There is no more important topic in Oregon, and nationwide, than the state of K-12 education. High dropout rates, low achievement levels and soaring taxpayer costs often dominate the discussion.

Here at Cascade Policy Institute we believe that parents and students should be treated more like consumers and less like pawns in the battles between taxpayers and the education establishment. That’s why we are delighted to announce that we were just awarded the Friedman Foundation Innovation Grant for 2008.

The Friedman Foundation is named after the late Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman and his wife Rose. They dedicated their lives to bringing more educational choices to students, including the choice of attending private schools using the funds that otherwise would have been spent on their public school education.

The Innovation Grant will be used to encourage parents and students to send in short videos telling their own stories about how school choice did—or how it could—change their lives for the better. We will publicize the best videos and award cash grants to the winners. Details will be available soon.

As a think tank, Cascade does research and publishes papers about issues like school choice. Now, we will be able to help real families show Oregonians why they should demand more school choice for every student.

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