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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Geoff Altman who wrote (33576)	3/3/2009 8:59:09 AM
From: Peter Dierks	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Unionized education is an inflexible dinosaur that should be put out of it's misery... Unions are inflexible dinosaurs that should be put out of our misery...

To: Geoff Altman who wrote (33576)	3/9/2009 5:29:14 PM
From: Peter Dierks	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Obama and the Schools It's time to stand up to the teachers' unions. MARCH 9, 2009 Education Secretary Arne Duncan said last week that poor children receiving federally financed vouchers to attend private schools in Washington, D.C., shouldn't be forced out of those schools. Bully for Mr. Duncan. But the voice that matters most is President Obama's, and so far he's been shouting at zero decibels. His silence is an all-clear for Democrats in Congress who have put language in the omnibus spending bill that would effectively end the program after next year. Should they succeed, 1,700 mostly black and Hispanic students who use the vouchers would return to the notoriously violent and underperforming D.C. public school system, which spends more money per pupil than almost any city in the nation yet graduates only about half of its students. The D.C. voucher program has more than four applicants for every available slot. Parental satisfaction is sky high. And independent evaluations -- another is scheduled for release later this month -- show that children in the program perform better academically than their peers who do not receive vouchers. This is the kind of school reform that the federal government should encourage and expand. The Senate hasn't yet approved the spending measure, and there's nothing stopping the popular President from asking Democratic leaders to reconsider their voucher phase-out. Mr. Obama signed a stimulus bill last month that spends some $100 billion on education. But by not asking unions for anything in return for the money, he missed an historic reform opportunity. This time he could at least publicly back Mr. Duncan and D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who's also expressed concern that ending the program would relegate low-income kids to failing schools. It's no surprise that the Obamas opted out of D.C. public schools for their own daughters and instead chose an exclusive private institution. Come on, Mr. President, find your voice for families of lesser means. online.wsj.com