NTD’s Kevin Hogan spoke with Darius Mayfield, a Republican congressional candidate for New Jersey, at Turning Point USA’s America Fest 2021. Mayfield’s number one issue is school choice. He says he believes school choice is the quickest way to “help save generations” of youth. Mayfield says failing public education systems are contributing to poverty, violence, and crime.
“With school choice, I believe it’s the fastest way—especially in urban black and brown neighborhoods—that we can uplift that community and get them on the right track,” he said.
Mayfield says while many are focused on critical race theory curriculum being taught in schools, his main concern is the high dropout and low proficiency rates in his district. This, he says, is the fundamental issue.
“So I believe that the money should follow the child. If that parent feels that that school is not serving their child’s needs, they should be able to take that money that’s assigned to him because there’s a price tag attached to each kid,” Mayfield said.
He says this will also put pressure on public school districts to improve the quality of their schools and education systems.