St. Paul, Minn. – Today, school choice advocates from Opportunity for All Kids, Center of the American Experiment Minnesota Parents Alliance, and Minnesota Parent Union, and Minnesota parents were joined by Corey DeAngelis at a press conference to discuss lack of legislative solutions passed to empower Minnesota families, and the necessity to expand education freedom.
“We are seeing a universal school choice revolution igniting change across the nation, and it can come to Minnesota too,” said Corey DeAngelis, American Federation for Children, National School Choice Advocate. “Education funding does not belong to the school – public or private – education funding is meant to be educating children not for propping up a particular institution. And the gold standard to do that is through Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). This is not a partisan issue. In fact, in Minnesota, 76 percent of parents with school age children support ESAs. Let’s allow parents to raise their kids and educate their kids how they see fit.”
“Our K – 12 educational system is hopelessly broken, and parents are the only ones capable of repairing it,” said Reverend Fred Hinz, Opportunity for All Kids Board Member. “We must give them the tool that will allow them to fulfill their calling. That tool is the Education Savings Account (ESA). We insist that the State of Minnesota make this tool available to all parents.”
“If you are a parent of children stuck in a learning environment that is failing them academically and cannot afford to enroll them elsewhere, homeschool them or pay for private tutoring, your heart breaks every single morning that you are forced to send them to that school,” said Cristine Trooien, Executive Director of Minnesota Parents Alliance. “As this legislative session draws to a close, it is painfully clear to parents across the state and across the political spectrum that the majority of lawmakers in this building have failed us on education. They claim to have ‘fully funded’ the system according to the demands of Education Minnesota, but they have fully ignored students and the parents who advocate for them every step of the way. For their sake, we cannot remain locked in the status quo, we need innovation and we need it fast.”
