Civil-rights leader: Give parents choice in schools; Thousands rally for school choice

Here are is the press coverage of the Florida voucher rally:

 

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Tallahassee Democrat

Article published Apr 13, 2007
Civil-rights leader: Give parents choice in schools

By Bill Cotterell
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU POLITICAL EDITOR

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704130351

An icon of Florida's civil-rights movement told students, parents and education administrators Thursday that giving poor families school choice is ''a continuation of the dream'' that black leaders envisioned 40 years ago.

''All of us who are here want what's best for our children, our parents and our state,'' the Rev. H.K. Matthews said as he surveyed the placard-waving crowd in the plaza between Florida's old and modern Capitols.

''This is a flashback of the old movement,'' said Matthews, whose civil-rights activism extends back to his presidency of the Pensacola Council of Ministers in the early 1960s. ''It's a continuation of the dream.''

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The Florida Times-Union

April 13, 2007

Thousands rally for school choice

By J. TAYLOR RUSHING
Capital Bureau Chief

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/041307/met_9218118.shtml

TALLAHASSEE - A chorus of 4,000 Florida students, teachers and parents came to Tallahassee on Thursday to voice support for private scholarship programs, saying school choice is their choice. Organizers said the fifth annual "Step Up For Students" rally that packed the Capitol courtyard included 1,000 people from Northeast Florida, including Katherine Merritt. Merritt, 36, a volunteer at Lighthouse Christian School in Jacksonville, came to support the program that enables her to send her two children to the private school.

Merritt said her 18-year-old son, Christopher, is a Type 1 diabetic who struggled in public schools but has excelled at Lighthouse.