Welcome to the Freedom to Learn podcast. I'm your host, Ginny Gentles. This season, we're diving

into what it means to return education to states, communities, and families. And we're exploring

what becomes possible when education is freed from union dominance and federal control.

If you've been anywhere near a state capital building at the end of January,

you've likely seen large groups of students and educators wearing yellow scarves,

and you've likely heard them joyfully celebrating National School Choice Week.

Thousands of schools and groups schedule celebrations big and small each year, while encouraging

parents to explore educational options and encouraging policymakers to expand them.

Shelby Doyle, Senior Vice President of Policy and National Partnerships for the National School

Choice Awareness Foundation, joins me today to talk about the week, as well as recent polling, the different

types of school choice, and tools that help parents navigate their options.

Shelby Doyle, welcome to Freedom to Learn.

Thanks for having me back.

Yeah, I was going to say, actually I I should say, welcome back to freedom to learn.

We regularly record conversations to celebrate National School Choice Week and to talk about the different school choice options out there.

So I'm happy that once again, we have gathered to have that very important conversation.

You know that I love National School Choice Week so much so that my like National School

Choice Week, my, is worn out.

I'm a long-time fan.

But let's remind our listeners, what's the mission of National School Choice Week?

So the mission of National School Choice Week every year is to really kick off the school search process for families across the country during a crucial time in the year.

And the week itself is designed to help raise public awareness about what school choice is and what those options are for families as they start that process through lots of events that happen at schools and even at state capitals that shine a light on different

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