Oops, looks like AS hasn't really been following the battle, only hitting the talking points.
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School Yard Showdown
The battle over school choice reaches a critical point in the Senate this week. Will freedom prevail?
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This Week in Policy and Politics
The future of American education will be shaped this week in the U.S. Senate. Will the Senate choose a path of school choice and innovation, or will it choose to continue the same command-and-control policies that are stealing opportunity for an entire generation of children?
The District of Columbia public school system is failing far too many kids. Despite spending nearly $10,000 per student—one of the highest per student spending budgets in the world—D.C. test scores are among the worst in the country. In fact, at only one District public high school can the majority of the students read at above the “below basic” level.
How bad are D.C. public schools? D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, who compares D.C. schools to Hurricane Isabel and other natural disasters, is considering a takeover. We’ve spent and spent, and the result is the same. More money is not the answer.
D.C. Mayor Williams also supports our plan to create scholarships for some of the neediest kids in the most troubled schools. It’s a novel effort that would bring new money and new opportunities for these kids. But the liberals in Congress and the teachers’ unions are dead-set against it. When I was in Congress, I passed similar legislation, but President Clinton vetoed it. George W. Bush, though, is a true leader on this issue, and that presidential veto won’t happen this time around.
Let’s put this debate into context. The D.C. school system enrolls 67,000 students, pays 11,000 employees, and proposes spending $745 million next year.
Comparatively, the Senate bill would award just $13 million in scholarships to low-income kids in the worst schools. These vouchers, at a maximum of $7,500 per student per year, would reach only about 1,700 of D.C.’s 67,000 public school kids. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the need. The House bill is even more modest, with just $10 million in scholarship funding—enough for about 1,300 students. Not to mention that the entire program will be monitored and reevaluated by Congress in just five years.
What are the liberals so scared of? They’re afraid it will work.
The 2.7 million-member National Education Association (NEA) and other teachers unions know in their hearts that school choice will be a success. Better academic results for D.C. school kids will signal the end of the NEA’s control over a sprawling public education system that is more interested in protecting the status quo than doing what’s in the best interest of our children. The NEA knows that all D.C. parents, not just 1,700, will soon demand their own vouchers. And then, parents all across the nation will push for school choice in their own communities. That’s why the NEA is pressuring Representatives and Senators whose constituents live far from the District of Columbia to vote against the interests of the D.C. Mayor and D.C. families.
As a result, the Senate debate thus far is completely unproductive. The usual Senate suspects—Ted Kennedy (D- Mass.) and company—are threatening a filibuster. But, thanks to the work of grassroots activists like CSE, there may be enough votes to beat the filibuster. Senators Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) are the swing votes, but according to media reports they’re not completely happy with the current proposal.
According to the Washington Post, Senators Landrieu and Carper are proposing to extend a number of public school rules to private schools as a condition of receiving voucher students. For example, they want instructors in participating private schools to meet the same teacher qualification standards as those imposed on public school teachers. Sounds reasonable, but most private schools don’t meet these complicated, and often, counterproductive regulations. Private schools succeed in part because they are free to focus hiring good educators, not meeting union hiring guidelines.
Senators Landrieu and Carper also reportedly want to impose a cap to would prevent participating private schools from charging more than $7,500 in tuition. That’s outrageous—if low-income parents want to supplement their children’s education by spending more than the scholarship maximum that should be their choice. Since when does the United States Congress feel an obligation to restrict the amount of money poor families spend on education?
As a whole, many of these ideas are the exact opposite of reform and innovation The “reforms” put forth by Senators Landrieu and Carper are designed to make D.C. private schools more like the failed public ones. Applying the stifling public school regulations to private schools in D.C. will destroy the freedom and efficiency that lets them produce superior results to D.C. public schools. The hope is that we can give enough to Senators Landrieu and Carper to pass the bill without undermining the very essence of school choice.
Depending on how this shakes out, the full Senate vote could happen this week. If we succeed, there will be a Conference negotiation as well as final passage votes in the House and again in the Senate. So, please use this opportunity to contact your Representatives and Senators and let them know that they need to support D.C. school choice! |
