AFC Policy Summit: Off to a Great Start!

So many people filled the room at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland for the first break-out session at the AFC’s 2013 National Policy Summit that the hotel had to bring in stacks of chairs to accommodate!

What they heard from AFC’s national government affairs director Jonathan Nikkila during the first break-out session shows promising growth across the nation: states with already-established educational choice programs are growing bigger and bolder.  From coast to coast, there are 34 educational programs that have expanded to add thousands of students during the past year, thanks to increased bipartisan support.

Additionally, even legal challenges can be seen as a positive, according to Dick Komer with the Institute for School Justice, who has worked over the past year to defend programs in five states.

“This is a nice indicator of the broad interest in school choice,” Komer said.

Choice programs have so far been successfully defended from litigation in three states: Texas, Colorado, and Indiana.  Komer is hopeful pending litigation in New Hampshire will bring a victory for the state’s business tax credit program.

“School choice is no longer this crazy idea.  It’s a very serious threat [to the status quo],” Komer said, “But on your side, you have us.”

If you can’t make it to the summit, you can live stream each session by going to the AFC Policy Summit website and clicking on the “Live Stream” box.

We’ll have more updates from the summit throughout the day on our blog, Twitter, and YouTube!