Pope Francis: Let’s ensure the poor have school choice too

When Pope Francis' latest encyclical Amoris Laetitia was released earlier this month, most of the attention was given to the Holy Father's thoughts on family life, and not much of the conversation centered around educational options, much less the school choice discussion. But yesterday in RedefinED, Remick Leader Renée Stoeckle (12th cohort) wrote a piece giving a great overview of the Catholic Church's historical stance on school choice and how Pope Francis confirms and reiterates those views in his latest encyclical. As the Student Learning Coordinator at Step Up For Students in Florida, Renée knows a thing or two about school choice. In the event you haven't read the 250+ page encyclical yet, this short article's worth a look!

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We are all to some degree familiar with the phenomenon whereby a word or term is used so often that it ceases to have real meaning. If not, you need only listen to a sports talk show immediately following a championship (regardless of the sport) and pay attention to the number of times a particular team or athlete from the game is referred to as “the greatest of all time” to get a sense for this dynamic.

In the context of K-12 education, the term “reform” often feels as if it is approaching such a point. On some level, this makes sense. In the abstract, reform is something that is quite easy to be for and very difficult to be against. The challenge, of course, is to move past abstraction and get a sense for the particular contours of the reform we’re discussing.