Geoghegan’s full testimony can be found HERE once the hearing begins.


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) today announced Claudine “Beanie” Geoghegan, visiting fellow at IWF’s Education Freedom Center, will testify before the U.S. House Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, on the repercussions of COVID-era school closures. The hearing begins at 2:00 p.m. ET (April 16). 

The hearing, entitled “Liberty, Tyranny, and Accountability: Covid-19 and the Constitution,” will examine federal and state responses to the pandemic and its effects on Americans’ civil liberties. As a mother, educator, and co-founder of Freedom in Education, Geoghegan will share her son’s experience as a graduating senior in public education and how school closures disrupted and delegitimized his academic journey. 

In her testimony, Geoghegan writes, in part, “Public schools sent functionally illiterate and innumerate young people out into the workforce or world of higher education, woefully unprepared to thrive or flourish. Too many young people today, especially young men, do not feel prepared to take on adult responsibilities or the challenges of college life.”

Geoghegan adds, “This will not be fixed by increasing funding to the very institutions that shut their doors to millions of students nationwide and left the parents to pick up the broken pieces of their children. The solution to this problem was and is to allow families, not the government, to choose the best learning environment for their children. The families who had that choice during COVID-19 are mostly free from this fallout because their schools stayed open or reopened much more quickly than public schools.” 

Witnesses include:

  • Beanie Geoghegan, Visiting Fellow, Independent Women’s Forum and Co-Founder, Freedom in Education; 
  • Harmeet Dhillon, Founder and CEO, Center for American Liberty; and
  • Dr. Joseph Ladapo, State Surgeon General of Florida

Specific areas of concern that Geoghegan will highlight include:

  • School board members’ unwillingness to reopen schools during the pandemic, despite parental efforts to advocate for their students ;
  • How schools squandered the congressionally approved $190 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) stimulus money allocated to schools to help mitigate the effects of COVID-19;
  • Bleak state assessments that demonstrate how public schools sent unprepared and functionally illiterate students out into higher education and the workforce;
  • Soaring rates of chronic absenteeism, mental health issues, unhealthy screen time, and suicide rates among students; and
  • The drop in college enrollment and increasing disillusionment with the investment returns on higher education.

During her testimony, Geoghegan will highlight the need for Congress to:

  • Allow families, not the government, to choose the best learning environment for their children;
  • Deliver accountability to school districts, rather than merely increasing funding to the very school districts that shut their doors to millions of students nationwide; and
  • Prevent the delegitimization of academic learning for future generations of students during a crisis response.

Details:

WHAT: United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, “Liberty, Tyranny, and Accountability: Covid-19 and the Constitution” Hearing

WHEN: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 2 p.m. EDT

WHERE: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building 

Media inquiries: [email protected]

Geoghegan’s full testimony will be available HERE once the hearing begins.

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www.iwf.org

Independent Women’s Forum is dedicated to developing and advancing policies that aren’t just well intended but actually enhance people’s freedom, choices, and opportunities. 

IWF’s Education Freedom Center (EFC) advances school choice and empowers parents by advocating for a more vibrant education marketplace. The EFC informs the public about the benefits of education freedom and highlights school choice as a solution to the power imbalance between parents and unresponsive school districts.