In advance of expected consideration Thursday by the House of Representatives of an amendment seeking to reinstate school choice provisions to the proposed Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America has called upon members of the House to support this amendment and its goal of empowering parents as the central decision makers guiding the education of their children.

Nathan Diament, director of the Union’s Institute for Public Affairs, stated that “the Orthodox Union recognizes that this aspect of the education debate is highly politicized, but it is time to set aside politics and try to improve educational opportunity for all of America’s children. One of the best ways to do that is to empower parents who, due to economic or other disadvantages, don’t have the full range of educational choices for their children that well-to-do parents enjoy. The currently proposed federal spending plan for education, appropriately, puts plenty of money on the table to address the challenges faced by public schools. It is time to also put funding into empowering parents. We hope the House will support this effort as well.”