As she called on a roomful of advocates to push for new educational options, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos cited the story of Orlando Rivera from Orlando, Fla.
We published that story here:
He grew up in the shadow of Orlando International Airport, staring up at planes from his backyard. By age 6 he could pick out airline logos. At 7, he could ID manufacturers and models. He even found an amazing school for pilots just an hour away.
But when Orlando learned what it takes to get into the school, his dream took a nosedive.
“I started looking at the financial requirements and grade requirements and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to make it,’ ” he said. “My mom is disabled. My father was in prison. So I was like, ‘I don’t have any help. This is not going to happen.’”
Years later, though, a scholarship – and a little opportunity – put Orlando’s dream back into flight.
During her speech at the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s national policy summit in Nashville, DeVos called attention to the plight of children whose circumstances may resemble Orlando’s, but who don’t have access to the nation’s largest private school choice program.
Theirs, she said, are the faces of a “a nation still at risk” — a reference to a report that raised alarm bells about American public education more than three decades ago.
“These are, all too often, the ‘forgotten’ in our society,” she said. “They don’t have lobbyists, they don’t have public relations firms, they don’t have untold millions to buy their way out.”
Her speech was mostly a call to arms. She noted there were many state legislators and other policymakers in the room. Illinois created a private school choice program earlier this year, she noted. So they had no excuse. If it can be done in the backyard of the Chicago Teachers Union, she said, “it can be done anywhere.”
Step Up For Students, which publishes this blog, helps administer the tax credit scholarship program. Read DeVos’ full remarks here.
