Hundreds of Texans attended the school choice rally on the front steps of the Texas State Capitol on Wednesday, January 23. The event was a chance for parents, educators and students to voice their support for educational opportunity in the state. The rally coincided with National School Choice Week. Some of the notables attending the event include Texas State Senators Larry Taylor, Paul Bettencourt and Donna Campbell with TX Land Commissioner George P. Bush, Assistant U.S. Education Secretary Frank Brogan and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz speaking to attendees.

Below are remarks made from TCSA's CEO, Starlee Coleman, at the rally:

"Good morning. I am Starlee Coleman, the CEO of the Texas Charter Schools Association, and we are thrilled to have more than 500 public charter school students and parents from across Texas here today.

On Monday we celebrated Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King—and that was a fitting way to kick off School Choice Week. More than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education we are still failing to ensure that all students regardless of background have access to a great public school.

Civil Rights leader Rosa Parks once said: “I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”

School choice is a vehicle to deliver freedom, equality, justice and prosperity to all children and there is no greater cause that we can set our sights on.

Thank you for being here and standing with us in the effort to ensure every child in Texas has the freedom and equality to access an excellent public school."