Thursday, February 4, 2016

Fallin praised for ESA stance

"Gov. Mary Fallin deserves high praise for the vision she demonstrated in this week’s State of the State address," OCPA distinguished fellow Andrew Spiropoulos writes today in The Journal Record.
People ... need to know that their leaders have a policy agenda that will address the fundamental challenges facing their state. What are these challenges? The first is an ineffective education system that, despite extraordinary spending increases in the last three decades, has produced no discernible improvement in student achievement. ... 
In education, the governor calls for the single reform that has the greatest chance of sparking systemic change––the establishment of education savings accounts. ESAs, by providing families with a significant portion of the state funds allocated for their children’s education, will empower parents to choose the educational services that will most benefit their children. Parents can choose to spend the funds on a variety of educational services, including private school tuition, tutoring, materials or even college tuition savings. 
Our state’s children will benefit because they will receive the services that best serve their needs. Our state’s public schools will benefit because, as in every other segment of the economy, the challenge of competing with other providers will foster institutional innovation and improvement.
And on the CBS affiliate in Oklahoma City (at the 2:50 mark below), Patrick McGuigan discusses the ESA legislation being debated at the state capitol.

No comments: