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Donald Trump’s Poster Child for School Choice Was Already Attending Elite Charter School

CLASS ACT

The president used his State of the Union to award the 4th grader a scholarship to get out of a “failing government school”—but she wasn’t in one.

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Tom Brenner/Reuters

The 4th grade Philadelphia student President Donald Trump highlighted during his State of the Union address as one of hundreds of children “trapped in failing government schools” who was, at last, getting a scholarship to attend the school of her choice is already in an elite charter school. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Janiyah Davis has been attending one of the city’s “most sought-after” charter schools since September when she enrolled in the Math, Science and Technology Community Charter School III. Like all charters, it’s independently run but taxpayer-funded so students don’t pay tuition. During an interview on Friday, Stephanie Davis, the 4th grader’s mother, said she got a call from the White House inviting her and her daughter to the State of the Union. “I was kind of hesitant to answer,” she said. “I thought it was a scam.” She said she had no idea her daughter would be named in the president’s address but that she had been told there was the possibility of her daughter receiving a scholarship. “I never knew that it was going to be this big,” she said, adding that she did not want her daughter to switch schools. “I don’t view MaST as a school you want to get out of at all. I view it as a great opportunity.”

Read it at Philadelphia Inquirer

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