Education for Our Children

A quality education is a fundamental civil right for all our children. In order to make education the best it can be, the federal government MUST:

• Cooperate with the states to ensure full funding for quality educational programs
• REFORM or ELIMINATE ‘No Child Left Behind’
• Put classroom decisions back in the hands of the local politicians and the parents

Washington should not be managing or dictating school policy at the local level. Decisions and accountability should reside at the local level. Parents and local officials should have more control of the education in their area, not some bloated bureaucracy in Washington.

We must spark innovation in delivering quality education to our children. Our current system is failing our children and putting our future at risk.

School vouchers sound good when you live in a community that has other options, however, many school districts in the 12th District don’t have other public schools or private schools from which to choose to attend. As well, a federal directive of a voucher only puts an unfunded mandate onto the states.

Most public schools excel at educating our children and parents and children are satisfied. However, it is unfair to send our children to public schools that are failing and not providing educational opportunity. The only person who is losing is the child.

To facilitate school choice, a choice scholarship should be available for any family who lives in an area where local public schools are failing. Parents could choose to send their children to private schools or to public schools outside of their school district.

The goal of public education is to educate our children, not to further an inefficient bureaucracy or a school system that is incapable of delivering results.

This model of choice would increase the funds available for high quality, successful public and private schools, and spark innovation in our educational system.