Innovation, Parental Choice & Empowerment Dominate New Hampshire ED Summit

Participants in the August 19 GOP New Hampshire Forum, Hosted by The Seventy Four and The American Federation for Children, included Governor Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Governor John Kasich, Governor Bobby Jindal, Governor Scott Walker and Governor Chris Christie

NEW HAMPSHIRE (Aug. 19, 2015) – Today, the American Federation for Children, the nation’s voice for educational choice, in partnership with The Seventy Four, an online education newsroom co-founded by former NBC News and CNN anchor Campbell Brown, hosted the 2015 New Hampshire Education Summit at Londonderry High School.
The first-of-its kind forum featured Republican leaders including Governor Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Governor John Kasich, Governor Bobby Jindal, Governor Scott Walker and Governor Chris Christie who each took the stage with moderator Campbell Brown for one-on-one discussions.
Today’s event featured more than 450 attendees on site in New Hampsnire, 1,500 viewers of the livestream of the event and “#EDsummit15” was trending nationally on Twitter.
“Today’s summit demonstrated the strong support to enact bold and innovative programs to empower parents to choose the best education environment for their child,” said Betsy DeVos, chairman of the American Federation for Children. “We’re grateful to our speakers for attending today’s important discussion and our partner, Campbell Brown and The Seventy Four for helping make today a success.”
“Today’s summit was a groundbreaking moment in our efforts to drive a meaningful conversation about the future of America’s 74 million children,” said Campbell Brown, cofounder of The Seventy Four. “The speakers left their talking points behind and answered tough questions about the most critical education policy issues impacting our students. However, today is only the beginning—and we at The Seventy Four look forward to continuing this important dialogue throughout the campaign and beyond.”
The speakers addressed prominent issues in the public education system including innovating the system, standards and accountability, educational choice programs and increasing availability to quality options for children.
Gov. Jeb Bush kicked off the summit explaining why he is so passionate about the future of education and educational choice, “I’m on fire on this stuff, because I believe this is the way you create a right to rise society more than any other thing, and for our country to succeed we cannot just cast away huge numbers of kids without them having the chance to achieve earned success,” Bush said.
Carly Fiorina focused on the human connection of education, saying “Teachers provide the spark, which causes a kid to learn.” “We must feed their souls and build their character,” added Fiorina.
Gov. John Kasich, focused on the importance of parents in a child’s education, stating “For parents, just don’t walk into the school building and just listen to what the administrators tell you. Dig in. Know how kids are performing, know how they’re doing, know what the heck is going on in the classroom.”
Gov. Scott Walker described how offering quality educational options through school choice is an “economic and moral imperative.” He also added school choice “puts the pressure on traditional public schools…to up their game.”
Gov. Bobby Jindal promoted a 100 percent choice model similar to New Orleans’ education system and said, “Every child can learn and the reality is, we need to give them the opportunity.”
Gov. Chris Christie discussed the role of parents in their child’s education stating, “I truly believe parents will be the ones to hold educators accountable.” He also discussed the union’s involvement in education saying “The tenure system countenances mediocrity and failure and it does nothing to award excellence.”
Along with one-on-one discussions, the summit hosted two panels during the day. The first, “From DC to Your State: Empowering Parents & Reforming Education,” featured AEI’s Gerard Robinson, Rep. Luke Messer (IN) and the Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley in a discussion about the role of the federal government in education and what can be done to help states succeed. The second panel of the day discussed “Energizing Education: Innovation and the Future of Our Schools,” featuring The Seventy Four’s Steve Snyder, Joel Klein, Roland Fryer and AFC Chairman Betsy DeVos.
The summit can be seen in its in entirety on www.the74million.org and federationforchildren.org.

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