Local Education Reform Leader Leads Protest of U.S. Department of Education

Protestors speak out for D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program on day of President Obama's historic address to schoolchildren

In the first-ever act of school choice-related civil disobedience, prominent education reform leaders, including a representative from North Carolina, led a protest Tuesday blocking the entrance to the U.S. Department of Education building. The protestors demanded that President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan act immediately to save and strengthen the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.

The "D.C. School Choice Six" leaders, Kevin P. Chavous, Virginia Walden Ford, Rev. Anthony J. Motley, Dr. Howard Fuller, Gerard Robinson, and Darrell Allison, blocked the entrance to the U.S. Department of Education headquarters in a show of support for the 216 low-income District students who, because of actions by President Obama and Secretary Duncan, were refused entry this week into the schools of their parents’ choice. The Department of Education revoked the Opportunity Scholarships of these 216 children last spring.

The group was cheered on by a crowd of families supportive of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, as well as by D.C. Councilman Marion Barry, in a dramatic attempt to convince the president of the need for bold education reform. Despite a police standoff and raucous chants of "spare the change, return our hope," no arrests were made by order of the administration.

Darrell Allison, President of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, explained his role in the protest by saying, "My being here today shows how families in other states – those beyond DC – are actively watching to see President Obama make the “just” decision in this matter. As is often the case, the decisions made by those in power in Washington D.C. set the tone for how the 50 states will act on key and important matters."

“President Obama plans to speak to America’s schoolchildren through a televised address on Tuesday afternoon,” said Kevin P. Chavous, a former Democratic D.C. City Councilman and board member of DC Children First. “Now, he owes it to the families of D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program recipients—as well as to the 216 children who saw their scholarships revoked by the Education Department—to answer important questions about the futures of these children and many others.”

“President Obama and Secretary Duncan need to face the cameras today and explain to D.C. families why they seek to end one of the most successful federally-funded education programs,” said Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice. Virginia Walden Ford will join Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina next week as the keynote speaker on a three-city tour entitled "Putting Parents in Charge."  The tour will begin next Monday on the State Capitol grounds in Raleigh at 1:00 pm.