The Mackinac Center for Public Policy cordially invites you to join us in celebrating National School Choice Week with an event on Jan. 30, 2014, at The Townsend Hotel from 6 to 8 p.m. We are proud to join with organizations nationwide in recognizing this annual celebration of school choice, and with National School Choice Week and the Michigan Opportunity Society as co-sponsors.

Be our special guest for light refreshments, a screening of the short documentary “The Ticket: The Many Faces of School Choice,” and hear from expert panelists including Bob Bowdon, producer of “The Ticket;” Clark Durant, co-founder of Cornerstone Schools; and J.C. Huizenga, founder of National Heritage Academies and member of the board of directors of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Our guests will discuss the benefits of different, emerging models of educational options, including charter public schools, vouchers, parent trigger, inter-district choice, online learning and more.

In our recent study of Schools of Choice, the Center found that nearly 100,000 students now choose to attend a school outside of the district in which they live. This is an increase of nearly 150 percent during the past 20 years. When combined with the number of students attending public charter schools, this means that approximately one out of every six Michigan students is using choice to attend a public school.

This event will take place in the Regency Room at The Townsend Hotel, 100 Townsend Street, Birmingham, MI 48083. Check-in will begin at 5:30 p.m. Parking is adjacent to the property and valet service is available.

We do have very limited space and this exclusive engagement will fill up quickly, so please accept this invitation to be among our very special guests for this evening of School Choice discussion and learn more about the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s work in advancing educational choice throughout Michigan and the nation.

Bob Bowdon is the Executive Director of Choice Media, an education reform news service that produces a daily newswire, Twitter feed, original videos, and the Ed Reform Minute podcast. Previously, Bowdon directed The Cartel, a documentary about corruption in public education that won twelve film festival awards, a national theatrical release, and distribution from Warner Brothers.

In his non-education reform endeavors, Bowdon has appeared as the recurring character Brian Scott for the Onion News Network, reporting comedic, satirical news stories for both seasons of the Onion's IFC cable channel show, and web videos. He also hosted Two-Way Street, a nationally syndicated PBS public policy debate show. Before that, Bowdon spent six years as an anchor/reporter for Bloomberg Television.

Prior to his media career, Bowdon earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and a M.S. in Engineering Management from Stanford University.

Clark Durant is one of the co-founders of Cornerstone Schools, a network of public charter schools and independent schools in Michigan. Cornerstone Schools post impressive results, with 95 percent of students graduating high school and more than 90 percent continue their education past high school. Clark Durant is also a former state Board of Education member, and co-founder of Imprimis, an influential monthly speech digest published by Hillsdale College.

J.C. Huizenga is a member of the Board of Directors of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
J.C. Huizenga is founder and chairman of National Heritage Academies, which he started in 1995. NHA operates more than 70 charter public schools and enrolls over 51,000 students in nine states. He owns seven diverse manufacturing enterprises that employ more than 6,000 people. Huizenga also founded PrepNet, a group of four college preparatory charter public high schools in Michigan that educates more than 1,600 students. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hope College and an MBA from Michigan State University.

Light refreshments will be served.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Event Manager Kimberley Fischer-Kinne at 989-698-1905 or by .