Lankford promotes school choice as key player in D.C. oversight

OKLAHOMA CITY – U.S. Sen. James Lankford has long supported school choice. 

Recently, he garnered national, state and local attention for being part of a bipartisan effort to preserve the Opportunity Scholarship Program that has helped thousands of black school children get a better education in Washington, D.C..
Lankford’s coalition included a Jew (Diane Feinstein, D-CA), a Southern Baptist (Lankford), a Lutheran (Ron Johnson, R-WI) and an Evangelical (Tim Scott, R-SC). Sketching the quartet a different way, it includes two while males, a black male, and a while female.

In an interview, Sen. Lankford told me, “Congress has direct oversight over the District of Columbia, so as a Member of Congress, I can advocate for school choice in the area where I have direct impact.” 

Lankford, in his first term in the Senate after four highly effective years in the U.S. House, is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, with jurisdiction over The District of Columbia.

“When it comes to our children, the American people are eager to pursue policies that help kids thrive. 

Education is about kids, not political parties. School choice allows parents to get kids out of the small number of failing schools. Parents and local elected officials should create and manage education policy, not Washington.”

Ever the conservative statesman, he seemed reluctant to assail his Republican friends at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, stressing that state policy should be set by state officials.

But I am a commentator and a journalist, so I have registered some reflections and criticisms of Republicans in the state Legislature on this matter.

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