Another Look at How Members of Congress Exercise School Choice

A new Heritage Foundation Backgrounder contains the findings of a 2001 survey that looked at how members of Congress practice school choice. (A similar survey was conducted in 2000.) It turns out that forty-seven percent of House members and fifty-one percent of senators have children who attend or have attended private schools-percentages far higher than those of the general populace. Similar data are available on members of important committees and caucuses, including the House and Senate education committees. The report notes that it's hard to see how opponents of school choice-such as Senators Clinton, Kennedy and Rockefeller-justify voting against allowing poor parents a choice in their children's education while availing their own families of such choices. This short report can be found at: www.heritage.org/library/backgrounder/bg1553.html