In The Root, Kevin P. Chavous Roots for Educational Choice

American Federation for Children Senior Advisor Kevin P. Chavous wrote today in The Root, the sister site to The Washington Post, about D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s initiative to close 20 poor-performing public schools why that means more educational choice is necessary in the nation's capital. In defending the decision and calling for more accountability, Kevin wrote:

For many young people, neighborhood public schools were the only gateway to economic empowerment. Today, however, the sad reality is that far too many of these historically significant public schools are not serving our kids well — and some need to be shut down. It’s tough, however, when people don’t know what they don’t know.

As a former member of the D.C. Council, Kevin has a lot to say on our K-12 education. Writing that “like it or not, accountability matters in K-12 education,” Kevin argues that we need more educational choice in the District, especially for those students attending poor-performing public schools:

But accountability in our schools is only one side of the large and expansive education-reform coin, one that must be coupled with educational choice to truly pay dividends for our children in the long run.

The educational choices in the District have been growing in recent years with charter schools and the reauthorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which allows District children to access a high-quality education today.

On one hand, we do students a service by removing them from schools that are failing them. But what good is that effort if we don’t give them a choice to go along with their newfound freedom?

You can read Kevin's full entire piece here. It's the second time in just over a week Kevin has been published in the post -- just last weekend, he called on the president and Congressional leaders to support the D.C. voucher program.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG