WSJ: School choice is the new civil rights struggle
And the school freedom movement has gained a strong ally in South Carolina.
Getting arrested doesn't normally bolster a politician's credibility. But when South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford told me recently that he saw the inside of a jail cell 73 times, he did so to make a point. As a youth, Mr. Ford cut his political teeth in tumultuous 1960s civil-rights protests.Exactly. The school choice movement isn't about parties or politics. It's about what works, and educational freedom works.
Today this black Democrat says the new civil-rights struggle is about the quality of instruction in public schools, and that to receive a decent education African-Americans need school choice. He wants the president's help. "We need choice like Obama has. He can send his kids to any school he wants."
Mr. Ford was once like many Democrats on education -- a reliable vote against reforms that would upend the system. But over the past three and a half years he's studied how school choice works and he's now advocating tax credits and scholarships that parents can spend on public or private schools. (Emphasis added)
And Sen. Ford is also a powerful orator. See for yourself.
Let's hope education-reform-minded politicians in Nevada are paying attention.
(h/t JayPGreene, School Choice is the New Civil Rights Struggle)
