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HUNDREDS OF SCHOOL CHOICE SUPPORTERS TO RALLY AT CAPITOL ON 1/28

Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera will join supporters; Governor Susana Martinez has proclaimed New Mexico School Choice Week

Students, parents, teachers, and community leaders will participate in National School Choice Week by gathering in Santa Fe on Thursday, January 28.

The event, which will begin at 1 p.m. on the Capitol steps, will include remarks from Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera, alongside representatives from all educational options: traditional public schools, public charter schools, magnet schools, online academies, private schools, and home schools. Student performances will follow, featuring Tierra Adentro: The New Mexico School of Academics, Art and Artesanía, Albuquerque Sign Language Academy, and New Mexico School for the Arts.

The goal of the event is twofold: to celebrate educational opportunity in the state and to raise awareness among families about the choices available to them.

The celebration is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (January 24-30, 2016), which will be America’s largest-ever celebration of opportunity in education, with more than 16,000 events being planned nationwide.

“School choice is not about any one type of school,” said Kelly Callahan of the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools. “That’s why we’re excited to come together as a broad coalition and show parents just what each option has to offer them.”

"School choice is about empowering parents and students, instead of bureaucrats and unions,” said Crystal Rodriguez of The LIBRE Initiative. “It's about making sure that minorities and the economically disadvantaged have the opportunity to make choices when it comes to receiving a quality education essential to a lifetime of well-being and prosperity – just as the privileged, well-connected and elite do."

The event is being planned by groups including the Public Education Department, the Rio Grande Foundation, the New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools, and The LIBRE Initiative.

Held every January, National School Choice Week is an independent public awareness effort designed to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options for every child. Through thousands of independently planned events across the country, National School Choice Week raises public awareness of all types of educational choices available to children. These options include traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling.