• Mission
• Vision
• Values
• What We Do
• Who We Are
• PCE in Action
• Supported Innovations

Mission
Parents for Choice in Education is dedicated to ensuring every child has equal access to a quality education by empowering parents, increasing choice, and promoting innovative solutions to Utah’s educational challenges.

Vision
We envision a day when all forms of education are open to parents so that every child in Utah has equal access to the quality education that allows them to reach their full potential.

Values
Parents have the right and are best equipped to choose the educational environment that is best for their children.

Children, without regard to race, income, or geography, deserve equal access to a quality education.

Education excellence is achieved through choice, accountability, and 21st century innovations necessary to compete in a global economy.

What We Do

• Build strong coalitions with other organizations who share our mission of providing every child access to a quality education.
• Educate the public and policy makers on education related issues.
• Lobby, initiate and advocate for innovative reforms and solutions.
• Ensure that the voice of parents and taxpayers is heard by policymakers and expressed in the media.
• Actively engage in the election and campaign process to defend and support innovative education policy.
  

Who We Are

Parents for Choice in Education is a grassroots organization and the leading voice for education innovation in Utah.

PCE was founded in 2000 by two public school parents, Doug Holmes and Jordan Clements.  It continues to be run by Utah parents, educators, and concerned citizens.

Originally, PCE was called the Utah Education Funding Project. Through the years, our name has changed and the breadth of our activites has expanded, but our mission has remained the same.

We carry out this mission under three organizations:

1. Parents for Choice in Education Foundation:

   Like the original Utah Education Funding Project, PCE Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating citizens, policymakers, and media on the benefits of market-based reforms.
   Make a tax-deductible donation to PCE Foundation
   

2. Parents for Choice in Education, Inc.:

Founded in 2001, PCE Inc. focuses on direct advocacy through grassroots organization and lobbying policy makers.

Donate to PCE's advocacy efforts

3. Parents for Choice in Education PAC:

As a non-partisan state Political Action Committee, PCE PAC has been helping to elect school reform candidates since 2002.

 

PCE In Action

In 8 short years, PCE has increased choice, accountability, parental empowerment, innovation and the overall improvement of K-12 education.

2009

• Passed law requiring school districts to post Collective Bargaining Agreements with Teacher’s Union online.
• To ensure parents are informed about their options, amended the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship Law to clarify how districts and charter schools provide notification to qualifying students.
• Protected Carson Smith Scholarship funding by converting lapsing monies to non-lapsing funds, bringing current funding to $2.9 Million.
• Instrumental in reversing attempted moratorium and funding cut to 2010-11 Charter Schools.

See a complete list of legislation supported
by PCE in 2009>>

2008

• Expanded Utah’s public school Open Enrollment law.
• Instrumental in changing Charter School cap formula,
  allowing enrollment to grow at a higher rate each year.
• Facilitated the full expansion of Alternative Teacher
  Certification program, ABCTE’s Passport to Teaching.

2007

• Passed the Nation’s First Universal School Voucher Law, supported by & signed into law by Gov. Jon Huntsman.
• Instrumental in the passage of legislation requiring school districts to grant equal access to all professional teacher organizations.

2005

• Passed the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship, the nation’s third K-12 scholarship program for children with disabilities.

2004

• Instrumental in passing legislation that expanded avenues for approval of new Charter Schools.  

2001

• Aided in passage and legal defense of Paycheck Protection, which bans public employee unions from collecting political contributions through paycheck deductions. Upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.

Supported Innovations

• Performance Pay for Teachers
• Online/Virtual Education
• Accountability/Transparency
• Streamline Funding/ Backpack Funding
• Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs)
• Empowerment Schools & Site-Based Management
• Alternative Teaching Certification
• Tax Credits for corporations providing scholarships
• Charter School Expansion