With the 2020 presidential election right around the corner, people of faith are concerned about stances from both candidates.
One area of concern under candidate Joe Biden is the issue of education, because he has threatened to end the school choice scholarship program, a release issued on the Sunshine Sentinel website said.
The school choice program in Florida is an important resource for families who are lower income but do not want to send their children to public school. The termination of the school choice scholarship would impact over 130,000 students K-12th grade, which would leave some lower-income families no choice but to send their children to public school.
Ozzy Perez explained that as a Catholic, school choice is an important aspect of raising children.
“Well, I do believe in school choice,” Perez, who lives in Miami, told the North Miami-Dade News. “At the end of the day, you know, it is our money. We are the taxpayers. Why not have us be able to send our kids wherever we want with that money?”
As Catholics, the decision of who to vote for cannot come down so much to party but the values of the candidates.
“Well, I think that as a Catholic, we have conservative principles from our birth and being brought up as a Catholic myself," Perez told the News. "I've been conservative my whole life. And those tenets don't go away because we grew up. Maybe they might falter at times, but we come back to those original foundations of those original tenets that we were brought up with.
“I think a Catholic vote has a voice, especially for us young people that are Catholics. You know, we want a strong foundation for our country. We want a strong foundation for the conservative principles behind all Catholics. And our vote is the most important key to getting a conservative choice, for all offices, no matter what the office holds.”
While it is concerning that Biden may pull the funding, Perez acknowledged that it is up to the American people as to whether or not it happens.
“So let him and the president say what they got to say and let the chips fall where they may end up,” Perez said.
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