John J. Miller, who wrote a segment of Fordham's recent Catholic schools report, has a nice piece in the most recent National Review that traces the beginnings of school choice--charters and vouchers--in Washington, D.C. (Right now, it's available only to subscribers, but once the NR brass makes it public, I'll be sure to repost the link.) It helps clarify at least one thing about the city's Opportunity Scholarship Program, which Eleanor Holmes Norton and her Congressional colleagues??are planning to kill: The burden of explanation rests with them. That is, OSP supporters include a wide range of people: Conservative Republicans; liberal Democrats; Washington, D.C.'s mayor and schools chancellor; Marion Barry; private school administrators; parents whose students are enrolled through the program. If Norton and Congressional Democrats choose to stick their finger in the eyes of such a truly diverse and widespread crowd, they 1) will need to justify their actions with some convincing arguments (which have heretofore hid), and they should 2) be ready to receive some serious backlash. The battle is over a specific policy that involves only D.C., but it's??going to make??national news... and it's unlikely that our presidential contenders can be silent about it. (If McCain wants some easy education points [points he's mostly lacking], he might want to jump in on the right side of this fight.)
