Educational Opportunity Act: The Power of Choice

Dear School Choice Supporters:

As you may know, Cascade Policy Institute has promoted School Choice in Oregon for over 25 years. We helped write and pass Oregon's Charter School law in 1999, and we have promoted a number of other School Choice bills since.

We are now working to help Oregon join a growing number of states to adopt an Education Savings Account program. If vouchers were the rotary telephones of the School Choice movement, ESAs are the smartphones of the movement.

Our universal ESA program will allow all Kindergarten through 12th grade students to take part of the state funds allocated to their local school districts for use in private, religious, or home schools as well as for tutors, online courses, and other educational services. Funds not used in a given year can be rolled over, all the way into college.

Senate Bill 437 as Amended is waiting for a hearing in the Oregon legislature now. It will offer $6,000 per year for disabled and low-income students, and $4,500 for all other students (out of the current average state funding of $8,781). These accounts represent real money...for real educational opportunities...for every student.

We have branded SB 437 as the Educational Opportunity Act: The Power of Choice.

We hope that you will want to be involved in this effort. You can share your interest in such a program with your state legislators. And you can get involved at our Educational Opportunity Act Facebook page and at SchoolChoiceforOregon.com.

May 3rd Dinner

If you would like to attend an invitation-only dinner on May 3rd featuring two prominent national school choice advocates, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Steve Buckstein Senior Policy Analyst and Founder
Cascade Policy Institute
Portland, Oregon
Office Phone: (503) 242-0900
Email: [email protected]