Virginia Gentles - Florida Dept. of Education
Florida’s top school choice official, Virginia Gentles, addressed the Illinois School Choice Initiative’s March 16 luncheon at the Metropolitan Club in the Sears Tower. Gentles, executive director of the Florida department of Education’s Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice, described the many school choice programs available to parents in the Sunshine State, how those programs have affected K-12 education in Florida, and how more choice would benefit students and parents in Illinois.
“In Florida,” said Gentles, “school choice serves two very clear principles: #1, making education about the student, not the system; and #2, empowering parents to make the best decisions for their children.”