Hillary Clinton on Charters and School Choice

Via Mike Antonucci

July 5, 1999 speech of Hillary Clinton to the NEA Representative Assembly:

“I also hope you will continue to stand behind the charter school public school movement,” Mrs. Clinton began, “because I believe that parents do deserve greater choice within the public school system to meet the needs of their children.”
She described how positively impressed she was by the high standards she saw at a Washington, DC charter school that required children to master Latin. She told the audience that despite the rigorous requirements, the school had a large waiting list. She wondered why we couldn’t have more schools like it.
“Well, slowly but surely we’re beginning to create schooling opportunities through the public school charter system that are providing those kinds of options for parents and students,” Mrs. Clinton continued, “raising academic standards and empowering educators, and I invite educators to be at the forefront of this. Because I know that the NEA has already helped to create a number of charter schools. And I’m very pleased that you have done this, because I think when we look back on the 1990s, we will see that the charter school movement, led by committed, experienced, expert educators, will be one of the ways we will have turned around the entire public school system.”

We all live in hope that the likely Democratic presidential nominee remains immune from Ravitch-itis and maintains her firm stance on the promise of school choice for parents and children.