MEMO
TO: Texas Parents, Families, and Interested Parties
FROM: Mandy Drogin, Texas Federation for Children
DATE: November 18, 2021
RE: The state of our schools in America
What’s happening in American schools is truly concerning.
Whether it’s curriculum debates, failing schools, closures due to COVID, inadequate virtual education, or values concerns, one thing the past year has taught us is that parents must have more control over their children’s education.
Specifically, parents must have the freedom to choose the best education that fits their child’s needs.
For years, teachers’ union bosses have been the political driving force behind local school districts, administrations, and even elections, resulting in limited educational choice for our students.
Union bosses have a stranglehold on the education agenda, which is more focused on political ideology than educating our children and giving them a better future.
Too much control by union bosses and bureaucrats has led to:
- Children being stuck in failing schools with no way out.
- The lack of curriculum transparency for parents.
- Education that doesn’t align with your family’s values.
The good news is that parents are waking up and will no longer sit idly by while their children attend failing schools or are taught in ways contrary to their values.
There is more demand for parents’ right to choose than ever – the Virginia election results were a strong indication of this hunger.
In fact, according to a new poll by Texas 2036, a non-partisan group, 82% of parents support school choice; specifically, they want to allow the parents of a child at a failing school, or a school that fails to adequately meet the child’s needs, to choose another school.
But that begins with electing politicians who believe in a parents’ right to be involved in their child’s education.
This is a multi-front battle – we need more elected officials who believe that education is about the child and his or her future.
We need leaders to step up and refuse to take their marching orders from teachers’ unions, but instead fight back and put education freedom first.
This is exactly why parents and families should have choices and options when it comes to their children’s education.
The bottom line is clear – parents and families should have control over their kids’ education decisions, NOT bureaucrats and union bosses.
Here are a few basic ways to put these education reforms into practice:
1) Money should follow the child so that we fund students, not systems.
2) School placement and enrollment should not be determined by ZIP code, race, economic status, or bureaucrats.
3) Curriculum must be completely transparent so parents know exactly what their children are learning in school.
It’s time to empower FAMILIES with true education freedom, the right to choose the education that is best for their children. This has proven to dramatically improve outcomes for kids and also happens to be at the heart of America’s founding principle of individual liberty.
In summary, this is a critical moment for education reform in our country and we can’t afford to wait any longer.
Please stand with us to make sure the future for our children is bright.
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