School Choice Advocates: Act Now!

July 23, 2008 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Education, Israel Teitelbaum, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture |

-By Israel Teitelbaum

It was a sign of true leadership for John McCain to address the NAACP on the importance of parental choice in education. The NAACP has long opposed this, to the great detriment of inner-city youth, and others, who cannot afford good private schools. Competition will undoubtedly improve the quality and efficiency of education, just as it does for enterprise.

Now that school choice has become an issue in this presidential campaign, this is a most opportune time for voters to speak out and petition for their constitutional right to raise and nurture their children without government interference. A nation founded upon individual and religious liberty should not be financially coercing parents to send their children to government run schools.

There is now a proposal before members of Congress to sponsor the Civil Rights Act for Equal Educational Opportunity. This would require the states to equitably fund the education of children in public and non-public schools, while respecting the liberty of schools in hiring and provision of services.

We can change the tenor of this election campaign by calling upon our representatives in Washington, at 202-224-3121, and urging them to sponsor this legislation.

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Israel Teitelbaum is currently creating a new school choice organization to help further the efforts to improve our public schools. His blog will soon be up and running at SchoolChoiceVoter.org. Mr. Teitelbaum can be reached at israel@schoolchoicenj.org.