The national school choice movement has launched an aggressive campaign to recruit 10,000 new activists. Coordinated by the nonprofit Alliance for School Choice, the School Choice Works campaign will promote the benefits of school vouchers and tax credit scholarship programs. The effort will coincide with the start of 2009 state legislative sessions across the country.

The Alliance, the nation’s largest organization promoting school vouchers and tax credit scholarships, will launch a blitz of online advertising and radio promotions to spread the word about the recruitment effort. According to the Alliance, School Choice Works is the movement’s first national outreach campaign. The Alliance estimates it will meet its goal of recruiting 10,000 new supporters by as early as January 2009.

The campaign’s Web site, www.LetParentsChoose.org, encourages supporters to sign up for free information kits, subscriptions to magazines, advocacy guides, bumper stickers, and e-mail updates.

“America's hardworking families should have the right to choose the schools that work best for their children," said School Choice Works Campaign Director Andrew Campanella. “Special interests have long dominated the public debate over vouchers, but our campaign will present the true life-changing stories of the families who have benefited from school choice programs. We also look forward to providing new ways for our supporters to help advance this important cause.”

More than 152,000 children participate in 18 school choice programs operating in 10 states and the District of Columbia. The bipartisan base of support for school choice is growing every year, with public opinion polls showing stronger support among Democrats, African-Americans, Latinos, and Hispanics than ever before.

The School Choice Works campaign will also shine an unprecedented spotlight on the failures of many public schools in America. Despite the best efforts of many educators, roughly 4 million children attend failing or underperforming schools. More than 1 million kids drop out of school each year. Every 26 seconds, another child drops out of school in the United States.

The Alliance for School Choice is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization promoting school vouchers and tax credit scholarship programs. For more information please visit them online at www.LetParentsChoose.org.

-GIR-