Students, Parents to Head to St. Paul to Celebrate Public School Choice - 1/28

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Jan 20, 2015, 07:00 ET

ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students, parents and teachers from across Minnesota will gather in St. Paul on Wednesday, January 28, to celebrate Minnesota's legacy as a national pioneer for public school choice, and to call on state leaders to protect, preserve, and strengthen education options for families — including public school open enrollment, concurrent enrollment in postsecondary programs and public charter schools.

Seven statewide organizations — including the Minnesota Business Partnership, Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, Charter School Partners, Education Evolving, Center for School Change, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and MinnCAN — are planning the event, which will be held at 10:00 a.m. at the Best Western Capitol Ridge (formerly the Kelly Inn) near the Minnesota Capitol.

The event, which is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week, will feature remarks from students, parents, teachers and community leaders.

"This is an opportunity to celebrate Minnesota's proud tradition of being a national leader in the public school choice movement," said Kathy Saltzman, former state senator. "Putting policies in place that support school choice has meant thousands of Minnesota students have benefited from open enrollment, postsecondary enrollment options, magnet programs and charter schools."

"Before inter-district enrollment, chartering and the postsecondary option, Minnesota's public education was a no-choice, district-only system," said Ted Kolderie, co-founder of Education Evolving. "Today, we have a multi-provider public education system offering a wide variety of schools to parents and their children. And its district sector is responding to the incentives to improve."

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 home schooling. The celebration is nonpartisan and nonpolitical. National School Choice Week 2015 will feature a history-making 11,000 independently planned and independently funded events across all 50 states.

For more information, contact:
Kathy Saltzman, Former State Senator
[email protected] or 612-384-5298

SOURCE National School Choice Week