by Ed Garcia
Better schools, brighter future.
This is not a pithy slogan. For me, it’s personal.
As the son of Cuban refugees, receiving a high-quality education was instilled in me by my parents at an early age. Unlike the communist regime they fled, the United States was a land of abundant opportunity for whoever was willing to work.
Fast forward several decades later, and I am proud to say that my parents were right.
After completing my studies, I served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked for several Fortune 500 companies using my God-given talents.
Unfortunately, today’s generation finds it increasingly difficult to receive a good education and get ahead – often at no fault of their own.
According to a recent study, nearly forty percent of all 4th graders cannot read at grade level.
Put simply, our educational system has been stuck in neutral for far too long.
It’s failed to keep pace and embrace new learning and student customization approaches. Instead of allowing families and students to customize an education plan that works best for their interests and aptitude, many policymakers have embraced a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to education.
One need only look at what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand how disastrous the results can be when we confine students to one rigid way of learning.
The reality is that for some families – particularly low-income families, their local public school is the only option to provide their children with a quality education. For some, this is a great choice. But for others, it’s a poor fit.
That’s where policies like Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, are a great alternative. As the name suggests, ESAs allow families to use a portion of their tax dollars for education-related expenses like tutoring, school supplies, and even private school tuition.
Governor Bill Lee has been a strong proponent of school choice and ESAs and has expressed support for seeing ESAs benefit even more families in Tennessee – including families in Hamilton County.
School choice and ESAs are not without critics. Some contend that supporting school choice will become a drain on public schools. Still, multiple studies, including one by the Cascade Policy Institute, have found that “competitive pressure introduced by school voucher programs is associated with increased public-school achievement.”
Of course, ESAs are just a part of the solution.
To dramatically improve our country’s educational system, we need bold leadership from the local level. This means keeping our local schools accountable to ensure they are responsive to their child’s educational needs. We need the local community to get involved and contribute to finding solutions that will prepare the next generation of innovators and doers.
We need less finger-pointing and more problem-solving.
This is part of the reason why I am running for the Hamilton County School Board: I want to give back to a country that has given me so much.
I am living proof that the American Dream is alive and well. But as President Ronald Reagan so aptly summed it up, freedom is only one generation away from extinction.
Providing multiple pathways for quality education for every single child in Hamilton County is a great place to ensure that the next generation of Americans can continue to live in the land of the free.
– – –
Ed Garcia is a United States Marine Corps veteran and a candidate for the Hamilton County School Board.
