School Vouchers in DC

I am sitting here watching a working Mom with 3 kids speak about school vouchers. This family lives in Washington, DC and the oldest of the kids has been able to attend a private, parochial school using the $7,500 voucher. In contrast, the DC public schools spend $15,000 per student to produce some of the most poorly educated students in the country. The high schools in DC have a less than 30% achievment level in all subjects measured in the No Child Left Behind standards.

So, in their collective and far-reaching wisdom Congress has killed the voucher system in DC. Not one dollar of the stimulus (read payola and patronage) will go to the voucher program or DC public schools. Why? I do not know. You might ask the teachers union (NEA), but me thinks that there is an agenda present in that group.

The parents of 1,700 DC students are crushed by the decision to end the voucher option (read: scholarship) for kids and families that have the ambition to improve themselves and their futures. Once again, a socialist agenda trumps the common good. The kids locked in a ghetto who want to advance are once again the hostages of politics, power, and greed.

Thank you President Obama.

Now, a word to you Leftists out there. You can not accuse the Bush Administration of forcing No Child Left Behind down out throats. Only the NEA is offended by being held to standards, not parents. Also, this is not yet another Bush lead conspiracy, with the likes of Halliburton, to funnel $$ to big government and corporations outside the U.S.