National School Choice Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALBERG. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague from Michigan, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk about something that is extremely important.

In our Michigan State Constitution, Article VIII, section 1, it says: ``Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.''

That article--that line was taken from the Northwest Ordinance. I think it showed the wisdom of some of our Founders of this great Nation, the greatest in the entire world, that they understood that education and the means of education gave the opportunity, and, in fact, to a great degree, assured the freedom and opportunity of a Nation and the morality of a Nation that understood the wisdom that came even from the centuries and the ages.

I think we would all agree that schools should meet the unique educational needs of children, wouldn't we? I know my colleague would agree with that. And why, then, would we question the fact that there ought to be choice? Choice in education, even as we seek choice in our daily lives is what makes America great.

School choice gives parents and children the option of allowing the children to flourish. That is the intended goal, isn't it? Michigan has a variety of options, and I am grateful for that. It didn't always have those same options, but we do now.

Just 25 years ago, as of this week, Michigan struck out on a new opportunity in the fact of allowing charters, public charters, to take place, and in those past 25 years, we have literally seen a million students attend Michigan's charter schools. Has every charter been perfect or successful? No. But overwhelmingly, charters have served Michigan well as a choice, as an option.

I think of the community--a community like Detroit wherein the Detroit News just, this week, an article was written talking about the success there of the Detroit Edison Public School Academy; ranked the number one open-enrollment school in the entire city when it comes to college enrollment. Over half of the students in Detroit, a great city, now have the opportunity and take the opportunity to attend charter schools, and they are flourishing.

Michigan has a variety of options available to our 2.2 million children living in that State, including the opportunity to attend traditional public schools outside neighborhood boundaries. That is a good thing. Again, it gives choice, meeting the needs of students.

Now, I had choice, like my colleague, relative to my children. Not all people back in the 1980s and mid-1990s, when my children were going to their grade school and high school education opportunities, had the same choices. Each one of my three kids were different in unique ways. They learn different. They have different aptitudes and desires and longings and interests.

We had the opportunity to send our three children to public school, private school, and homeschool, and one of our children to vocational school, as it was called at the time, for a career in technical education that changed her life, literally.

I thank God for that opportunity. We used it, not simply to make choices and have differences, but to meet those unique educational needs and opportunities of our kids, and it worked. It worked for them.

You know something, I so appreciate my good friend and colleague having this Special Order tonight, because it is a time when we can talk through some of what we would call commonsense ideas and values and beliefs, but too often we forget about it.

For instance, do parents know their children's unique needs, unique abilities, unique strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else? I think the answer is, and that you and I would agree, that the overwhelming majority of parents--we can always pick out that dysfunctional family, and, sadly, we need to work in those areas--but the overwhelming majority of parents have a clear love for their kids, know their needs, and if given the opportunity, will make the best choices for their educational experience.

I have seen that. I have seen that in upper-income strata. I have seen that in lower-income strata. I have seen that in rural communities. I have seen that in urban communities. I have seen that in suburban communities. Parents generally want the best for their kids, and that includes education.

So, for us, to support and encourage choice, and with that choice, to certainly hold accountable, but nonetheless to encourage choice and for parents to make those choices for the best interest of their kids, I see that as an American way. Having the option to choose the learning environment, the styles of education that works best for the student, whether it be through charter school, private school, home education, or traditional public school, having choices allows students to grow and find their sweet spot.

I saw that with my kids, and I want that for all children. So I thank Representative Mitchell for encouraging us to think this through during this special National Choice Week and to double our efforts to say we want kids to be educated, we want to give them that choice, we will support that, and, in fact, then we will promote quality in education.

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