Former presidential advisor and best-selling author Dick Morris believes that newly elected Republican legislators in Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania and other states will explore school choice options to help remedy huge budget deficits.
In an interview with EAGtv, Morris said the failures of the nation’s public education system are obvious, and are tied to a lack of competition and choice inherent in the capitalistic system America was founded on. The reality of enormous state budget deficits will force newly elected lawmakers to return to those principles, Morris said.
“They are going to say ‘Well, do I want to spend $13,000 per student in a public school, or a better education at $8,000 in a charter school,'” Morris told EAGtv. “I think they are going to see the value of the $8,000.”
National School Choice Week, which runs January 23 – 29, will be a key factor in highlighting education options available.
“National School Choice Week is taking place right as these newly elected state governments and state legislatures are coming into office and fainting dead away at the size of the budget deficits they are going to face,” Morris said. “And the usual solution will be ‘we will let Washington pay the bill.’
“I think they are going to refuse to pay the bill unless states adopt fundamental changes and reforms, which includes education choice,” he said.