Americans
Quick Polling (Beck Research, January 2017):
School Choice support:
75% – Latinos
72% – African Americans
