Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently attended an event in Denton to voice his support for school choice.
According to a press release, Abbott garnered support from more than 375 Texas parents, students, educators and parent empowerment advocates in favor of increasing education freedom and increasing school choice options at the Parent Empowerment Night held at the Denton Calvary Academy on March 27.
"Freedom is a word that resonates with Texans—it's who we are and what we believe in," Abbott said, according to the press release. "Structuring education for the future has to be focused on one thing: The students. When you combine freedom and focusing on students, education comes down to one, six-word sentence: Mom and dad are in charge. Our job is to ensure the rightful position of parents in their child's education is protected and embodied in the state of Texas so we can achieve the best results for our students. We must empower parents to have access to school curriculum, school libraries and what children are being taught. We must also empower parents to choose the best education option for their child—we will do that this legislative session."
Abbott noted that legislation to expand parental choice in education has broad support from rural, urban and suburban Texans. He also pointed out that public schools will continue to remain fully funded under his plan to expand state-funded education savings accounts (ESA) to every Texas student. During his address, Abbott emphasized that other states that implemented school choice programs have shown improvements in the quality of public education.
The event was hosted by the Parent Empowerment Coalition. The governor was joined by Sen. Tan Parker, Rep. Lynn Stucky, Texas Public Policy Foundation Campaign Director Mandy Drogin, Denton Calvary Academy Head of School Andrea Chevalier and other parent empowerment advocates.
