Parents and students explain why ESAs are crucial for academic success

(Michael Schaus, NPRI) Taliyah Wilson is just a 14 year-old who is about to go into high school — and she understands that the next few years will shape the rest of her life.

“It has always been my dream to graduate high school with confidence and know that I will be prepared for college academically and mentally,” she writes.

But such confidence doesn’t come easy when you’re one of thousands of kids in an overcrowded, and underperforming, school.

That’s why she believes her family — not politicians in Carson City, or bureaucrats in Clark County — should decide which school is best for her.

And, as the letters on NevadaESA.com demonstrate, Taliyah is not alone.

Each one of the more than 6,000 families that have signed up for ESAs have a personal story — an intimate and emotional reason for believing in the opportunities that are available through ESAs.

Many of these families have shared their stories with NevadaESA — and they all have one thing in common: They believe that parents should be free to make their own decisions about how and where to educate their children.

As one parent wrote, the only thing we can give our children is the opportunity for a brighter future — and ESAs are the tool that empowers parents to do so.

This is why we believe in ESAs, and why we want to #LetOurChildrenSucceed.

(Click here to read the letters on NevadaESA.com)

Michael Schaus is communications director at the Nevada Policy Research Institute and is responsible for managing the organization’s messaging with the public, the media and NPRI’s membership.