Those who know the value of choice…
… are often the ones who work to deny the same choices to others.
John Fund took a good look at “Opportunity for Politicians’ Children” in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, noting that “My vote for the worst scandal in America right now is the education monopoly that keeps poor, inner-city kids trapped in failing public schools.”
Mr. Duncan himself knows the value of choice. He told Science magazine that he thought carefully where to send his daughter to school in the D.C. area when he moved from Chicago to join the Obama cabinet. He explained his decision to live in Virginia thusly: “My family has given up so much so that I could have the opportunity to serve; I didn’t want to try to save the country’s children and our educational system and jeopardize my own children’s education.”
It goes without saying that we support school choice. And for some families, like Mr. Duncan’s, they already have choice. They have the means and the flexibility to move to a suitable school district- or the resources to send their children to a private school that best meets their children’s needs.
Sadly, for the majority of families, this is not the case.
Mr. Duncan, like his boss, President Obama, already has access to educational options. We do not fault them for making what they felt were the best choices for their children’s education. We think it is important for parents to be involved in educational decisions and be able to find educational environments that work for their kids. What does concern us is that Mr. Duncan and President Obama recognize the state of the DC public school system and the obstacles those schools face, and yet, when they have the chance to give those students and families hope for a better education with the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, they shut the door.
Why should those families in DC not have the same chance for a better education? Especially when the DC Scholarships SAVE money versus the per pupil spending in the DC public schools? Can they really keep a straight face and say “heck no, I would never send my kids to those schools,” and then do nothing to allow other families the chance to get their own kids out of that environment? And why stop with just DC? Why should any parent anywhere feel that their child is trapped in a school that cannot meet their needs? Or trapped in a school where they feel unsafe?
To us that just doesn’t make sense. We applaud Mr. Duncan for wanting to “save the country’s children and our educational system.” That sounds all well and good, but we just hope that he is willing to open his eyes and really consider what works. School choice works. He should know that as well as anyone.
Save Opportunity
While School Choice Virginia is focused on providing educational options for Virginia families, as readers of our blog know we closely follow efforts in other state, and especially our neighbors across the Potomac in DC. We’ve been reporting quite a bit recently about the ongoing battle to save the DC Opportunity Scholarships, and wanted to share with you information about a group on the ground in this effort, Save Opportunity.
Through awesome grassroots organization, volunteers have been reaching out to the community- communicating directly with over 15,000 and collecting more than 3,000 letters and signatures in support of the DC Opportunity Scholarships.
To learn more about their efforts and how you can help, visit them online at SaveOpportunity.org.
Friday School Choice News
Earlier this week we noted the results of a new survey finding that DC parents overwhelmingly support school choice. This continues to make headlines:
To read the full survey results and report, visit the Friedman Foundation.
And in exciting news for DC families, yesterday a bi-partisan group of Senators led by Senator Joe Lieberman announced legislation to save the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. The legislation includes co-sponsors Diane Feinstein (D-CA), George Voinovich (R-OH), Robert Byrd (D-WV) and John Ensign (R-NV).
From the press release from the Alliance for School Choice:
“This is not a liberal program or a conservative program, but a program that puts children first,” Lieberman said. “And I am proud to say that it’s working.”
Under Senator Lieberman’s bill, the program would be preserved and strengthened significantly. The Lieberman bill would increase scholarship amounts to $9,000 for K-8 students and $11,000 for high school students—indexing the scholarship amounts to inflation. While these amounts remain significantly below the amounts for the D.C. Public Schools, they provide the necessary increases to account for inflation over the past five years.
Several stories have run on this development:
- Senate introduces bill augmenting D.C. voucher program
- Liberal and Conservative Senators Unite on Bill to Reinstate D.C. School Vouchers
Collins, meanwhile, noted that a little girl sitting in the front row was wearing a sticker reading, “What about me?”
“I think that’s the question that you should ask anyone who is opposing our efforts to extend this important program — you should ask, ‘What about me? Don’t I deserve a good education?’
“D.C. residents want school choice and reform”
… AND they “overwhelmingly support the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.”
Not that it comes as much of a surprise, but a recent poll found that 74% of DC respondents favor or strongly favor the scholarship program. More than 80% of parents of school-aged children support the program- and 79% of parents oppose ending the program- as proposed by Congress and the current Administration.
”While Congress and the Obama administration are allowing fewer scholarships, this poll shows D.C. families want even more,” said former D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous. “They need to wake up. This program needs to be continued and expanded, not shut down.”
For the full article from the Washington Times, visit online here.
School choice for military dependents?
The Marine Corps Times is reporting a federal proposal to provide school choice to children of military men and women.
A key senator has come up with a proposal to subsidize attendance at private or charter schools for military dependents.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, ranking Republican on the Senate armed services subcommittee on personnel, proposes a pilot program where the Defense Department would give “scholarships” to selected elementary and secondary school students that could be used to pay for private schools or the charter schools.
One military spouse testified:
“To have our children in one area with quality blue ribbon schools and then be reassigned to a location where the schools are rated below average is distressing to families,” Davis said. “Our kids’ education should not have to suffer because of military obligations.”
Read the full article online here.
Making Headlines
As Congress debates whether to continue the very successful DC Opportunity Scholarship program that is offering nearly 2,000 students in the District the chance at a better education (and has a waiting list of another 7,000 students), others are considering the impact that will have for other school choice programs around the country, including our efforts here in Virginia.
DC Examiner reporter Leah Fabel takes a look at this issue in today’s article, Voucher advocates hope national effort isn’t stymied:
Advocates for private school vouchers outside Washington hope that the likely demise of D.C.’s program won’t kill efforts nationwide.
“My first hope is the program doesn’t end in D.C.,” said Howard Fuller, the former superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools who helped craft the district’s nearly 20-year-old voucher program. “My second hope is if it does, it won’t impact programs in other parts of the country.”
Across the nation, proponents are closely watching measures in Congress that require reauthorization of D.C.’s federally funded vouchers used by 1,700 mostly low-income students. The likely requirement signals a death knell to the program, as a Democratic Congress is unlikely to support the traditionally Republican idea.
Read the rest of the article here.
We hope Congressional leaders will do the right thing, and continue to fund the Opportunity Scholarship program so that students in our nation’s Capital will be able to have access to the educational opportunities that they desperately need.
Competition is key to education excellence
We have said it before, competition is key. Competition pushes everyone to be better.
When it comes to education, the status quo isn’t working. But the good news, more and more are taking up the cause that what we need in education is radical reforms and greater competition.
In this column by US Congressman Tom Tancredo in the Rocky Mountain News, the Congressman makes the case for education reforms.
“I am a former public school teacher, and like it or not, education is a product. As we all know, you don’t get a better product by stifling competition or imposing a rigid regime of government protectionism.
If we want a better product when it comes to education – higher educational achievement levels by our school graduates – our government policies must be geared toward satisfying the consumer: students and their parents.”
Tancredo goes on to challenge the status quo mentality of the unions and urges free market- not big government- solutions to improving educational opportunities for all students.
“If history has taught us anything, it is that solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems have come only when we have unleashed the power of the free market. The answer to the education problem, simply put, is more choices for parents, and more competition by schools for students. It is not another ambitious big government “solution” put together by the same special interests that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo – a status quo that even Romer and Ritter admit leaves our students lagging far behind youngsters from Seoul and Singapore as they enter a newly competitive global economy.”
