School Choice Will Win in 2024!
During our first effort to qualify the Educational Freedom Act for the 2022 ballot, we accomplished many things. The most important thing we accomplished was to transform school choice from a mere issue to a movement in California. This is no small thing.
School Choice Now a Movement in California
Families have long wished to be able to pick a school better suited to their children’s needs. They just did not have the money. Those who did, however, sent their children to private school. (Just ask Gavin Newsom.) there are about 500,000 children in private schools and another 250,000 being homeschooled. This comes to about 12% of the 6.2 million K12 children in California.
However, the relatively small number of students who do not attend government schools is misleading. The precipitous decline of the quality of California schools – now ranked 48th in the nation – to say nothing of continuing attempts to impose radical social, sexual, and political doctrines on students under the guise of “education,” has caused untold thousands of parents to remove their children from the schools even though they cannot afford to send them to private schools.
The proposal to bring a Planned Parenthood clinic to a Norwalk-La Mirada high school campus is one example of why students are leaving the public school system in droves. Parents are tired of school districts and school boards which ignore the need for higher academic standards but are very willing to promote sexual activity to impressionable teens.
If School Choice Is on the 2024 Ballot, It Wins.
The trickle of students leaving the system is now a flood. It might be more accurate to say that the system left the children. This is why the time is right to pass the Educational Freedom Act. That is also why I will state categorically: If School Choice is on the 2024 ballot, it wins. The hardest part of the entire campaign is gathering the signatures.
Top Reasons School Choice Will Win
1. A succession of polls over the last three years shows that over two-thirds of Democrats support school choice. It is higher among Republicans.
2. A recent poll conducted by the National Education Association showed that only 29% of the public have any confidence in government schools. Among Republicans, that number is only 14%.
3. The results of the “real poll.” In the last year, Californians for Schoo lChoice gathered 160,000 – 200,000 signatures in its first effort. Our volunteers report that, with few exceptions, fewer than one in a hundred declined to sign the petition when they heard what it contained.
Government Schools Have Made the Case for School Choice
We are fortunate in one respect, however. For decades, many of have warned the public about the problems with government school. It was difficult to get our point across. This is no longer the case. The abject academic failure of the schools has put the system on defense. This was bad enough. To make matters worse, however, they shut down the schools, put kids in masks all day, demanded universal vaccination over the objections of parents and pediatric experts, embraced transgenderism and went whole hog on critical race theory over the loud objections of parents of all races. We would like to take credit for making school choice into a movement in California. We must give credit where credit is due. The teachers’ unions and their radical pals on the far left are ones who made this happen. To them I say, “We couldn’t have done this without you!”
My point here is that the argument over school choice is over. The case has been made. The parents are racing each other for the exits. All we have to do is get our initiative petition into their hands. Give them an alternative. They will sign it.
Victory is at hand. If We Do the Work, We Win!
I repeat: All we have to do is get the school choice initiative on the ballot and we win. This is still a very challenging task. As you know, California is a very large state. Its coastline stretches 840 miles from Crescent City to San Ysidro. Its 163,696 square miles contains 58 counties and 40 million people. It is as large as Florida and New York, the 3rd and 4th largest states, combined. Its largest county, Los Angeles, has the same population as Michigan, the 10th largest state in the union. It includes several of the top media markets in the country.
Getting the message out is hard. It is also expensive. In the coming campaign, we will employ a combination of direct mail, digital media, volunteers like you and paid signature gatherers.
Our minimum budget will be at least $5 million just to get it on the ballot. It could run as high as $10 million. Believe it or not, this is a relatively modest sum in modern politics. Statewide and national candidates spend many times this amount in states as large as California. Automobile manufacturers and dealerships spend vastly more than that.
Volunteer and Donate Now!
Whatever the odds, now is the time to strike. There has never been a better time to takeback our freedom and our country. We must first take back our children, their hearts, their minds, their souls, and OUR money. This fight is up to you. Right now, go to our website, volunteer to sign and circulate the petition when it comes out and donate. Your monthly contribution of $10, 20, 50, or 100 per month will carry the day and send a powerful message to large contributors that there is indeed a school choice movement.