School Choice Week: Educational freedom works for all
January 27, 2025
It’s National School Choice Week! At this time of the year we celebrate one of the most transformative policies in America.
As you read this, millions of young Americans across the country are getting the education best suited for them thanks to school choice — Latinos, especially, benefit greatly from educational freedom.
Today, more than 1 in 3 charter school students is Latino, and Hispanic enrollment has increased by almost 19% over the last five years.
With school choice on the rise, this is a great moment to take a quick refresher on why The LIBRE Initiative supports educational freedom — and how it helps millions of young Americans.
You’re unique. Your education should be, too.
Every person is unique. We all have different goals, aspirations, and talents — and we need an education system that understands this.
That’s why, at LIBRE, we think all students and families must have access to a quality education that leverages their talents and empowers them to pursue their version of the American Dream.
America should have an education system that adapts to its students, not the other way around.
The status quo isn’t working.
Unfortunately, our educational status quo doesn’t deliver an education uniquely fitted to each one of the millions of young Americans who go to school. In fact, it does the opposite.
The current school system treats all students alike, pushing one-size-fits-all instruction that doesn’t account for a child’s unique gifts and needs.
This approach works for some students but leaves many others behind.
Our traditional education system prevents millions of students from finding the best education for them — instead, trapping them in schools based on arbitrary ZIP codes.
This status quo doesn’t work and goes against our core belief of what education should do: hone each kid’s unique skills and character so they’ll be prepared for their future.
The solution? Educational freedom
How do we go beyond our broken status quo?
By giving people freedom.
American students and their families know what’s best for their education better than a distant government bureaucrat.
That’s why the only way to solve the problems of our current education system is to empower people to choose the best school for them.
To some people, that might be a traditional public school; to others, it might be a charter school; and to many, it could be a nontraditional school.
The point is that families and students should be free to choose the education they want, not be stuck with one arbitrarily assigned to them.
Educational freedom has helped millions of kids in America and Yaritza Vera’s, was one of them, so she decided to share her story with the American Federation for Children.
A Latina from Wisconsin, Yaritza’s sister was struggling at her public school and her family couldn’t afford to pay for a private education. Thankfully, there was a school choice program that gave to get Yaritza’s sister the education best suited for her.
The momentum for educational freedom is growing.
The good news is that America is taking big strides toward educational freedom.
Polls show widespread public support for freedom-oriented policies like school choice and Education Savings Accounts (ESA), which give families the opportunity to choose the education best suited to their children.
Latinos, especially, are staunch supporters of educational freedom. Our latest polls show that 74% of Latinos support school choice and millions of Latinos are enrolled in charter schools and benefit from ESAs and other programs.
At LIBRE, we’ve been key players in turning these policies into reality.
Just recently, in Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, The LIBRE Initiative successfully mobilized its grassroots army to get state lawmakers to pass key legislation expanding choices for millions of parents and families.
With the momentum growing, we won’t rest on our laurels.
We’re keeping the fight going, and we’ll make sure principled lawmakers pass policies that give millions of Americans more educational options.