Speaker Boehner, ACE Representatives Together for School Choice Week

As we wrote last night, and just in time for National School Choice Week, Speaker of the House, John Boehner, sent a strong message about  his upcoming push for school choice by inviting a number of students and teachers—and Cardinal Donald Wuerl among others—to be present in the "Speaker's Box" at the State of the Union address.

Representatives from the Alliance for Catholic Education were present with the group. They included Jack Kelly, a first-year ACE teacher earning his master’s degree through ACE Teaching Fellows, and Mike Thomasian, a graduate of ACE’s Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program.

Boehner was setting the stage for a Wednesday press conference announcing legislation to revive the Washington, DC, program that provided private-school vouchers for children of low-income parents. That program was terminated last year and was met with dismay from former University of Notre Dame president, Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC,and the Alliance for Catholic Education who strongly supports school choice options and supported retention of the Washington program.

In the photo above, which was provided to Jack by National Review Online, Speaker Boehner is on the left, Mike Thomasian is wearing glasses in the back row visible next to Boehner, and Jack Kelly is wearing a blue and red striped tie in the back row behind Cardinal Wuerl, who is in the center.

More information can be found in the National Review Online story at http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/257835/speaker-s-opportunity-box-kathryn-jean-lopez.