Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts blasted far-left politicians and teachers unions for politicizing the “human” issue of education.
In an interview with Washington Examiner’s Restoring America deputy editor Kaylee McGhee White, Roberts said education used to be an area in which most people easily found common ground.
“What’s happened is that the radical Left has turned it into this hyperpoliticized issue because they rely on the money, particularly from the teachers unions,” he said.
In order to force reform in the public education system, Roberts said states and school districts must embrace “disruptive innovation” through school choice policies, which put significantly more power into the hands of parents.
081522_HERITAGE-20.JPG”The thing is the school district, because it relies on the political money of the teachers union, had to adhere to the line of [American Federation of Teachers President] Randi Weingarten and all the teacher union leaders to just throw up a wall that would prevent real transparency,” he said.
Roberts predicted that because school choice has become a winning campaign platform, Republican politicians will “adhere to the school choice line” and in doing so could end up forcing a lot of Democrats to adopt the traditionally Republican position.
“This is overwhelmingly popular among Americans of all ideologies among all demographic groups,” he said. “It’s very exciting … because the policy consequences of that political reality will finally deliver real educational opportunity guaranteed for the first time for every American child.”
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