00:00Senator Cruz, thank you so much for hosting us here. Senator Cassidy, I know he had to leave.
00:07Look, let's get right to it. School choice is the civil rights issue of our time right now.
00:14We have a responsibility here in Washington to do for parents all across America what they want to help for their children.
00:22Give them the opportunity to let their children succeed. Give them the opportunity to let their children rise.
00:30In the state of Florida, we were one of the pioneer states for school choice, and we had battles with the Democrats over it for decades.
00:37But what has happened to the children of Florida is they are rising and they are achieving because their parents are at the head of the table.
00:44They are the ones making the decisions about the academic institutions that their children go to.
00:50And it is actually the best policy in the lives of all children, white or black, rich or poor, when parents are empowered to make decisions.
00:59And empowered with the resources to make those decisions, their children thrive, their children flourish.
01:06In our country, we have valued funding the education of children.
01:11And for more than 100 years, the model in America has been only through the public school system.
01:16And there was a time more than 100 years ago where that is the system that did make sense, but not today.
01:24Parents have more information than they've ever had.
01:26They have it at their fingertips every second of the day.
01:30And what we should be doing is making sure that, yes, education is funded.
01:35But in the way that America is going to be going into the future, the way you do that is by empowering parents.
01:42ECCA empowers parents.
01:44It gives them the flexibility and the economic power to find the institution that suits the interests of their children the best.
01:53We have to make sure that parents are the ones who have the power in their hands, have the ability to make the choices in their hands.
02:00Because they are doing the thing that nobody up here on Capitol Hill can do, that nobody in state governments, to be blunt, can do.
02:07They know their child.
02:09They know their skill sets.
02:11They know their gifts.
02:12They know their bents.
02:13And they are going to put their children first.
02:15We have a responsibility to meet that challenge and allow parents to be at the head of the table.
02:22This policy gives them that ability to do that.
02:26And for the first time in American history, we will be telling parents all across America, whether they're in a red state or whether they're in a blue state, that the choice is theirs and that the economic power is theirs.
02:38So I would challenge my colleagues in the House and in the Senate, let's make sure we strengthen the provisions of ECCA.
02:46Let's make sure parents have multiple years, at least 10 years, so that they can actually go through the process and really find out the best environment for their children.
02:56And as we continue to compete globally with other countries, our children have to be ready to meet the challenge of the future.
03:05And the only way we're really going to be able to achieve that is getting out of the one-size-fits-all model of public education.
03:14The time is now.
03:16We can get it done.
03:17We have the vehicle in one big, beautiful bill to get it done.
03:20I would really call on my colleagues, both in House and Senate, let's step up to the plate.
03:24Let's strengthen the ECCA even more so that parents have every opportunity to help their children succeed.
