Corey DeAngelis: 2021 Was 'the Year of School Choice,' But 2022 Will Be Even Better
Covid lockdowns, insane teacher-union demands, and fed-up parents are fueling historic breakthroughs in all sorts of education reform.
2021 was "the year of school choice, and we're just getting started," says Corey DeAngelis, national director of research at the American Federation for Children and a leading advocate for school choice.
The disruption to schooling caused by COVID-19, demands by teacher unions for more money and less accountability, and the mounting frustration of parents over everything from failed attempts at distance learning to medically dubious mask mandates have created the greatest opportunity for radical K-12 education reform in American history. Last year, 18 states either expanded or created new school-choice options, from publicly funded charter schools to education savings accounts to voucher programs. The percentage of households saying they are homeschooling their kids more than doubled from 5.4 percent in 2020 to 11.1 percent in 2021.
I talked with DeAngelis about what reforms have already been passed, what fixes are coming next, and what barriers need to be smashed in order to deliver on the promise of a quality, individualized education for every kid in the country. We discussed why he is against state-level laws banning Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other controversial pedagogies, why he believes Republicans are the party of school choice, and why he thinks parents should lobby state legislatures rather than local school boards if they want real choice for their kids.
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