NEW ORLEANS — Few causes unite the Left and the Right like school choice, and the American Federation for Children demonstrated as much on Monday.
At its National Policy Summit, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gave an opening keynote address, sharing the multiple ways he has expanded school choice and calling for more reform. “Whether it’s a traditional public school … a choice school, a charter school, a private school, a home school, a virtual school environment, we need to provide as many options as possible,” the likely Republican 2016 presidential candidate said.
By the end of the night, Democratic strategist James Carville was congratulating attendees for all they’d done for the cause. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing,” the Louisiana native told summit attendees. “Education in [New Orleans] is one of the biggest success stories we have.” This from someone who’s working to help Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Former U.S. Senator and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Joe Lieberman also spoke to attendees, as did former Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams, a Democrat.
Another staunch conservative, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, addressed the summit and said school choice should always be a bipartisan issue. “This shouldn’t be a Republican or Democratic issue, this should be an American issue,” Jindal said.
The Louisiana affiliate of the American Federation for Children is led by a former Democratic state senator, Ann Duplessis. In a room full of school choice supporters on Monday, Duplessis even admitted to voting against a voucher program in Louisiana before becoming a passionate school choice advocate.
With all the bipartisan support for various forms of school choice, it’s not surprising to see the movement catching on in deep-Blue states.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., not only supports school choice, but is traveling around New York State to grow support. Cuomo visited religious institutions on Sunday to rally support for his plan to give tax credits to families with students at private schools, as well as individuals or businesses that donate to private school scholarship organizations.
Although Cuomo was not present at the summit, his pro-school choice rhetoric would have fit right in with attendees. “Sending your child to one of these failing public schools is in many ways condemning your child to get a second-class education,” Cuomo said Sunday, as reported by the New York Times. “We want you to have the ability to choose where to send your child.” Those words could have been said by a conservative advocating for school vouchers or, apparently, a liberal governor of New York. Numerous summit attendees praised Cuomo’s plan.
This isn’t to say that school choice doesn’t have its opponents, and the summit’s organizers know as much. One of the summit’s themes is “Fight for educational choice.” Event programs include illustrations of boxing gloves, and each dining table had a pair of full-sized boxing gloves as the centerpiece.
“It’s unfortunate there’s still so many teachers unions that are still on the other side of this,” Jindal said. “This has to be about the children, not the adults, in the classrooms and the schools.”
Liberals are increasingly realizing that school choice empowers minority, low-income students to get a high-quality education. Teachers unions remain influential and adamantly opposed to school choice, but the rise of school choice programs across the country shows they are losing the battle for public opinion. As the 2016 presidential campaign heats up, school choice is a rare issue that has united at least one supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her likely rivals on the Republican side.
