Surging Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio is taking his campaign Sunday to the nation’s only home school college, putting the issue on the map in advance of the Super Tuesday elections that include states where homeschooling is popular.
Rubio’s 1 p.m. rally will be at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va., 50 miles from the White House, and also headquarters for the Home School Legal Defense Association.
Rubio Rally, Patrick Henry College, Sunday, 1pm
— PatrickHenryCollege (@patrickhenrycol) February 27, 2016
Mike Farris, a founder and the chancellor of the school and chairman of the legal defense association, told Secrets Saturday that the rally for some 2,400 is a good chance to spotlight the classical Christian college. “The main focus is on the college,” he said.
College President Jack Haye said that the college is a “very politically minded campus.” Several students have interned on Capitol Hill. And even though it is spring break at the college, several students have stayed back to attend the rally, Haye and Farris said.
Rubio is a strong supporter of home schooling, and asked to use the facility to rally voters two days before Virginia votes. Haye said that the school has not endorsed a candidate and opens its facility to any candidate that “values civil discourse.”
When the recent uncivil campaign rhetoric between Rubio and Donald Trump was noted, Haye said, “We can only hope that we lead by example.”
The school opened in 2000 with 85 students and now has 300.
Farris has conducted interviews of some GOP candidates, including Rubio, for posting on the legal defense association’s website. In the January interview, Rubio said of home schooling, “I think it’s not only a valid way to teach your children, you see from the empirical evidence that home school children are outperforming many children attending traditional schools. I believe in parental choice—home schooling, faith-based schools, private school of your choosing, what public school you want to go to instead of the one you’re zoned for. But I view home schooling, and especially the explosion of home schooling in America over the last 15 years, as a great development that we’ve seen. And we see how well home schoolers are performing once they’re getting into college and universities across the country.”
Doors for the event open at noon Sunday.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
