Good News—School Choice Is Back on the Agenda for Republicans By Stephen Kruiser
When I first began writing about politics, I had two areas that I focused on more than any others: liberal media bias and school choice. In fact, the first political conference I ever attended was focused on school choice.
A dozen or so years ago, the Republican party was focused on it too. Somewhere along the way, that focus was blurred. The support for school choice was still there, the issue just wasn’t front and center.
I wrote in September of 2021 that the pandemic gave the GOP a chance to “get serious” about school choice. The teachers’ unions peeled back their masks and showed how truly evil they are during the worst of the COVID shutdown days. Well, a lot of us already knew that they were evil, but COVID made that plain to even the naivest among us.
The issue appears to be on the menu again for some in the GOP, especially in Iowa. Rick has the story:
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds was in an ebullient mood on Tuesday when she signed into law the most sweeping and revolutionary school choice program in the nation.
“What an amazing day for our children!” she exclaimed to the crowd of kids, parents, and lawmakers who had gathered in the Iowa Capitol rotunda to witness the historic signing.
Indeed, the new law, which will take effect this year, is a game changer for parents. The law will allow any Iowa family to use taxpayer funds to pay for private school tuition — at a cost of $345 million annually to the state once fully phased in.
This comes after a rather epic choice law was passed here in Arizona last year. Of course, we were a bit more Republican at the top of our state government back then.
School choice is a winner on so many levels for the GOP. The issue is important to a lot of minority Democrats in large cities, whose children are mired in failing — and often dangerous — schools. That gives Republicans a chance at some substantive outreach and an opportunity to make inroads with traditional Democrat voters.
More choice is the way we begin to weaken the teachers’ unions and their political power. That’s why they are all so bitterly opposed to it. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association need to be able to hold at-risk children hostage in subpar schools to remain in power.
Their power is great too. Democrats answer to teachers’ unions first. Always. Here in Arizona, our new commie governor Katie Hobbs is already trying to get rid of the law that Doug Ducey signed last summer. It was an immediate priority for her, because that’s what the unions ordered her to do.
My personal dream would be to do away with the Department of Education altogether, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. Expanding choice wherever and whenever possible is the first step in weakening the power of the public education indoctrination mills.
The woke madness taking over our schools provides a perfect opportunity for Republicans to really embrace school choice as a priority. Chaya Raichik’s Libs of TikTok Twitter feed is practically a 24/7 campaign ad generator for GOP candidates who want to run on choice.
The time is now. Republicans can ill afford to let school choice drift to the backburner as an issue. There may not be anything to save in another 10 years.
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