Parents for Free Choice in Education celebrated Independence Day by holding a rally for school choice at the Leon and Toby Cooperman JCC, in West Orange, New Jersey. The event brought together leaders and activists of the school choice movement, for the purpose of publicizing and educating voters on the issue and launching a grass roots effort for national legislation to implement the plan proposed by the late economist Milton Friedman for universal school choice.
Rabbi Shea Hecht, CEO of the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, opened the program by urging the assembled to take on the challenge. “We owe it to the children to do whatever we can to improve their educational opportunities,” he said.
Roland Straten, candidate for US Congress in New Jersey’s 8th District, explained his position on school choice. “We need to provide a thorough education for every child in America, not just those who can afford it or who happen to live in a strong school district. Parents should be given the choice of where to send their children. It is my firm belief that parents, not government bureaucrats, know where their children should be educated. By simply giving every parent a voucher for a certain number of dollars that can be given to an accredited school by the parent, to pay for the cost of education, we can solve this problem. This gives full control of where a child goes to school to the parent and child. They are not forced to send their child to a failing school. They are not forced to send their child to a school that has an educational philosophy that disagrees with the parent’s values.”
Dan Gaby, Director of Education Excellence for Everyone (E3), the leading school choice advocacy group in New Jersey, told of his involvement in the early years of the civil rights movement. “The experts told us then that civil rights was impossible to achieve, yet we persevered and now it’s the law of the land. We can do the same for parental choice in education.”
Rishe Deitsch, Senior Editor of the international publication N’shei Chabad Newsletter, recalled, “When my father was a little boy, in the 1930s, his parents paid for his tuition in yeshivah: $7 a month. When we were little, in the 1960s, our parents paid $20 per month per child. And now, in 2008, my married children are paying tuition for my grandchildren over $1,000 per month per family! Vouchers would be a good solution. Every American child would receive a voucher for an education, which their parents can give to the school of their choice. After all, we all pay education taxes, not just public school parents.”
Jerry Cantrell, President, NJ Taxpayer’s Association, asked, “When has legitimate competition been a dirty word in our society? Wherever we look, competition has created virtually all the good things in our lives. Would anyone still want to have a single telephone monopoly? How about three choices of automobile manufacturers or a single corner grocery? So, why not provide choices in where our children can receive their education?”
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, host of the daily national radio program, The Rabbi Shmuley Show on XM Satellite Radio, and host of the national TV show, Shalom in the Home on TLC, was scheduled to address the rally. As it happened, his wife gave birth to a baby girl just two hours before the start of the rally. Still, Rabbi Boteach had the presence of mind to call in his message in support of parental choice.
The assembled were treated to patriotic music from the popular band Reality Addiction and modern Jewish music from the fast rising Jewish rock band Yaakov Chesed.
Further rallies are now in the planning stages for New York and other locations in New Jersey.
