Carly Fiorina Touts School Choice, Liberal Policies ‘Trapping Students’

GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina took to Facebook to blast liberal education policies on Monday, and urging voters “to recognize the power of [school] choice and accountability to help solve some of our nation’s festering [education] problems.”

“Liberals are on the wrong side of this issue,” Fiorina posted on Facebook. “Their policies are trapping students and their families.”

“It is clear that our education system isn’t working for our students today,” the former Hewlett-Packard CEO declared.

During my visit to Nevada last week, I listened as voters described a battle that has played out in our country too many times. Parents and students are demanding more and better-quality education options because they know that the status quo is not working for them and their families–and lawmakers in Nevada have responded, working hard to implement innovative Education Savings Accounts that would allow parents and students to spend their education dollars as they see fit. Parents of all income levels and backgrounds are desperate for these choices, because they know that their kids deserve a chance.”

“And yet, as they have done too often, the Left has proven once again that they are willing to put kids back in failing schools in order to please a bloated, bureaucratic teachers union. We saw this in New York, where Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to limit school choice options–even as low-income and minority parents called for them. We saw it in Louisiana, where the Obama administration sued to shut down a program that allowed students to leave their failing public schools.

Fiorina charged that Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton will continue “this legacy. Is it any surprise that the two biggest teachers unions have already endorsed her? They’re counting on her to maintain the status quo and protect their interests–even at the expense of our children’s futures.”

Because this week is School Choice Week, Fiorina says it’s an opportunity to use the power of choice to solve the country’s “festering problems.”

“We know that these programs work,” Fiorina challenged. “In Boston, public charter middle schools cut the black-white achievement gap in math by as much as half in a single year when compared to traditional public schools.”

I am a conservative because I know that no one of us is better than any other one of us. I know our policies work best to lift young men and women up, to arm them with the tools to realize their potential and use their God-given gifts. The two most important things in every child’s education are a good teacher and an involved parent. You don’t foster those with a bloated federal bureaucracy or national standards like Common Core – you encourage them with choice and accountability.

“We need to support the programs that work so that every parent has a choice and a chance to educate their children” Fiorina concluded.