Rep. Miller Argues for School Choice, Educational Freedom & Opportunity for Americans
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) participated in a Ways and Means Committee hearing on educational freedom and opportunity for American families, students, and workers. Congresswoman Miller highlighted the importance of school choice and questioned Cory DeAngelis, Senior Fellow for American Federation for Children, and Jerome Redmond, President and CEO of the American Truck Training, on the importance of giving power back to the parents to make decisions on behalf of their children’s educational needs.
Click here for video.
On the success of school choice in West Virginia:
“As a mother and a grandmother, I know the importance of allowing parents to choose which schools are best for their children and their own unique skills. Mr. DeAngelis, thank you for highlighting in your testimony that my home state of West Virginia provides parents with one of the most expansive education savings account programs in the country. This program is called the Hope Scholarship Program and it has an eligibility rate of 93% across all students in my state, making West Virginia a leader in giving parents the opportunity to build an individual learning experience that works best for their child,” said Congresswoman Miller.
On radical, woke ideology being incorporated in children’s curriculums in schools:
“We have all seen how radical, woke ideology which really sluffs over history and civics, but includes gender and sexual orientation which has made its way into our children’s curriculum in school. In your opinion, how do you see school choice as a way to protect our children from the radical and damaging ideology of the left?” asked Congresswoman Miller.
“Too many schools are focusing on indoctrination, not education. And the best solution to this problem is to allow the families to choose for their own kids. Every other so-called solution from the top down is within the one-size-fits-all system that by definition is never going to meet the needs of individual families. Schooling is a way to outsource partially the raising of your children and in the current system that we force families based on their zip code into, you have one group of parents or even a special interest, more likely, controlling the minds of other people's children with that, in that system. The only way forward through freedom as opposed to force is from the bottom up, allowing families to choose schools that align with their own values. That's the only way out of this mess, where you're not having some parents control how to raise other people's children.
So, I think we should all be able to agree, left and right, if you want to go to a school that aligns with your values with this curriculum or that curriculum. It shouldn't matter what that is, but parents should be able to choose for their own children. At the end of the day it should be up to the parents for their own kids anyway,” said Mr. DeAngelis.
On the benefits of expanding the 529 accounts will have on our workforce community:
In my home state of West Virginia as well as across the country, businesses are facing crippling shortages of not having enough people in the workforce and across all the major industries. For too long we have been enabling people to stay at home instead of going back to work. The Biden administration’s failure to address inflation and the rising costs of obtaining an education, have made vocational and technical colleges increasingly out of reach for my West Virginians who want to learn high-demand skills to enter the workforce. In your opinion, how would expanding 529 accounts to include workforce training programs, like your American Truck Training, help our labor force get back to pre-pandemic employment levels?” asked Congresswoman Miller.
“It’s about giving folks a choice. There was a gentleman named Gerald that came to my school who got a four year degree but it was really tough for him to come to school. He ended up coming to school and utilizing what he had to get a commercial driver's license. Had he had something like 529 it would have been not such torture for him to come to school. I see that all the time with folks who are struggling, trying to make ends meet and also trying to pay for vocational training because let's face it, college is not for everyone and we got to give folks more opportunities,” said Mr. Redmond.
###