School Choice with Reason's Lisa Snell

"In our life we take for granted choice in all aspects that are so much less important than the education of our own children," says Lisa Snell, director of education and child welfare policy at Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this site. Snell has pushed for greater school choice across the country, and is perhaps best known as the person who helped defeat a 2006 California ballot initiative for universal preschool. The new law, which was championed by moviemaker and actor Rob Reiner, would have cost over $100,000 per each new preschooler added while delivering no clear educational benefits.

On Wednesday, Feb. 6, Snell was interviewed by Reason TV's Tracy Oppenheimer live from our new studio in Los Angeles. The topics covered included the Obama administration's national standards, pushback by teachers unions against school choice, the efficacy of letting parents and kids select their schools, and whether vouchers, charters, and similar reforms don't go far enough in challenging the educational status quo.

Snell has a master's in communication from Cal State, publishes widely on school choice and foster care reform, and works with federal, state, and local officials to implement reforms designed to give more power to individual kids and parents.