It's National School Choice Week - Register for Jan. 27th and/or Jan.31st events

Americans for Prosperity and National School Choice team up this week to bring you 2 National School Choice events in our area.

On Thursday, January 27th, from 6pm - 8pm, there will be a showing of "The Cartel", a movie that deals with the failure of public education--especially for minority students. It is free, but you must register. Wisconsin branch of the AFP, Fight Back Wisconsin website, states there will be a Town Hall Q&A connected with this movie showing too. Held at 1126 S. 70th Street, Suite S211, Milwaukee. (North of Greenfield Ave.) Call 414-476-7900 for more information.

The 2nd event is probably of more interest to those of us in the Elmbrook School District, since in general, parents are satisfied with our school system. This one is titled, The Education Revolution Tour: Restoring America's Exceptionalism. This Town Hall will be held from 7 - 8:30 pm on January 31st, at the Country Springs Hotel (2810 Golf Road) in Pewaukee. Call 414-476-7900 for more information. The meeting is FREE, but you need to register. (There is also a pre-Town Hall reception and photo op with Dick Morris and Vicki McKenna at 6pm, for a $59 registration fee.)

Why are they doing this? Because, as their literature and ads state, "American 15-year-olds rank 35th out of 57 countries in math and literacy, behind almost all industrialized nations!"

Never heard of National School Choice week? Don't feel badly. This is a new grassroots movement in our nation and this is the first of hopefully many more nationwide events of this kind.

The Heritage Foundation informs us that over 150 organizations nationwide are hosting events this week. "It’s a grassroots movement of national proportions to highlight the benefits of school choice and demand access to quality educational options. Speaker John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Sens. Joe Lieberman and John McCain and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush – among many others – are all “in” for National School Choice Week.

And it’s a movement whose time has come. Nationally, thousands of children are trapped in more than 1,700 public schools labeled as “dropout factories,” in which less than 60 percent of students graduate within four years. But even for those students not assigned to the worst government schools, academic achievement has stagnated over the years, graduation rates have flat lined, and American students are out-competed by their international counterparts."

..."School choice is about freedom and opportunity. It’s about giving families options when it comes to their children’s education – from charter schools and private schools, to online learning and homeschooling." (My emphasis)

Whether we have children in school or not, the lion's share of our property taxes goes to funding public education. Shouldn't we at least educate ourselves about the other options out there for education?

Links: Practically Speaking, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, The Right View Wisconsin, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation