Former Democratic mayor goes against the grain in backing school choice, calls for party to embrace it

Former Mayor Jorge Elorza views his role as CEO of Democrats for Education Reform as trying to shift his party's view on school choice.

"We’re urging our side to think about what a progressive version of school choice looks like and what are all the forward-thinking, progressive things that you can do with these new funding tools," Elorza told Fox News Digital.

Before leading Democrats for Education Reform beginning in 2023, Elorza served as mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, for two terms from 2015 to 2023.

Democrats for Education Reform is a PAC that "supports and elects Democrats who deliver bold reforms that put students and families first," its website states.

WHY AMERICA’S ONLY SCHOOL CHOICE SUPER PAC IS PUTTING SOME REPUBLICANS IN THE HOT SEAT

"I am not one of those people who always thought that I would go into politics. In fact, I swore that I would never go into politics. But the reason why I jumped into the mayor’s race was because I wanted to help transform the public schools here in Providence," Elorza told Fox News Digital. "So education has always been my thing."

Democrats for Education Reform is currently pushing governors to opt into the federal tax credit program passed into law last year under President Donald Trump’s "one big, beautiful bill." The bill instituted a federal tax-credit scholarship, seeking to expand education opportunities in all 50 states.

Tax-credit scholarships, usually operated at the state level, are a form of school choice that allows individuals or businesses to receive full or partial credits when they contribute to a nonprofit that provides private school scholarships.

Governors, however, have to opt in to the program.

AT LEAST 40 PERCENT OF CALIFORNIA TEACHERS PLAN TO QUIT IN THE NEXT DECADE: SURVEY

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis became the first Democrat to opt into the program in December, telling local media he "would be crazy not to" and that it allows more parents to afford other school programs, such as after-school and summer activities.

Three Democratic governors, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, are reconsidering their stances on the federal tax credit scholarship program after rejecting it initially, according to EdWeek. 

"We were strongly urging governors to opt in right out of the gate," Elorza told Fox News Digital.

SCHOOL CHOICE ISSUE IN TEXAS REVEALS NEW LITMUS TEST FOR REPUBLICANS

More parents across the U.S. have been seeking schools outside their neighborhood district and opting for charter schools, homeschooling and private schools as some school districts in major American cities are struggling to retain students. Homeschooling has also been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to recent data.

Texas, for instance, saw a massive school choice rollout earlier this year, with more than 100,000 applications for Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) in the first two weeks. 

The TEFA legislation introduced new competition into the education landscape, giving parents options outside the neighborhood school their child is zoned for — and posing challenges for districts struggling to retain students, such as in Houston, which is set to close 12 schools for the next school year.

Teachers unions and other critics of school choice policies such as education savings accounts, vouchers or charter schools argue that these policies allocate money away from traditional public schools instead of boosting teacher salaries, recruiting more teachers and investing in facilities. 

TRUMP DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ROLLS OUT LATEST STEP TO EXPAND SCHOOL CHOICE NATIONWIDE

"I think there’s an elephant in the room: our longtime political alliance with the teachers unions," Elorza told Fox News Digital of Democrats.

He continued, "And they have been the enforcers of orthodoxy when it comes to the issues on the left. But also, frankly, it’s been branded as a Republican issue — as a conservative issue. The case that we’ve been making, there’s nothing inherently Republican or conservative about it. The devil is in the design."

Teachers unions tend to also be opposed to school choice due to charter schools often not employing unionized teachers. The unions frequently support lawmakers who oppose school choice because they rely on revenue from membership dues. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers donate overwhelmingly to Democratic campaigns, organizations and left-wing groups in general. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

Although Democrats are typically defenders of allocating taxpayer money to traditional public schools, a few Republicans, mostly from rural districts, have done so as well, garnering the support of teachers unions.

"I’m a strong supporter of public education, but to me, public education is a goal. It’s not a particular set of institutions, and so, if our goal is to create an educated citizenry, we can use every tool at our disposal to make that happen," Elorza said.

Elorza said during his tenure as mayor, traditional public schools were "just not improving fast enough."

"I think that this is a real opportunity for Democrats to show that we’re on the side of working-class Americans and not simply following the cues of powerful stakeholders," Elorza said.