When I was given the opportunity to share my story of how school choice programs such as ESAs and STOs have helped my family at this week’s National School Choice Week roundtable with Governor Doug Ducey, it was like coming full circle for my family.
You see, it was 8 years ago that Mr. Ducey was first running for the office of Arizona governor, so to get to know him better, my family attended one of the socials that his campaign held. We brought along my son (1-year-old at the time) and a photo of baby Kai was snapped with soon-to-be Governor Ducey and published in a newspaper article.
Kai is now 9 years old, and along with his younger sister, he’s benefiting from the very school choice programs that Gov. Ducey has supported and helped grow during his time in office. Two of my three children are thriving at a small Catholic school, Our Lady of Sorrows Academy in South Phoenix thanks to school choice and the STO scholarships they receive. We are especially grateful for the scholarships because we are in a time of unexpected medical bills for our youngest child. Our youngest child is 3 years old and has Down syndrome. We are considering applying for an ESA for him so he may also be a beneficiary of school choice soon.
Ever since learning about school choice, I’ve personally helped several parents who are extremely impoverished get their children into school choice programs so their children could leave a D or F rated public school. Some of these parents struggle to pay their monthly rent, some have adopted children from foster care, others have children with special needs such as a hearing impairment, and one family of 10 that I helped lives in a tiny mobile home. These parents may have different situations, but they all have this in common, they’re all desperate for other educational options for their children. In many cases, these families do not feel like their kids are safe and learning at the public schools in their neighborhoods, but they clearly don’t have the means or resources to move to another school district. ESAs specifically have helped low-income parents whose children currently qualify, to fully cover tuition, uniforms, and even tutoring. I know this because their children attend the same south Phoenix private school that my children attend. But there are other low-income families who don’t currently quality for ESAs. I tear up just thinking about how heartbreaking that is for those desperate parents.
So this week, personally it was an honor to come full circle and see Gov. Ducey face-to-face to thank him for what he’s done the last 7 years to advance school choice options for parents like me. But I also wanted to share the stories of other parents to let him know that there’s important work still to be done to ensure every option is available to the families that need school choice the most.
My dream is that soon a picture will be published by the newspaper that’s filled with low-income children who are in the private, charter, and public schools of their parent’s choice. Happy National School Choice Week!