The Bottom Line Historic Education Freedom Is Happening and It Is Worthy of a Celebration!
Last week, Discovery Institute welcomed guests from across the Pacific Northwest to Mercer Island for a special event hosted by the American Center for Transforming Education. The event focused on the historic education freedom that has taken place over the past four years. It was an informative evening marked by a joyous celebration with a packed room of attendees.
Discovery Institute President Steve Buri kicked off the evening by introducing American Center for Transforming Education Director and Senior Fellow Dr. Keri D. Ingraham.
Dr. Ingraham outlined the massive scale of the nearly $1 trillion public education industry, the power of the teachers unions, and the devastating implications of the prolonged school closures. She spoke about the public education monopoly’s failure to effectively educate the majority of students with high-quality academics while indoctrinating students with far-left progressive ideologies, describing it as a monopoly of the American mind.
Ideas have consequences for individuals and society. Therefore, education freedom is essential.
As of 2020, zero states had K-12 universal or near-universal education freedom (often referred to as school choice). Less than 1% of U.S. students (less than 500,000) had access to a school choice program. Other students could only exit the public education system if their parents had thousands of dollars a year for tuition money or the feasibility to homeschool.
But historic education freedom is happening! As of today, 12 states have enacted universal or near-universal education freedom. Combine the students in those states with the number of students who reside in states that have education freedom extending to a portion of students, and the total is roughly 18.9 million students with access to funding for their parents to select an alternative learning avenue than a public school. That translates to approximately 36.3% of students in the U.S.
During the event, a sixth-grade student shared about her elementary school experience before and after having education freedom. It was a powerful testimony of the transforming impact the choice of school had on her academic learning and character development. She shared that what she learned at her new school aligned with what her parents taught her at home. Her parents no longer had the difficult task of trying to undo what she was taught in public school that they knew was not true. Thanks to education freedom, her mind and heart are protected from inappropriate content in the classroom, and she now loves learning!
In addition to education freedom, Dr. Ingraham spoke about the other major aspects of K-12 education transformation work of Discovery Institute’s American Center for Transforming Education. That includes education entrepreneurship, education innovation, parental rights, and public education reform.
The presentation was followed by a special reception celebrating all that has been accomplished to advance education freedom.
As Dr. Ingraham shared with guests, “Nothing will impact the future of our country more than the education of our next generation — future leaders, society, workforce, economy, and the electorate.”