What We Saw: National School Choice Week Kick-Off, New Orleans

"I think we ought to give our children the best we possibly can and I think we're moving in that direction," says renowned political operative James Carville. "Yes, I'm very excited about it."

Reason caught up with the Louisiana native at the New Orleans kickoff event for National School Choice Week (NSCW), which runs from January 22-28 and features hundreds of events around the country designed to increase support for allowing parents to pick what schools their children attend. The Big Easy was the ideal location for the event as all children attend schools of choice in New Orleans, a radical - and so far incredibly sucessful - response to decades of failed approaches and the devasation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

Carville emceed an event that also featured performers such as The Temptations, Trombone Shorty, and Ellis Marsalis along with speakers such as MSNBC's Michelle Bernard, former Arizona education head Lisa Graham Keegan, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"National School Choice Week gives us an unprecedented opportunity to shine an effective spotlight on the need for enhanced educational options for parents," said Andrew Campanella of NSCW.

For more on NSCW, go to http://schoolchoice.org

Reason on education: http://reason.com/topics/education

About 5 minutes. Produced by Sharif Matar and Tracy Oppenheimer.

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[newjoiseyboy]

Here's the way to provide choice: quit forcing people around at gunpoint.

[teranspecialist]

"Our kids don't haven anymore time and our families don't have anymore money" best quote imo

[hockeypuck999]

Looks like youtube is still censoring....

[hockeypuck999]

Here's a good piece on the "state" of education...

h_t_t_p_:_//lewrockwell_._com/­decoster/decoster191.html

[hockeypuck999]

Wow, a big government Democrat in favor of full school vouchers and getting rid of the US Department of Crappy Education and teachers unions? Very impressive...thanks, Jim Carville! Can you please tell BHO about this?

[hockeypuck999]

What does ! Error, try again mean?

[TheLegalImmigrant05]

School Choice is already an industry. Get the state out of education. THAT'S school choice. A huge federal voucher scheme would destroy what remains of private education (have you ever seen a gov't program where the gov't didn't come to eventually CONTROL what it FINANCES?). It will give federal education bureaucrats additional reasons to exist forever, while out true goal should be to make them go away. Het, why not have Food Choice - federal vouchers for groceries!!!

[theapollomoonlanding]

Most kids can barely read. But, teachers want to be paid like kings.

[Omnicronimous]

@cxa011500 He (newjoiseyboy) puts himself in front of the gun? You put yourself in front of the gun? So we've gone from a nation that didn't have a gun to the head of its citizens to one in which the gun is always there unless you leave the country, and it's the fault of anyone that can't find a place to go where they don't have a gun to their head? Blame the victim. Nice logic.

[Omnicronimous]

The words "National" and "School" do not belong together.

[markalleus]

This is about kids particularly kids of color at 1:38. Nice and par.

[Shonenut213]

6 people are teachers' union bosses