School Choice

Floor Speech

Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of national school choice because we need to offer our children effective education opportunities. And in Michigan, despite spending just shy of $10,000 annually to educate each child, we need to look at a couple of facts. One, only 31 percent of eighth-graders are actually considered proficient in math. The other element that is very disheartening to me is the fact that one child drops out of school in America every 26 seconds. We have an obligation to give parents the tools and resources to get their children out of bad educational environments and into better ones.

As a Member of Congress, I support school choice and allowing States to even opt out of the No Child Left Behind program and use educational resources in a way that will best meet their local needs, not the demands of Washington, D.C. It should be up to parents--not governments--to choose what's best for their children. Better traditional schools, public charter schools, private schools, virtual education, and homeschooling. I personally advocated for these opportunities when I sat on the board of a public charter school in Michigan. I served as the director of development at Zeeland Christian Schools, and most importantly, as a parent along with my wife, who homeschooled our children. Those of us in Congress must continue to encourage and champion school reform.

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