This is why education choice is so important in Utah

Utah Senate Majority Whip Kirk Cullimore is sponsoring newly introduced legislation designed to give families more educational choice and provide the highest amount of financial assistance to those with the lowest incomes.

Editor’s note: This essay from Britney Mendel, a mother of three living in Herriman, Utah, appeared last week on deseret.com.

My family has three boys. All very different. All with different learning styles.

Our two oldest attended a public charter school for several years. It was a pretty good fit for our oldest, but the school’s methods were destroying our middle son’s love of learning. He felt like a constant failure. It was affecting his happiness and causing us turmoil as a family.

As parents, this was breaking our hearts to watch.

We learned about an incredible model of education called Acton Academy that seemed perfect for our children. We did everything in our power to figure out how to manage paying for tuition. Finances are tight, but our boys are now absolutely thriving there.

In the second year of our older children attending Acton, our youngest was now school age. The tuition was already a very difficult stretch for us, but now we had to pay for three. How would we do this?

Thankfully, I was given the opportunity to work at the school to help cover the cost of tuition. It was a big sacrifice to take on a full-time job, but we determined the education of our sons was well worth this sacrifice.

Currently, there is legislation being considered in Utah that puts children first. House Bill 331, the Hope Scholarship Program, sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, would provide scholarships based on income levels to help families customize their child’s education to best fit his or her learning needs.

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BY Special to NextSteps