The Senate passed its $410 billion budget bill yesterday and rejected an amendment that would have restored funding for the DC voucher program (vote was 58-39). This means that the 1,700 students enrolled in the scholarship program will likely have to return to the failing schools they left. Sen. John Ensign (R) offered the amendment, while Sen. Richard Durbin (D) provided the anti-voucher rhetoric.?? Durbin's justification for shutting the program down?
"Those on the other side" have "completely given up on D.C. Public Schools" and Mr. Ensign's amendment "would further the schools' destruction."
Oh please. Giving 1,700 poor kids the option to leave their failing schools means destruction for DC public schools? I'd say we need to be more worried about destroying kids than institutions. If anything, high-quality choices strengthen the DC system. Forcing students to return to dismal schools that don't meet their needs is hardly right by them. Patricia William, parent of a voucher student, understands this all too well: "It's not a competition between public schools, charter and private. Not all schools work the same for all children and we, as parents, should have the right to choose the school that works for them." Mrs. William, let's hope you get to continue exercising that choice for your child. But unless Congress steps in to reauthorize the program--which some say is highly unlikely--your choices will dwindle quickly after this year.
