What We Saw: National School Choice Week Kick-Off, New Orleans

"I think we ought to give our children the best we possibly can and I think we're moving in that direction," says renowned political operative James Carville. "Yes, I'm very excited about it."

Reason caught up with the Louisiana native at the New Orleans kickoff event for National School Choice Week (NSCW), which runs from January 22-28 and features hundreds of events around the country designed to increase support for allowing parents to pick what schools their children attend. The Big Easy was the ideal location for the event as all children attend schools of choice in New Orleans, a radical - and so far incredibly sucessful - response to decades of failed approaches and the devasation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

Carville emceed an event that also featured performers such as The Temptations, Trombone Shorty, and Ellis Marsalis along with speakers such as MSNBC's Michelle Bernard, former Arizona education head Lisa Graham Keegan, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"National School Choice Week gives us an unprecedented opportunity to shine an effective spotlight on the need for enhanced educational options for parents," said Andrew Campanella of NSCW.

For more on NSCW, go to http://schoolchoice.org

Reason on education: http://reason.com/topics/education

About 5 minutes. Produced by Sharif Matar and Tracy Oppenheimer.

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