I am the academic enough the Harvard Kennedy school. Tonight we are joined by two people. A professor and a very special guest to explore the critical question of how to improve our Education System. Should we address the challenges of our Education System by shifting resources from School Districts to parents by giving them tax dollars to choose whether to send their children to Public Schools, Charter Schools, or private . This is the latest chapter in a debate going on for some time. Milton friedman developed the idea of choice in his 1955 essay. Ourcymakers, including speakers here tonight, develop these in the 1980s and 1990s. Even that the debate has been going on for more than 60 years, why did 1900 people on the facebook h2 protest tonights event . The controversy surrounding this forum reflects a large and andound forum in Society Politics today. This country is more divided now then it has been in many decades. People on all sides feel fearful and threatened. For educators, this is an especially sad moment because it has made many people stop listening to each other. In this time of division, what we need most is to listen and understand one another instead of circling the wagons into our own echo chambers. The Kennedy School is all about understanding differences in building bridges. Creating an inclusive space now is especially difficult because many people from all sides would rather shut each other down rather than hear what one another are saying. Im sure many people follow the controversy over colin kupper neck and many others who have been kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. What are they saying . From the farms of virginia to the halls of philadelphia to the fields of gettysburg, the idea that were all created equal is the deepest of american aspirations. These americans, and silently kneeling, remind us of how we are all falling short of that idea because some of us are imprisoned or killed at much higher rates than others. Yet many view their very speech is unamerican. Many people on the left side of the political spectrum are feeling fear and threat which prevents them from listening to other views. In a disturbing series of recent events, we have seen students and activists shut down conservative speakers over the past year. Shutting people down is contrary to the values of this space and the Harvard Kennedy school. We encourage the exchange of ideas and viewpoints even if we do not agree. Especially if we do not agree, it is important to hear and allow others in attendance to listen and speak as well. The practice of our forum and articulation allow of views and taking questions from the audience. People in this audience, will, as they always do, have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of this event. I will ask the Harvard University police to escort from the form anyone who prevents others from speaking or hearing by disrupting this event. This is because our practice of dialogue and debate is critical. When you prevent others from speaking or hearing disagreeable views, or when you yourself refuse to be challenged by those who disagree, it means you are so sure that you are right and so sure that they are wrong that you have nothing to learn from them. But, on an issue like School Choice, how can anyone be so sure of themselves when we look act years from now, we might see School Choice as a salvation for disenfranchised learners in dorchester, the southside of chicago, or detroit, michigan. Failingows them to flee schools and sees an opportunity for a better life. This might create the best array of 10 ago geez for students. On the other hands, we may come to see that School Choice became a way to fleece the public and exploit parents who sent their children to ineffective schools ofle enriching the operators those schools. Still worse, we may see School Choice as a misguided effort to abandon the dreams of Thomas Jefferson or horace mann for a system of schools where all, highborn and low born, learn how to be successful citizens together. I do not presume to know how the future will judge us on this question. Looking at the evidence will help us reach a better future. Evidence about what kinds of private and Public School arrangements actually work. We will explore these and other questions about education with our distinguished colleague and special guest professor Paul Peterson, the Henry Lee Shattuck professional of government and at Harvard University. A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at stanford and Senior Editor of education next, a great journal of education policy. He is a member of the distinguished American Academy of arts and sciences and the National Academy of education. He has written many books froming saving schools and anotherto book on urban policy. Theabeth the boss is secretary of education of the United States and has been involved in such for more than 30 years in her home state of michigan and nationwide. She recountedew, how she first got engaged with education issues and a visit to Potters HouseChristian School in grand rapids. She saw a school that had managed to create a safe, warm, rich Educational Learning environment for many low income children. She started helping with tuition and then supporting the school itself, which her family still does through their philanthropy. This girl into a larger font topic effort to provide a she pursuedfund and this commitment to choice in the Public Policy domain working to pass michigans First Charter School law 1993. In 1993. She seeks to transform Education Systems to provided such choices for parents and students. Cacy of School Choice has drawn fierce criticism. Times wrote it is hard to find anyone more passionate about stealing dollars from Public Schools then betsy devos. Than betsy devos. We have a lot to talk about. I will be returning a bit later to moderate the question and answer. Professor Paul Peterson and betsy devos. [applause] sec. Devos thank you for that kind introduction. Is one of thehool gems of all of american postsecondary education. Peterson, i first want to recognize the significance and influential contributions to the advancement of School Choice you have made. Few scholars have left such indelible fingerprints on this critical conversation. Thank you for continuing to facilitate that dialogue. A special thanks to the harvard as they prepare for their next steps. I wish her nothing but the best. In cambridge, there are many great people working on many great ideas. That has been the case for a very long time. Graduates have gone on to shape culture and society, create new businesses and technologies, cure diseases, and lead governments around the globe. It is a privilege to be here. I dont want to talk about my age. Kennedy is the first president i can personally remember. I cant say i remember all that much. I do know that president kennedy understood the proper role of that,ate, and once warned every time we try to shift that problem to the hands of the government, we are sacrificing the liberties of our people. President kennedy had it right. Despite the fact that we disregarded his observation, he is still right today. One of the pernicious effects of the growth of government is that people worry less about each other. Thinking their worries are in the hands of socalled experts in washington. Is no better example than our current Education System. Many inside and outside of government insists the government system is best equipped to educate children. Scenario, they state replaces the family. He school house becomes the theecomes the schoolhouse becomes the home. The child becomes the constituent. We should invest in a system of great Public Schools for all kids. The union bosses care more about a system, one created in the 1800s, than they do about students. Their focus is on School Building instead of his schoolk instead of school kids. Education is an investment in individual students. That is why funding and focus should follow the students. I have been on the job for some time. I came into office with a belief, it is the inalienable right and responsibility of parents to choose the learning environment that best meets their childs unique needs. I am more convinced of that today. This symposium rightly asks us to consider the future of School Choice. The current reality is, the vast majority of futures in America Today are left to chance, not to choice. The world got to see what many less new in the film waiting for superman. Parents who want to freak their child from a Failing School are sometimes allowed by the system to enter a lottery for a few seats in a different school. Viey, thousands of children for limited openings. And audents are numbered representative of plastic balls rolling around in a cage. As if children were part of a bingo game. I suggest that citizens who are skeptical of choice of these lotteries. Watch the faces of these parents, many of whom are struggling to get by. Inch their faces hidden their hands were covered in tears because they didnt win a new future for their son or daughter. This scene is heartwrenching. Downright disgraceful. Hildrens futures arent too began. Too many kids are trapped in a school that doesnt meet their needs. Themany parents are denied fundamental right to decide the best way to educate their child. It is what makes me so passionate about changing this paradigm. I have been called the School Choice secretary by some. It is meant as an insult. I wear it as a badge. Let us talk for a moment about what choice really is. School choice. This system would have you believe it means doctors. They say it means private or religious schools. It means forprofit schools. Taking money from Public Schools. No accountability or standards. The wild west. I have to give it to them. They have done a mighty fine job. They did so by trying to paint , of a false line dichotomy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Think about food. Probably a good time to think about it. It is just about dinnertime. We all need food to grow and thrive. Or need the want exact same thing at the exact same time. What tastes good to me, may not space to good to you. May not taste good to you. How to best get the food that meets our needs. You could visit a Grocery Store or Convenience Store or a farmers market. You could visit a restaurant. Maybe a sitdown or fast food place. Maybe a hybrid. There arent many restaurants near the department of education. Food trucks provide options. Some are better than others. Local restaurants that have added food trucks to their businesses. If you visit one of those food trucks, do you hate restaurants . Are you trying to put Grocery Stores out of business . You are simply making the right choice for you, based on your needs at the time. Eat,as in how you education is not a binary choice. The need for equal access and choice,ity, being for is not being against anything. Type or against anyone brand or breed of School Choice. I am not for any type of school over another. The definitions we have worked thathave become tools divide us. Isnt the public made up of students and parents . Isnt public money really their money . Taxpayer money . Doesnt every school in to serve a public good . A school that prepares students to lead successful life lives is a benefit to all. The definition of Public Education should be to educate the public. That is why we should fight less about the word that comes before school. All of you here at harvard will take your education and contribute to the public good. When you chose to attend harvard, did anyone suggest you were against public universities . No. You and your family figured out which education environment would be the best fit for you. You compared options and made an informed decision. No one seems to criticize that choice. No one thinks choice and Higher Education is wrong. Why is it wrong in elementary, middle, or high school . Instead of dividing the public when it comes to education, the focus should be on the ends, not on the means. We should be for students. All students. That is why i am for having the right learning environment that is the right fit for the child. I believe in students and trust parents. With that understanding, what does the future look like . I am not a creature of washington. I am not afraid to say, we do not know what the future of School Choice looks like. Not only something with which i am ok, it is something i celebrate. The future of choice should be what ever parents want for their children. Future of choice relies upon parents being empowered to make choices for their children. What this looks like for one family in a wyoming, will be different from what and indiana family decides. The choices for one child may be different from a sibling. Families are dynamic. Children are unique. Be free to pursue different avenues that lead each child to his or her fullest future. That is why i wholeheartedly believe the future of choice does not begin with a new federal mandate. That may sound counterintuitive. After eight months in washington, and three decades i know in states, washington tries demanding if they try demanding choice, we will end up with a circuit that spending and a with bureaucracy assertive spending and a bloat of bureaucracy. We can amplify the voice with of those who only want better for their kids. We can assist states who are working to empower parents and urge those who have not. We dont need a federal program to administer. Washington and the u. S. Department of Education Needs to get out of the way. The real future of choice is in states. It is their future to shape. Tour of the heartland to visit teachers, parents, and students. Ol call this the rethink scho tour. Learn from innovative educators who were breaking free of the standard mold to better meet the needs of students. I saw traditional Public Schools, charter, independent, private, parochial, home schools. They were all with unique approaches. What they all had in common was just that, a deliberate focus on serving students. Students and parents chose them. What worked in those schools for those students might not work everywhere. It might not work for you. It might not work for you. It worked for them. That is the future of School Choice. They all embraced doing right by students, without anyone in washington giving them permission to do so. Without anyone in washington telling them no. That is the future of choice. ,ust as no one school regardless of its rigor, is the right fit for every student, there is no onesizefitsall approach from washington dc or any state capital when it comes to education. The future of choice lies in the states, laces that have been at the forefront of this effort for several years. Arizona, florida, indiana, wisconsin. Montana, mississippi, and even where some might have thought unthinkable, illinois. 26 states and the district of columbia offer more than 50 different private School Choice programs that allow parents more opportunity to access more Educational Options to serve their kids needs. No two are the same. Different states, different students, fornt and solutions. That is the future of choice. It is important for all of us remember we are not just talking about abstract theory or some wild social experiment. This is about putting people, parents and students, above policies and politics. I have seen the tremendous empower parents, and the corresponding impact on students. I saw it again on my rethink school tour. Ive heard it from students, parents, teachers, administrators. One student at kansas city academy, a private, artfocused said, i feel like i belong. I didnt have that at my other school. Every student in america deserves a shot to experience that same thing. This isnt just about feelings. It is also about learning and achievement. It is about putting students at the center of everything we do. Shown that more options yield better results for all students. Released at the urban institute that looked at floridas tax credit scholarship program, a program that provides low income parents the opportunity to send students to the school of their choice. This program was one of the first in the nation and serves more than 1 and has served more than 100,000 students. Studies have shown increased achievement for Scholarship Recipients and a significant increased College Attendance rate. Demonstrated the longer a student participated in the choice program, the better their longterm educational outcomes. The data are encouraging. I didnt need another Research Paper to know the program works. I have seen living proof. A student failed third gra