Next Up in Eric Cantor’s School Choice Promo Tour: Philly Schools

Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor supports providing students with alternatives to public schools, and he wants you to know about it. So, naturally, he’s in Philly today—in the middle of a massive budget deficit—to talk private school and policy change.

His speech at the Freire Charter School started this morning around 10 a.m., with Cantor calling for policy that “places less emphasis on federal budget math and more on education.”

Sounds nice, but local education advocate Helen Gym is calling foul:

“Cantor supports a false notion of choice,” she wrote on her Twitter page. “To defund public schools and give parents “choice” among an erratic range of charters.”

Gym, along with activists from the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools protested Cantor’s arrival, arguing that public education would see a massive bout of defunding should the Congressman get his way.

The group that protested Cantor’s arrival in 2011 for a similar event, Occupy Wall Street, of course, is no longer around. Too bad we didn’t listen to them then. [NBC]