National School Choice Week

Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to sign school choice legislation that reaches his desk, loudly signaling he hopes to see a bill from the 85th Legislature.

The call for school choice remains a high priority for top Texas lawmakers Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick during National School Choice Week.

On Friday, January 30, supporters of school choice gathered at the Texas Capitol steps in Austin to send a message — they want education reform and they want it now. That was the very sentiment voiced by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) when he participated in the 2014 Houston-held National School Choice Week rally.

Supporters of school choice gathered at the Texas Capitol on Friday to send a message to Legislators: they want education reform, and they want it now. A bustling, diverse crowd of students, parents, teachers, elected officials and other reform advocates — and even a marching band — enjoyed a festive atmosphere as they listened to speeches, sang and danced, and then lined up to enter the Capitol to take their message directly to their elected representatives. Breitbart Texas was at the scene, and spoke to a number of the enthusiastic attendees of the rally.

When he was inaugurated as the new Lieutenant Governor last week, Dan Patrick spoke about his three top priorities in this legislative session: reducing property and business taxes, securing the border, and enacting school choice. All of these policies have widespread support in Texas, and especially among the grassroots Republicans who gave Texas’ leaders their power in the 2014 elections. This bold agenda should provide focus and achievable goals for legislators as they begin their work during the 84th legislative session.

Economist and author Thomas Sowell has a way of very succinctly articulating profound truths. The Cato Institute tweeted one such nugget as the country celebrates National School Choice Week

To honor National School Choice Week, Louisiana U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R) announced Monday that he has introduced the Local Control of Education Act, a measure that would ban the federal government from mandating the adoption of specific standards—such as the Common Core standards—as well as curriculum and assessments.

A new study published in the Journal of Public Economics and discussed in a press release at the Harvard Kennedy School provides the first observed estimates on the long-term impact of school voucher programs that allow parents to choose the education setting of their children. Vouchers were found to be particularly beneficial to low-income, minority students.

Many parents use the start of the new year as a time to start searching for new schools for their children for the 2015-2016 school year. And believe it or not, January is not too early to get this search stared. (In some cases, it might be considered late!)

National School Choice Week began as an annual celebration in 2011, with only 150 events. Since then, it has grown exponentially, and a record 10,100 events are planned for January 2015 to raise awareness of the benefits of alternative education, which supporters call a matter of “simple justice.”