U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz Urges Texas Legislature to Take Up School Choice

AUSTIN — Calling school choice "the civil rights issue of the 21st century," U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz urged state lawmakers to take up the matter during this year's Legislative session. "I think every child in Texas, every child in America, deserves access to a quality education," Cruz said Friday. "I could not encourage state legislators more to take up this issue and show courage." Speaking at a Texas Public Policy Foundation summit with fellow Sen. John Cornyn, Cruz said Texas could lead the nation on the issue if they act during the next 20 weeks. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has been a longtime advocate of school choice and has pledged to push legislation creating such a program during his time leading the Senate. School choice programs give taxpayer money to parents who want to remove their children from public schools and send them to private institutions. Earlier this week at the foundation's three-day event, Patrick said the state's new letter grading system for schools and districts is here to stay, despite complaints from critics that it only drains money from public schools. "That's why we need school choice," Patrick said. "Because no parent should be forced to send their child to a school that's a D or an F or a C -- or, quite frankly, any school that they don't think serves their child."   Continue reading...