(July 2014) Arkansas recently became the 25th state to enact a private school choice program, an idea originating with the late Dr. Milton Friedman (1912-2006), the 1976 Nobel laureate in Economics.
A speaker sponsored by the Policy Foundation will discuss Dr. Friedman’s education reform ideas at a July 30 public forum in Conway. Dr. Friedman was born 103 years ago on July 31, 1912, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Dr. Friedman, a 1928 graduate of Rahway, N.J. Public High School, later earned economics degrees from Rutgers before teaching at the Univ. of Chicago until his retirement in 1977. He later served as a member of President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board, a group of non- government experts named by the president.
Dr. Friedman is closely associated with the idea of competition in education. He supported educational competition in books like Free To Choose (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), co-authored with his wife, Rose (1911-2009). The Friedman’s noted spending on education has increased, yet its quality has declined in many areas. They advanced a market-based approach to education, and proposed ideas to increase competition. These ideas will be discussed at the July 31 forum.
The event is free, informal and open to the public. The forum will start at Noon. Please contact the Policy Foundation at (501) 537-0825 for further information or to make a reservation.
