A few years ago, the Red for Ed movement brought thousands of teachers to state capitols across the country, demanding higher salaries. The effort began in West Virginia, where teachers got their raises and helped stop legislation that would have brought private school choice to the state. They kept pressing their apparent advantage, unseating a couple of choice advocates in the state Senate.
Overall, however, teachers unions soon lost political ground in the state. They were unable to defeat their leading target, Republican Patricia Rucker, who chairs the Senate’s Education Committee. In 2021, Rucker was able to push through one of the most expansive school choice bills in the country, converting West Virginia from a no-choice state to the first to make education savings accounts (ESAs) universal, available to all families regardless of income level or location.
Rucker’s bill helped kick off a revolution. Along with other school choice expansions, the number of states with universal ESAs is now in the double digits. (ESAs differ from traditional vouchers in that they can be used not only for private school tuition but also for tutoring, therapies, technology and all manner of education-related services.)
“She has earned her place in the pantheon of universal school choice,” says Robert Enlow, president of EdChoice. “There was no ‘Arizona supporting universal choice’ until Rucker did it.”
Education has been one of Rucker’s passions since entering public schools in the U.S. as a 6-year-old immigrant from Venezuela. “I knew no English,” she recalls. “I had difficulty speaking.” But by fifth grade, she was taking honors classes, participating in student government and was firmly on what she calls a “pathway to success” paved by learning.
Rucker, who is 50, became a teacher; her eventual entry into politics was sparked by her love of education. Her experience homeschooling her own children influenced her views on school choice. Rucker has always focused on other issues — particularly vulnerable constituents such as foster children — but she laughs a little when she concedes that it’s hard for her to keep off the topic of education for long.
“Her accomplishment is really tremendous, and you understand why it happened when you meet her,” says Patrick J. Wolf, a leading scholar on school choice at the University of Arkansas. “I’ve met hundreds and hundreds of state legislators in my 30-year policy career and she is one of the most impressive I’ve ever met.”
Education is always about the future, which Rucker is convinced will be bright. Despite West Virginia’s high levels of poverty and other problems, she says the state is poised to take off — in no small part due to changes in its schools. “When you have good education,” Rucker says, “you’re going to have good business, because it just goes hand in hand.”
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