Steve Forbes on School Choice
Choice in education makes us more moral & more educated
I support true parental control of education. If you want to send your child to a parochial school, you should have the freedom to do so & the government should not stand in your way. If you want to homeschool your child, you should be free to do so &
not have the whole bureaucracy on your backs with truancy. If you want your child in a secular school, go ahead. Freedom of choice for parents is absolutely critical. Then we’ll have a more moral people, a better educated people, and a stronger America.
Source: GOP Debate in Johnston, Iowa
Jan 16, 2000
More charters; vouchers at private & parochial schools
Forbes supports the following principles regarding school choice:- Allow parents to use vouchers (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any participating school: public, private or religious.
- Allow parents to use tax-free
savings accounts to send their children to any participating school: public, private or religious.
- Support creation of more charter schools where teachers and professionals receive authorization and funding to establish new schools.
Source: Vote-Smart.org 2000 NPAT
Jan 13, 2000
Supports public school choice & private school choice
Public school choice and charter schools are essential to improving public education. That’s because most parents want to keep their children in the public school system-but they also eagerly want public schools to improve dramatically
and respond to their needs and to the needs of their children. Private school choice is also important, especially for those parents who live in the inner city, where private and parochial education is high quality and low cost.
Source: “A New Birth of Freedom,” p. 52-3
Nov 9, 1999
Home schooling: let parents teach without interference
The phenomenon of home schooling is a wonderful example of the American can-do attitude. Growing numbers of parents have become disenchanted with government-run public schools. Many parents have simply taken matters into their own hands, literally..
The real danger is the threat of new government restrictions aimed at hobbling the home schooling movement. We must guard against such Washington-knows-best interference and protect the freedom of parents to teach their children with excellence.
Source: “A New Birth of Freedom,” p. 61
Nov 9, 1999
Supports tax-supported vouchers for religious schools
[In a speech to the Christian Coalition], Forbes embraced the coalition’s view on using tax-supported vouchers for private religious schools and said he wanted to end the role that federal government has in local education.
Source: Boston Sunday Globe, p. A28
Oct 3, 1999
Parental control will work even in inner cities
Regarding school choice in poor neighborhoods: “Experts have told me, ‘you should see these parents. They’re single. They’re not equipped. They don’t know what they’re doing.’[But] all it takes is two or three energetic parents to get a school system
turned around. On a committee, it’s one or two people who energize it. Same thing you’ll see in parental control of schools. People do rise up from most unlikely sources. There’s no other way to do it. The top down approach hasn’t worked.”
Source: Speech at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government
Nov 27, 1995