School Choice Legislative Hearing a Big Success

Tuesday’s Senate Education Committee Informational Hearing on ESA bill SB 437, The Educational Opportunity Act: The Power of Choice, was a rousing success. We want to thank those who came to Salem to sit in the audience with your Yellow School Choice Scarves, and those who submitted written testimony to the Committee. Proponents Steve Buckstein, Eric Fruits and Bobbie Jager gave testimony first, followed by three opponents representing Oregon’s largest teachers union, the Oregon School Boards Association and the League of Women Voters.  You can watch the entire one hour and 17-minute�

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Watching the Informational Hearing on SB 437 live tomorrow here

Bummed you can’t make it to Salem to watch the informational hearing on SB 437, our Education Savings Account (ESA) bill, at 3:00 pm on Tuesday, June 13th at the State Capitol in Salem? Don’t fret; we’ve got a link for you to watch it live. It’s not too late to contact your own State Senator and Representative. You can find out who they are and their contact information at Who Represents Me in Oregon. 

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A How-to Guide on Submitting Written Testimony

SUBMITTING WRITTEN TESTIMONY: Whether or not you can attend in person, we now have details for sending your written testimony which will be posted online prior to the June 13th hearing. View a sample here.  Email written testimony to sed.exhibits@oregonlegislature.gov. It goes to staff of the Senate Education Committee (sed). The subject line of your email should be: Testimony on SB 437 for posting on OLIS (OLIS stands for Oregon Legislative Information System) The best way to send testimony is to attach a PDF file of your document to your email message. If you simply put your testimony in t

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Sample written testimony on Education Savings Accounts (SB 437)

Put testimony in your own words.   June 13, 2017 Dear Chairman Roblan and members of the Senate Education Committee: My name is [Name] and I live in [City] and currently have [number of children] in the [City] Public School System. I am writing to support SB 437 and the -1 Amendment which would limit how much money goes into ESA accounts. This way, public schools should have the same or more money for each student remaining in their classrooms even as some students leave to find better educational opportunities. [Insert personal reason you want children to access more school choice in Ore

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AN OREGON EDUCATION SOLUTION WHOSE TIME HAS COME

Derrell Bradford has spent his adult life passionately advocating for education reform through parental choice. Derrell grew up in southwest Baltimore and received a scholarship to a private high school. Better than anyone, he knows the power of educational choice to unleash a child’s potential. “A scholarship is not a five-year plan or a power point…,” Derrell explained recently. “It’s a ticket to the future, granted today, for a child trying to shape his or her own destiny in the here and now….” Choices in education are widespread in America, unless you are poor. Affluent fam

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