Educational choice programs have been growing across the country, but not as fast as most advocates would like. Making the case to legislators often includes moral and practical, empirical arguments. But perhaps the most effective method to persuade legislators to support educational choice is to get them in front of the children who already benefit from it.
Congressman Luke Messer, R-Ind., visited BASIS DC Public Charter School recently with a group of other members of Congress. At the school, where more than 90 percent of students are eligible for the federal free lunch program, members took questions from a group of students.
“The first question was, ‘Congressman, why doesn’t my neighbor and my cousin, and in some cases even my brother, have access to this kind of education too?’,” Messer said Wednesday at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “And when members [of Congress] see that, you can’t help but be moved by it.”
Nationwide, more than a million students are on a waiting list for a charter school.
Betsy DeVos, a philanthropist and chair of the pro-school choice group American Federation for Children, echoed Messer’s sentiment. “Once you get involved with a school like [a successful charter school] and get invested and meet these children personally, you can’t not support the work that they’re doing,” she said.
Devos said school choice advocates should work to educate Congress on what education choice is. “It’s really important, in fact imperative, that we collectively have a real sincere effort to help educate the current members of Congress about education choice in general. Because I bet if you asked 15 of your colleagues to define education choice you’d probably get 20 different definitions. I really don’t think a lot of them know and understand what we mean when we talk about education choice, or at least there’s not a common understanding.”
Messer encouraged those who talk to members to make both a moral and empirical case for educational choice. “We have to be careful that we don’t just stop at the moral case for choice and that we always take the next step to talk about the practical choice as well. Now, I have to say, I believe the moral case matters.” He referenced the Declaration of Independence, mentioning the right to pursue happiness and said a quality education is necessary to achieve the American Dream.
“It’s frankly immoral that we have millions of kids in America that don’t have an opportunity to walk into a good school,” Messer said. “And we all have to continue to fight for the fact that every kid in America should have that opportunity.”
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
