Marathon Pundit: National School Choice Week is here

Friday, January 25, 2013

National School Choice Week is here

In 1999, I utilized school choice for Little Marathon Pundit the only way I could at the time--by moving from Chicago and its wretched schools to Morton Grove. Hundreds of thousands of parents decided to become ex-Chicagoans in the same manner. Twelve years earlier, Secretary of Education William Bennett declared Chicago's public schools as the worst in the nation.

But the bad economy and the even worse housing market makes my method of school choice less practical now. Besides, what if you don't want to move?

Which brings me to National School Choice Week. It runs from January 27 through February 2, but because so many events cannot be crammed into seven days, NSCW starts this evening with the official kickoff in Phoenix at 8:30pm Eastern (6:30pm Mountain). It will be livestreamed here.

After the kickoff, there are events--over 3,500 of them--pretty much everywhere. Click here to find the one nearest to you. The get-togethers range from state capitol rallies to pizza parties.

Andrew Campanella, the president of National School Choice Week, promises that tonight's kickoff will be "the largest-ever celebration of education reform." Of course there will be speeches--but there will also be entertainment.

The Phoenix function is part of a whistlestop tour will cross our great nation. For my Chicago readers: It will arrive at historic Union Station at 6pm on Tuesday.

What if--gasp!--there is not a NSCW rally near your home? Click here and you will find plenty of school choice goodies so you can organize your own.

And finally, because they had the money, the Obama family exercised school choice when they lived in Chicago--their daughters attended a South Side private school.

If school choice is good enough for the First Family...it is good enough for yours.

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