Could School Choice Help Children in Texas? NCPA to Co-Host Conference in Dallas Featuring Education Experts, Political Leaders

5/7/2003

From: Sean Tuffnell or Richard Walker, 800-859-1154, both of the National Center for Policy Alternatives, email: stuffnell@ncpa.org

DALLAS, May 7 -- A bill by Rep. Ron Wilson (R-Houston) would create several school choice demonstration projects across the state. The measure would require the six largest school districts in Texas -- Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Northside (San Antonio) and El Paso -- to issue vouchers to their low-performing students.

Can school choice improve the educational outcomes of children in Texas schools? What would happen to the children who choose to remain in poor performing schools?

To answer those questions and more, the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) will co-host a conference on Thursday, May 8, with the Manhattan Institute's Center for Civic Innovation (CCI). The conference will feature some of the nation's leading education experts, along with people on the ground who are making school choice programs work. The conference will be capped by a luncheon address by Colorado Gov. Bill Owens. Colorado is the first state to pass a school choice program since the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding its constitutionality.

What: Conference on "SCHOOL CHOICE IN TEXAS"

FULL AGENDA AVAILABLE ONLINE AT http://www.ncpa.org/evn/

Who: CCI/NCPA

When: Thursday, May 8, from 9 a.m. TO 2 p.m.

Where: Emerald & Coral rooms, Wyndyam Anatole Hotel, 2201 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, Texas

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens will be available to the media in the Emerald Room immediately following his luncheon address.

Space is limited, please R.S.V.P. to the contact listed above.

The NCPA is an internationally known nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute with offices in Dallas and Washington, D.C., that advocates private solutions to public policy problems. It depends on the contributions of individuals, corporations and foundations that share its mission. The NCPA accepts no government grants.