The Ted Cruz presidential campaign has launched its “Homeschoolers for Cruz” coalition during an event in Winterset, Iowa, on Monday.
The coalition is co-chaired by homeschooling parent and Iowa farmer Marlin Bontrager, Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) federal relations director William Estrada, and homeschooling parent and leader of Iowa’s statewide Christian home education group Vicki Crawford.
According to a press release from the Cruz campaign, the coalition already has 6,670 members.
In a video ad about the coalition, Cruz says:
Homeschool families strengthen our nation because they embody two of the indispensable pillars of our republic. The first is that every city, every state, every nation starts with a family. “The household,” as Aristotle wrote, “is earlier and more necessary than the city.” We need strong families to ensure that our society flourishes, and we know the essential elements of good citizenship by first learning to be faithful sons and daughters and sisters and brothers. A second essential pillar of the republic is education, which teaches us to know and love our God-given liberties. Home educators strengthen these fundamental pillars of our nation.
Cruz said that parent educators are not only parenting, but also “teaching your sons and daughters to know and love what is right and good.”
“Some on the left want to shut down those who don’t abide by the Common Core agenda. But, mark my words, that is not going to happen,” he adds. “If I’m elected president, I will direct the U.S. Department of Education—which should be abolished—I will direct the U.S. Department of Education that Common Core ends today. Instead I will restore power back to the states and to the local governments and ultimately back to the parents—those closest to our kids…”
Cruz began his #CruzinToCaucus bus tour in Iowa Monday. An NBC News poll released Tuesday finds Donald Trump with 35 percent of the Republican vote, followed by Sen. Cruz with 18 percent, and Sen. Marco Rubio with 13 percent. A Field California poll released Tuesday has Cruz leading with 25 percent of likely Republican voters in that state, while Trump is at 23 percent, and Rubio is at 13 percent.
“My family and I are so grateful that the Lord has given us a godly man like Ted Cruz to run for president” Bontrager said in support of Cruz. “As a homeschooling father of ten and the leader in my home, it is vitally important to me that we have a president who is concerned first and for most about religious liberty and protecting the constitution. Within that is included the rights that we need to have as parents to be able to choose what education we desire for our children.”
After evaluating all the candidates, Estrada said only one fit the bill of being willing to take on the political establishment and fight for constitutional principles.
“I endorse Ted Cruz for President because I know that he will do what he says he will do, despite strong political headwinds from DC insiders, and will work each day to make this country a better place for every American,” Estrada said. “As a long-time conservative political activist in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am further proud to endorse Ted Cruz for President, and I urge my fellow Virginians to vote for Ted Cruz on March 1.”
“Senator Ted Cruz has been a beacon of hope and freedom that has inspired and encouraged so many of us in our mutual desire to restore America’s promise,” Crawford said. “His courage, conviction, character and consistency are the hallmarks of a true leader, who faithfully represents all the principles that founded this nation. It is a privilege to offer him my support.”
A 2013 report from HSLDA found that over 1,770,000 students are homeschooled in the United States.
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