FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Leah Barker, 801-755-7292
Richard Eyre Named Key Spokesperson
Representing Parents for Choice in Education During Referendum 1 Campaign
School choice pioneer and author of best-selling parenting books advocates family empowerment through vouchers
Salt Lake City, UT — September 12, 2007 — Best-selling author of family and parenting books and longtime school choice advocate Richard Eyre joins the Referendum 1 campaign as a key spokesperson for Parents for Choice in Education.
PCE asked Utah-native Eyre to join the campaign because he has long been a pioneer in proposing the voucher direction in Utah education. He advocated it in his book "Utah in the Year 2000" which was published in 1990, and has supported and advocated parental choice ever since. In addition, Richard and his wife Linda have devoted their lives to the strengthening of families throughout the world, placing a high value on the role of parents. Their mission statement is FORTIFY FAMILIES; by popularizing parenting, bolstering balance, and validating values. PCE is pleased to have Richard participate in the campaign as a key spokesperson and will support him in this role.
Eyre and his wife Linda are writers, lecturers, and grassroots advocates for strengthening families. Their book Teaching Your Children Values was the first parenting book in 50 years (since Dr. Spock) to reach #1 on the New York Times best-seller list. They are the authors of 32 books, delivering almost 100 speeches each year, making frequent media appearances on shows like Oprah, The Early Show, Prime Time Live, and the Today Show. For several years they hosted the national weekly cable TV show, “Families Are Forever.” They also founded and currently operate the international parent’s cooperative organization www.valuesparenting.com with a membership of more than 100,000. They are the parents of nine children, all graduates from Salt Lake City public schools.
With degrees from Utah State, BYU, and Harvard, Richard was a management consultant before becoming a full time writer and speaker. Earlier, he served on President Reagan's Presidential Advisory Panel on Financing Elementary and Secondary Education and was named director of Reagan's White House Conference on Parents and Children.
When Eyre ran for Governor of Utah in 1992, a key issue in his platform was school choice and vouchers. A pioneer of the idea that parents, not bureaucrats, should decide where children go to school, Richard took on the teacher's unions by championing vouchers in that campaign, and he believes even more strongly in school choice now. (Eyre beat Mike Leavitt in the Republican convention in 1992 but not by a wide enough margin to ensure the nomination. He then lost to Leavitt in the primary. Many attribute Leavitt’s victory and Eyre’s defeat to Eyre’s advocacy of school vouchers and the opposition that position brought from the teacher’s union.)
While there are many benefits to a voucher system, Richard believes this election should focus on the following facts:
- Referendum 1 benefits public education, taxpayers, and families
- Referendum 1 benefits public schools by increasing per pupil funding and reducing class size without raising taxes
- Referendum 1 supports the fundamental right of parents to determine the best educational setting for their children. It empowers all parents by placing the primary responsibility of choosing their child’s education back in their control where it belongs, which is consistent with Utah values
“I’m glad this is going to a vote,” says Eyre “The more people know about this issue, the more likely they are to support parental choice in schools. The three things that will make our public schools better are smaller class size, more money per pupil, and greater parental involvement. All three will result from this voucher plan. The bottom line is that parents are the best qualified people to make educational choices for their kids, and school choice just allows them to make the decisions.”
For more information on Richard Eyre, please visit www.TheEyres.com.
For more information on Referendum 1, please visit www.votefor1.org.
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Parents for Choice in Education is a grassroots organization focused on education reforms that put the child first, rather than the system. We believe that every Utah child deserves a quality education, regardless of financial circumstances. We support education reforms that put parents in charge and improve Utah's K-12 school system by creating a competitive environment for education providers. For more information please visit www.votefor1.org.
