School Choice
Democrats support greater choice within the public school system. We fought to make sure that students who are enrolled in a failing public school have the option to transfer to better schools, giving millions immediate access to a better public education. But today, more than 10,000 schools nationwide need to be improved in order to provide our children with the strong start in life they deserve.
Democrats support more high-quality charter schools and believe that we should promote public school choice within school districts. We ought to support choice, but we also need to support the public schools that educate most of our children.
Support for public charter schools. Democrats fought to include funding for public charter schools in the landmark No Child Left Behind Act. Public charter schools are tuition-free public schools that are open to all students and operated by community groups, parents, teachers, universities, museums, or other organizations. Like traditional public schools, charter schools are publicly accountable, and, as schools of choice, they are answerable to parents. Democrats want to fully fund these important options for students.
School vouchers. In contrast, vouchers serve as a permission slip to ignore failing schools and, more importantly, failing communities. They undermine our public schools, have no impact on student achievement, and are not accountable to taxpayers.
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