Lamar Alexander on School Choice

Give school decisions back to families

We will never get our country back on track and our revolution unstuck without a focus on education. I would move all the elementary education and secondary education decisions back to you-out of Washington and back to families & classrooms & parents. Then I would become the chief spokesman for radical change in our schools-school choice, pay more for teaching well, open the schools, and higher academic standards. That is what we need in the President. Source: United We Stand America Conference, p.313 Aug 12, 1995

Charter schools make public education better

The bottom line is that charter schools work and they are making public education better. They are freeing our children to learn, and they are freeing up educators to redefine what public schooling means. We are for spending money on education as long as it is spent effectively and efficiently. Source: LamarAlexander.com Exploratory Committee web-site Jul 2, 1999

Regulate all public schools like charter schools

Teachers and principals are suffocating under court-ordered union rules and government regulations. They need more freedom, not more regulation. And, it is time to give every public school the same freedom from regulations that charter schools have. Source: www.LamarAlexander.org/issue May 25, 1999

Public scholarships for charter or private schools

Local control doesn’t just mean a local school board. It can mean an independent, public charter school or a parent with a scholarship to take their child to the school of their choice. The bottom line is that charter schools work and they are making public education better.. Congress should create a Hope Scholarship for children in middle and low income families to send their child to the school - public, private or religious - that they think is best. Source: www.LamarAlexander.org/issue May 25, 1999

$1,500 scholarship for poor kids to attend any school

All children have the right to a good, safe, neighborhood school. I support the creation of a Hope Scholarship for Children that would take the power of federal education bureaucrats and put it in the hands of parents in the form of a $1,500 scholarship for low- and middle-income children. Participation in this 5-year, $2 billion program would be voluntary for cities and states, and parents would have the freedom to take their scholarship money to the public, private or religious schools of their choice Source: www.LamarAlexander.org/issue May 25, 1999

Pass Model Charter School Laws in all 50 states

The number of independent public charter schools is exploding, but not all charter schools are created equal. The number and quality of charter schools in a state depends on the strength of its charter school law. I’d like to see passage of charter school laws in all 50 states that allow any individual, group or organization to propose a school, exempt these schools from most state & local regulations, except safety & civil rights laws, and allow an unlimited number of charter schools to be created Source: www.LamarAlexander.org/issue May 25, 1999

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