Crossover Prep featured at Governor's Prayer Breakfast

School choice is transforming lives in north Tulsa. And Crossover Prep founder Philip Abode acknowledges frankly, "Our school doesn’t exist without the tax-credit scholarships." 

Here's a video that was shown yesterday at the Governor's Prayer Breakfast.

Scholarship organizations are changing lives

Andrew Rice runs a unique school serving students who are battling to overcome addiction. Oklahoma's tax-credit scholarship program helps students like this—and many more.

'My kids were giving up, and it was breaking my heart'

Fortunately, this Tulsa mom was able to find help. And check out other excellent OSF videos here.

Ed choice can help 'sober high school' rescue more kids

'Sober high school' in OKC is rescuing young people

'I actually have fun learning'

'I feel like I'm treated the right way'

‘The impact it's had on my daughter is amazing'

Lamb, Pruitt, Bridenstine discuss educational choice

Last month, The McCarville Report released the results of a SoonerPoll survey it commissioned regarding Oklahoma’s 2018 governor’s race. Three names polled were Lt. Governor Todd Lamb, Attorney General Scott Pruitt, and Congressman Jim Bridenstine. I recently sat down with all three of them to discuss their views on parental choice in education.

[Cross-posted at OCPA]

Republicans embrace parental choice in education

Ronald Reagan supported school choice. So do GOP presidential candidates Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, John Kasich, and Rick Santorum. 

Other choice supporters include Senator James Lankford, Congressman Steve Russell, Congressman Jim Bridenstine, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, Attorney General Scott Pruitt, and more:

Tulsa mother of hearing-impaired child grateful for scholarship

"Life in Tulsa is hectic for single mom Laura Jones and her son, Manuel," Dacia Harris writes over at the OCPA blog.

Like any six-year-old, Manuel enjoys playing outside and learning to ride the new bike he got for Christmas. In the evening, they read stories and Manuel is starting to pick out words.  

When Manuel was born early he spent a week in the NICU, so Laura took 12 weeks off from her job as a special education teacher at a local public school, where she works with kids who have a hearing loss. After Manuel failed his newborn hearing screening, Laura thought, "No … I work with kids that have a hearing loss. My child doesn’t have a hearing loss. He just failed it because he was in the NICU." The family went back for two more hearing screenings to confirm the diagnosis, and when he was four months old Manuel got his first set of hearing aids.  

Today, Manuel’s receptive and expressive language skills are on par with any other kindergartner. But instead of attending the local public school—where he would be in a larger class with more distractions and background noise—Manuel receives funding from the Opportunity Scholarship Fund to attend Happy Hands Education Center, a center for families with children who are deaf or hard of hearing and children who have other communication disorders. These scholarships are made possible by a 2011 measure passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin.  

 "It was nice to know that there was something that could assist me as a single mom," Laura says. "Happy Hands doesn't turn anyone away due to inability to pay, but that there was another organization that would contribute to help Manuel's education was a blessing." 

 Hear more from Laura and some other grateful parents in this brief video:

Parental choice in rural Oklahoma

St. John Christian Heritage Academy is changing lives

OKC school serves homeless children

And school choice would allow them to serve even more.

Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Stories: Trinity School

More great Henry Scholarship stories

Lindsey's Law is rescuing kids