In school choice debate, focus on the children
There has been a lot of talk about “school choice” during the 2022 legislative session, especially as it relates to Senate Bill 1647, the Oklahoma Empowerment Act.
Supporters of the policy – which would have given every parent control of about $3,500 of their state education tax dollars – argue that it would offer parents more choice and control in education. Critics have blasted the policy as anti-public school. For now, with the House refusing to consider the bill, the critics seem to have won the day; however, it’s likely that this issue will appear again later in this legislative session or certainly the next, so it’s a conversation worth continuing.
One thing the public debate has failed to capture is the impact that school choice policies like SB 1647 are already having on Oklahoma’s children. As the president and CEO of Cristo Rey Oklahoma City Catholic High School, a private school founded just four years ago, I see these children every day, and I know their stories are worth telling. Here are just a few from our first graduating class of seniors, who are all collegebound.
After his grandfather passed away, Orlando found himself hanging with the wrong crowd and getting lost in the shuffle at an overcrowded public school. At Cristo Rey, he found a school community that felt like home, re-centered his priorities, and now will be attending the U.S. Naval Academy.
Itzel is the first child in a large family whose mother immigrated to the United States and works as a janitor. She has embraced her culture and heritage, taking traditional Mexican dancing classes offered at Cristo Rey and co-founding the Hispanic Student Association, of which she is president. She will be the first person in her family to attend college.
Makayla, an adopted child, has developed a passion for helping families in foster care. Through Cristo Rey’s Corporate Work Study Program (where students work at local businesses, government offices and nonprofits doing clerical and administrative duties), Makayla worked for ReMerge, an alternative program to prison for mothers and pregnant women. Today, Makayla has been accepted to 55 colleges and aspires to be a pediatric trauma surgeon so she can provide free or reduced cost health care to the foster care community.
There are many, many students with stories like these at Cristo Rey OKC. All 260 of our students are the beneficiaries of “school choice.” Each receive support through the Equal Opportunity Scholarship Program, a legislatively created scholarship initiative supported by private-sector donations and tax credits. Our students receive further financial assistance through the Corporate Work Study Program, where students work five days a month at local employers earning about half their tuition.
Our school exists to educate children in Oklahoma City’s underserved neighborhoods for families of limited economic means. Parents pay only a small amount of tuition, with the rest being covered by Corporate Work Study Program revenue, donations and state-supported scholarships. Few, if any, of our students would be able to attend a college prep school of any kind without Cristo Rey’s unique business and tuition model.
Senate Bill 1647 would have allowed schools like Cristo Rey to serve more students like Itzel, Orlando and Makayla. I hope and pray our lawmakers refocus their priorities on these children – rather than entrenched systems and bureaucracies – and find a way to restart the conversation on the Oklahoma Empowerment Act later in this legislative session.