Assemblywoman Lynne C. Leach

For most Californians, be they parents, students, taxpayers, business people, teachers or anyone in between, the importance of education is a given. We know it is our responsibility to ensure that the next generation is prepared to be leaders, employers, employees, parents, customers and even patriots. In order to do this, we must educate this future leadership core now.

The great majority of people look to the public schools to do this job of leadership preparation and responsibility. However, beyond the 6,000,000 or so of our students who walk through the doors of a public school each day are some 640,000 young people who turn to private or parochial schools for their education.

The private-parochial parent can give you a variety of reasons for sending their child/children to those institutions: a more focused education, discipline, religions training, academic excellence, security, safety, respect, back-to-basics curriculum, just to name a few. But whatever their reasons, they have found these non-public school facilities more in tune with what they want for their students.

If given the money, would most people send their children to a private-parochial school? I don’t think so, as long as the local public school educates their children well. However, for those who choose the private-parochial education—more power to them.

Public-Parochial-Charter-Home Study…here in California we are so blessed with many options. It is our responsibility as adult leaders to be sure that which ever choice the parent makes, that education avenue becomes the road to personal success and not the "boulevard of broken dreams" for their children and for our future.

Assemblywoman Leach represents California's 15th District. She serves on the Assembly's Committee on Education.

Visit Assemblywoman Leach's web site.