Being a parent who exercises school choice, I completely agree with giving families choices when it comes to their children’s education. Having the choice to choose where my children have received their education has made all the difference in the world for my family.
As I watched Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stumble over questions regarding the continued failure of public schools in her home state of Michigan, I wanted her to speak up!
I wanted her to inform the public those same schools have been failing minorities and impoverished students for decades. School choice was created to give families and children quality education options. The continued failure of the traditional public school system is all the more reason to give families other school options.
I was waiting for her to address why our traditional public schools are failing and how to address the problem. I wanted her to stress that public schools – charter and traditional – should be quality choice options also.
I thought she would talk about how choice has brought change to schools in Indianapolis. I thought she would highlight how Indianapolis charter school and public school leaders are working together to create quality education options to the public school system. She didn’t.
What people need to know is school choice is not about abandoning traditional public education. It is refusing to surrender to the idea that poor and minority students are incapable of learning.