Education: Parents want school choice 

President Obama spoke on July 29 about an educational program to raise student performance and help failing schools, a program also supported by Star Parker, a candidate for the 37th Congressional District in California. 

However, Obama angered many in his own party when he delivered the speech to the National Urban League, a civil rights organization, in Washington, DC. The Presidents' efforts to improve student performance by raising education standards has caused strong opposition from both teachers' unions and civil rights organizations who are aligned with the Democratic Party. 

The status quo in public education is “indefensible”, Obama told the crowd. He followed that remark by saying his critics are basically resistant to change. 

"The president emphasized something I have fought long and hard over the last 25 years," said Star Parker, candidate in the 37th Congressional District race. “Competition is what will restore public education to its once unparalleled position. In fact, in 2006 the think-tank I founded and lead, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, joined with the Alliance for School Choice and filed formal complaints against two school districts in this congressional district that had failed to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act’s transfer provision.” That provision requires school districts to notify parents when their child’s school fails to meet minimum academic requirements two years in a row that they has the right to transfer their children to a better performing school. 

"I have promoted both charter schools and scholarship programs that will allow parents to send their children to private schools that consistently produce higher performing students with less money," Ms. Parker said. "Every school district where this has occurred has shown marked improvement in test scores in a very short period of time, especially those in the inner cities where we have the most vulnerable children. 

Star Parker said that President Obama's detractors in education are primarily those liberals who helped elect him but continue to reflect their primary concern: "that of protecting their empire."