Commissioner Tilman Honored as Champion for Choice in Education

Posted on 01-20-2010

Hundreds of Idaho public charter school supporters including students, parents, teachers, and administrators will gather for a rally on the south steps of the Capitol building for a political rally at 1:00pm today as part of the 2010 Idaho Charter School Day at the Capitol activities.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna, and Ada County Commissioner Fred Tilman will be presented with the 2010 “Champion for Choice in Education” award at the Capitol steps event.

Luna will be honored for his role in bringing more innovation and choice to Idaho’s public school system. “Tom Luna created the Division of Innovation and School Choice within the Department of Education immediately upon taking office.” said Briana LeClaire, President of the Coalition of Idaho Charter School Families, “He has provided more support – both technical and political – for public school choice than any of his predecessors, and Idaho’s parents truly appreciate having those options.”

Tilman, a former legislator and Chairman of the House Education Committee, was the author of Idaho’s original public charter school law, which was put into place in 1998. “Fred was the visionary who truly understood the value of parental choice in public education and began a long, tireless, and politically difficult quest to establish school choice in the state of Idaho.” Continued LeClaire, “He is truly the Father of school choice in Idaho.”

The 2009 recipients of the Champion for Choice in Education award, state Senator John Goedde, and Representative Bob Nonini will also speak at the Rally.

Over 500 school choice advocates, including students and parents, will convene at the Boise Centre on the Grove beginning at 10:00am for grassroots advocacy training, then will march down Capitol Boulevard to the Capitol steps beginning at 12:45pm.

The Coalition is urging the Idaho legislature to remove the cap on the numbers of new charter schools that can open each year, currently limited to six. Idaho currently has 36 public charter schools in operation, serving over 12,000 students. Despite steady growth of public charter schools in Idaho, thousands of students still remain on waiting lists.