Sad news
In sad news for the school choice movement, J. Patrick Rooney has passed away. Cato’s At Liberty Blog has reported that:
Rooney, who was 80, founded a trend-setting private scholarship fund in 1991. The Educational CHOICE Charitable Trust provides financial assistance to low income families in Indianapolis who want to send their children to private schools.
Rooney’s model laid the groundwork for school choice programs across the country, and is similar to the legislation that has been introduced in Virginia for the past few years.
This model, in which donors give money to a k-12 scholarship organization, which then distributes it to the families who need it, became the framework for some of the school choice movement’s greatest successes. Today, school choice programs in six states offer tax credits to businesses or individuals who donate to such scholarship organizations (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island).
We join others in mourning the passing of one of the leaders who helped to make school choice a reality for many students, and who helped to influence as wave of change to create more opportunities for students across the country.
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