The Asheville Citizen-Times recently published a letter to the Editor by school leader Coral Jeffries discussing a recent poll that shows broad support for educational opportunity scholarships. Read Jeffries’ letter below and see why she believes offering our most needy students an option to learn in a private school environment through these scholarships can help them reach their full potential.

A new poll shows that the majority of North Carolina voters want more education reform options, including opportunity scholarships (funding which allows students to attend private schools). It also points to the need for eliminating a family’s income or geographical location as barriers to accessing a quality education.
Nevertheless, a representative of the N.C. School Boards Association was recently quoted as opposing “any voucher, opportunity scholarship or tuition tax credit” saying that such measures “erode the very fabric of being able to provide an education.”
For many students, their educational fabric is already torn, and private schools may offer the best hope for mending the tatters. I have watched many “at-risk” students succeed at the private school I help to lead and witnessed the sparkle return to parents’ eyes. These are some of the reasons why I supported Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina’s recent efforts to create an opportunity scholarship program allowing low-income families to better afford a private education.
If we truly want all of our children to experience educational success, then we must provide the opportunity for each child to attend a traditional or non-traditional school that brings out their full academic potential.
Coral Innes Jeffries, Asheville

Read more here.