A Neat Solution to the DC Vouchers Issue
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday that poor children getting vouchers to attend private schools in the District of Columbia should be allowed to stay there, putting the Obama administration at odds with Democrats trying to end the program.
The AP doesn't mention that some of these private schools getting taxpayer money are religious schools, which seems to violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
Duncan opposes vouchers, he said in an interview with The Associated Press. But he said Washington is a special case, and kids already in private schools on the public dime should be allowed to continue.
DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee predictably weighs in in favor of vouchers in the same article:
"I don't think vouchers are going to solve all the ills of public education, but parents who are zoned to schools that are failing kids should have options to do better by their kids," Rhee told The New York Times recently.
The article also sums up the reasons for opposition to voucher programs:
Democrats, teachers' unions and other opponents say it is impossible to expect public schools to do better while precious public dollars are being siphoned away to private schools.
So while Duncan and Rhee are arguing that students in low-performing schools should be able to put taxpayer dollars in private schools - thus out of the public system and, moreover, into some religious private schools, which contravenes the wall of separation between church and state - Richard Kahlenberg at The Century Foundation suggests an alternative that still gives those students choice, but keeps their dollars in the public school system:
The Journal argued, “Without the vouchers, more than 80% of the 1,700 kids would have to attend public schools that haven’t made ‘adequate yearly progress’ under No Child Left Behind.” In a second editorial, The Post further suggested the anti-voucher provision reflects "the stranglehold the teachers unions have on the Democratic Party." Politically, the issue puts President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats in a tricky position, where they look cold-hearted -- and beholden to "special interests" -- if they don’t continue the program. There is, however, a third alternative beyond private school vouchers and inferior high poverty schools: giving vouchers to a reasonable number of students to attend high performing public schools in Washington’s suburban districts in Maryland and Virginia.
Currently, wealthy D.C. residents can pay tuition to have their children attend excellent public school systems like Montgomery County, Maryland’s. Why not give those students currently receiving private school vouchers such an opportunity?
{snip}
A public school transfer program would avoid the church/state and accountability questions raised by private school vouchers. And the proposal would provide an interesting reversal of the current political posture. If conservatives opposed the program, they would suddenly become the cold-hearted opponents of giving low income kids a better education.
Doesn't that make sense?
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