(The Lion) — It was lights out for lies on Capitol Hill Tuesday as school choice advocates shared education freedom success stories and dispelled myths about it.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-California, opened the hearing on the benefits of school choice before the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education by saying choice for parents is key to fixing the broken education system in our country.

“America’s education landscape is increasingly a tale of two models. On one hand, some states have used every lever of policy to limit the options available to families,” Kiley said, keeping kids trapped in neighborhood schools even if they are failing.

But another model has risen up where “parents select a school that is right for their child; educators receive the support they need and are expected to perform; schools that fail to get results lose students and eventually may cease to exist; those that succeed attract more students and continue to innovate and grow – with parents in the drivers’ seat, through and through.

“This is the school choice model, which President Trump’s first education executive orders aim to reinforce.”

Heavy hitters for school choice, including Arizona’s Jenny Clark and Michael McShane of EdChoice, testified to lawmakers about school choice’s benefits and refuted false attacks from critics.

Among them was the myth that school choice is bad for students with disabilities.

Clark told lawmakers that 18% of that Arizona’s education savings account (ESA) participants have special needs, which is a higher percentage than in public school.

“Families are choosing Arizona’s ESA program because they feel like they’re doing more for their student with disabilities with less money than what the public school was doing,” said Clark, who founded Love Your School and sits on her state Board of Education.

Clark used the ESA to homeschool three of her children who have learning disabilities and found better curriculum for her sons with dyslexia than what was available in public school.

But Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Connecticut, couldn’t believe that Clark was able to educate her children adequately with the $7,500 ESA since public schools spend twice that amount on similar special needs students.

“I would disagree with that,” Hayes said, resorting to familiar arguments against school choice.

“I know, and anyone who’s ever looked at a public school budget knows, that those services are not provided for $7,500, but this idea of private voucher programs is absolutely a sham. It’s moving taxpayer money to a profit source for the billionaire class.”

Jessica Levin, a lawyer for the Education Law Center and the lone school choice opponent to testify, repeated the claims that school choice “devastates” state budgets, hurts public schools and is largely unnecessary.

“We know what needs to be done to help all students succeed: adequately fund evidence-backed programs in public schools that welcome all students,” she said. “There’s already quite a bit of school choice in public education.”

But Walter Blanks Jr., who grew up in inner-city Columbus, Ohio, explained how his parents pulled him out of public school after he was beaten up and used school choice to put him in private school.

“The principal turned to my mother and said, ‘If you give us five years, we’ll have the middle school turned around and the high school turned around, and Walter will be able to thrive,’” he shared. “Without hesitation, my mother, who took off work to come and see her baby bruised up in school, looked at him in the eye and said, ‘In five years, Walter will either be in jail or in a body bag, and we don’t have time for either of those things.’ She took my hand and we left, and from that moment on, I never stepped foot in that school again.”

Blanks, who is now a spokesperson for the American Federation for Children, said his testimony is proof that school choice works.

“We’ve heard that vouchers don’t work, or that vouchers don’t help the lower income minority community. That’s me. I am that student that was a low-income minority and didn’t have any other options,” he said.

Rep. Mary Miller, R-Illinois, who homeschooled her children to give them Christian values, decried how Democrats have kept minority children trapped in failing, inner-city schools.

“I’ve been saying for a long time, the most racist thing going on in our country is forcing children in inner city schools, black and brown children, to be forced to stay in failing schools. And this has got to end,” she said.

Things got even more intense when Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah, asked Levin, who attended private school and went on to earn a law degree from Harvard, if she would send her children to Baltimore Public Schools, where not a single child could do math on grade level in 40% of its high schools.

“I’m very impressed with your background: magna cum laude from Cornell University, University of Oxford and JD cum laude from Harvard Law School. I’m going to guess that’s because you had a remarkable foundation.” he said. “You have parents to truly focus on your education, on that process, am I correct?

“Would you have had the same experience, you think, if you lived in the Baltimore area with 28 schools (where) you have 2,000 seniors with zero proficiency of math or California (where a) study back in 2017 (found) 75% of the black boys cannot read (or) pass reading (and) writing tests?”

Levin responded that it was her parents that chose to send her to an expensive private school, but that her organization opposes “any type of private school choice program.”

Owens pressed again. “Would you put your children in the school system here in Baltimore if you’re stuck there, if you didn’t have a choice of what we’re talking about. Would you be okay to leave your child in a school that’s failing 100%, zero proficiency in math?”

“I will absolutely put any children I have, including the one I’m expecting, into public schools,” Levin responded, which gave Owens a final try.

“We’re not talking about good public schools (but) schools that are failing our kids. Would you be willing to put your child in a school that everybody else, all these parents, are trying to get their kids out of?” he asked.

“I don’t believe that our public schools are failing. I believe that that’s a narrative created at the national level,” Levin said.

“There’s a word called Chutzpah,” Owens retorted, referencing a Jewish term for extreme self-confidence or audacity. “That’s a lot of chutzpah.”

Congress is considering the Educational Choice for Children Act, which would create a national tax credit to support school choice, even in states that don’t have school choice programs. The legislation was referred to the Senate Finance Committee but has had no further action.