Utah Rep. Burgess Owens asserts America’s kids should be the smartest, most productive, most articulate and most visionary children in the world. But he’s quick to add that the country’s public education system is falling alarmingly short of that aspiration.
“Education has been turned on its head,” he said. “We have 25% to 30% of our kids not proficient in math and reading. We have kids having no idea what our history is about, so they have no pride in our past.
And we have this idea that we can now judge each other based on skin color — that’s what we got away from 60 years ago.” An institutional reset is needed to lift the country’s primary and secondary education system, the congressman told the Deseret News, “And (school) choice” he added, “is the only way to go.” As part of his efforts to expand school choice opportunities, Owens joined other Republican lawmakers in reintroducing the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) this week.
The proposed legislation offers tax incentives for individuals and businesses who contribute to non-profits that provide education scholarships for students. If passed, the legislation would provide up to $10 billion annually for K-12 students to be used to cover public, private or homeschool education expenses such as tuition, fees, book supplies. If ratified, the ECCA, added Owens “is one small step toward making sure that every child — no matter what zip code, what race, what background — has a choice.
.
