WASHINGTON, D.C. — Independent Women announced that Ginny Gentles, senior fellow at Independent Women and director of Education Freedom and Parental Rights at the Defense of Freedom Institute, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Subcommittee on Education & the American Family, on restoring educational excellence through school choice, empowering parents, and curbing union overreach.
Speaking at the hearing titled “Choice and Literacy: Empowering Families for Better Educational Results,” Gentles laid out urgent policy recommendations to reverse dismal academic performance and put families—not unions or bureaucrats—at the center of education policy.
In her testimony, Gentles stated, in part:
“States with strong leaders who aren’t afraid to stand up to the unions and fight for students are embracing real solutions like expanding education freedom and robust literacy programs, and the federal government should support them by reducing federal burdens and holding unions accountable.”
Ginny Gentles on Wednesday, July 23 testifying before the U.S. Senate HELP Committee. Watch full testimony here.
During her testimony, Gentles applauded President Donald J. Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon for reining in the Department of Education’s expansive federal overreach, and she called upon Congress to disperse the Department’s programs and core funding to other federal agencies, which would include:
- Moving power over education back to states, communities, and families;
- Holding unions accountable; and,
- Reducing federal burdens.
Neeraja Deshpande, policy analyst at Independent Women, said: “Ginny’s testimony reminds us that unions are an impediment to progress, which can ultimately only be carried out by the people on the ground impacted—teachers, families, communities—not by faceless organizations that exist to solidify their bottom lines.”
In addition to her role as a senior fellow at Independent Women, Gentles is director of Education Freedom and Parental Rights at the Defense of Freedom Institute. See more of her work on education reform below:
- Families deserve freedom from teachers union’s relentless strikes
- Policy Focus: Transparency in Residentially-Assigned Schools
- Stop Letting Randi Weingarten Steal the Spotlight and Pay Attention to the NEA
- The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Disregards Real Solutions for Teachers
- Teachers Aren’t Trapped in Public Schools
Gentles’ full testimony can be found here.
###
Independent Women advances policies that actually enhance opportunity and well-being.
