Advocates to Call for School Choice Expansion at 1/29 Event in Oklahoma City

Sooner State backers of school choice to announce agenda at event celebrating National School Choice Week

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Jan 21, 2015, 08:00 ET

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students, parents and community leaders will call for an expansion of school choice in Oklahoma at a special event and press conference on Thursday, January 29, 2015, at the Oklahoma Capitol.

The press conference and indoor rally, which will take place at the second-floor rotunda of the Oklahoma State Capitol building, will feature remarks from school choice advocates. Planned by the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs, Americans for Prosperity Oklahoma, and Public School Options, the event will highlight the need to build upon the Sooner State's existing educational choice options.

The event is planned to coincide with National School Choice Week 2015 (January 25-31, 2015).

"National School Choice Week just keeps getting bigger and better every year, and OCPA is thrilled to be working with Americans for Prosperity and others to highlight parental choice," said Brandon Dutcher, Senior Vice President at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA). "Whether it's traditional public schools, charter schools, virtual schools, private-school scholarships, or homeschooling, Oklahomans have never had more educational options than they do now."

"In my two decades at OCPA, I've observed a real change at the state capitol," Dutcher added. "More and more lawmakers are realizing that parents, not government officials, should determine a child's path. They're coming to understand that the goal of public education is an educated public – and it doesn't matter where that education takes place. And as these lawmakers see the survey data showing how strongly the voters want choices, they are more and more willing to enact policies securing the parental rights of their constituents. I fully expect this trend to continue."

Celebrated every year in January, National School Choice Week shines a positive spotlight on all types of effective education options for children, including traditional public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online learning, and homeschooling. The celebration is nonpartisan and nonpolitical. National School Choice Week 2015 will feature a history-making 10,000 independently planned and independently funded events across all 50 states.

For more information, contact:
John M. Tidwell, Americans for Prosperity Foundation
[email protected] or 918-606-1182

SOURCE National School Choice Week