By Cassidy McDonald
@datainindiana
School choice —a movement to provide alternatives to public school — is sure to be a top priority for President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, during his first joint address to Congress, Trump called for a bipartisan school choice bill which would aim to help disadvantaged children trapped in failing schools. Indianapolis is one of the top U.S. cities for giving parents a choice on where to attend schoo.
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made headlines this week, however, when she called historically black colleges and universities — which were created in response to racial segregation — “pioneers” of school choice.
She later backpedaled on this statement, but continued to draw parallels between school choice and historically black colleges and universities.
Providing an alternative option to students denied the right to attend a quality school is the legacy of #HBCUs.
— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 28, 2017
Take a look at the top 10 cities that currently allow some form of school choice, as graded by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an ideologically conservative research organization.
These cities have seen mixed results in their alternative education programs, but offer the policies, public support and programming most conducive to school choice:
(City rankings from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute)