Privately funded scholarship programs for at-risk youngsters are changing lives across America, says New York Post columnist Naomi Schaefer Riley, author of
"Opportunity and Hope: Transforming Children's Lives through Scholarships.''
"Inner-city education in America is in a horrendous state these days, and there are parents all over the country clamoring for alternatives, for ways to get out of our public school system,'' Riley told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"Scholarships for private schools are one of the major ways that this can happen. Many parents simply want their kids out of inner-city public schools because they don't feel like their children are safe," Riley said Wednesday.
"So really, private school scholarships are definitely part of the answer here to helping parents feel like they can send their kids off to a safe environment during the day.''
Siley Farley, a student from North Carolina and recipient of a Children's Fund scholarship, added:
"The public schools that we were zoned for in our hometown of Charlotte were some of the worst in the city, and my parents couldn't afford private-school education.
"So, they did the heroic task of homeschooling for many years, but when the scholarship fund became available to us we were then sent to private Christian schools that were connected to our family's churches . . . We could be both academically and spiritually nurtured.''
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