Creative Problem Solving
US Senator Jon Kyl takes a look at the state of education in “Back to School: Politics and the Educational Process,” and urges creativity in solving today’s educational challenges.
A good education teaches people to think creatively in order to solve problems. Lawmakers should remember their school days and think creatively about new solutions to help today’s students. School vouchers have clearly worked for D.C., and I hope that lawmakers heed this success story and will support such school choice opportunities to even more students.
Can we get some real choices here?
Ah, back to school. And parents and students have lots of choices to make. Bus or carpool? Red notebooks or blue? Crayons or colored pencils? New shorts or jeans? White sneakers or navy? Soccer or football?
Important stuff, right?
Too bad most parents don’t get to make the most important choice about how and where to educate their children.
Lindsey Burke from the Heritage Foundation wrote this op-ed on how “Parents deserve real school choice.“
Americans expect choices and are, in general, savvy consumers. In turn, the U.S. market meets this expectation and supplies its citizens with an abundance of choice.
Restaurants provide food selections from around the globe, the cereal aisle at the grocery store has more options than a sugar-seeking child could ever hope for and the TV provides more than 100 channels from which to choose.
When it comes to education, Americans are also accustomed to a plethora of choices, at least during the back-to-school shopping season.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were more than 24,000 family clothing stores, more than 26,000 shoe stores and in excess of 9,000 department stores in 2005.
Parents have enormous purchasing power when it concerns outfitting their children, updating their electronics and filling their backpacks with all the necessary supplies for school.
The National Retail Federation estimates that more than $20 billion will be spent on back-to-school shopping this year, with the average family spending around $594.24. Imagine if parents had the same kind of purchasing power over the $519 billion that will be spent on public elementary and secondary schools during the 2008-09 academic year. With national per pupil expenditures exceeding $10,000 per year, parents should have a say in how their money is spent.
Back to school!
We hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Labor Day holiday weekend.
For many Virginia schools, today marks the official start of the 2008-2009 school year. We wish all Virginia families the best for a successful school year.
Here at School Choice Virginia, our “school-year” will be dedicated to working to create more affordable and available educational options for Virginia students. We are encouraged by the growing movement for school choice all across the country, and we will continue to share news with you on that movement as well as things you can do here in Virginia to help make educational choice a reality for all families.
