D.C. Vouchers Are Gone

I didn’t think it would ultimately happen, but it has: the budget proposal before Congress has essentially eliminated the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) – the program that provides vouchers for poor children which they can use to attend private schools.  Chuck Colson has some great thoughts on this terrible decision (read them here), including:

And it’s not that the voucher program didn’t work. A federal study showed that the mostly black and Hispanic participants were making great academic gains, narrowing the achievement gap. And more than 70 percent of Washingtonians supported the program.

So why did Congress cut it out? The National Education Association wanted them to do so.

How many times do private schools and home educators have to show the evidence of their successes?  How many times do they need to score well on tests, get into good colleges, transfer into strong jobs?  Haven’t they proven their worth?

The answer, of course, is that they absolutely have proven their worth, but no one wants to hear about it.  The educational establishment is stuck in the bureaucracy and traditions of the public school system.  It’s hard enough even to get them to make room for the existence of alternative schools.  Small wonder then that they take so much umbrage at the idea of funding these alternatives… even if the funding makes financial and practical sense.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program received about $13 million in federal funds.  D.C. Public schools receive about $120 million in federal appropriations, and they were given a $13 million matching increase when Congress decided to grant $13 million to the OSP.  But it is the OSP with its small $13 million that is taking a hit – not the poorly performing public schools which are receiving more than $120 million.  Worst of all, the President’s budget will cut funding for the highly-successful OSP but increase funding for public and public charter schools in D.C.  Heritage has more details here.

Why?  It’s about bureaucracy, habits, and job security, among other things.  Lest I sound too harsh, let me say that many, many teachers in public schools across this nation are simply trying to be good teachers and have a positive impact on children.  But the elements within the educational establishment that are pushing to end the D.C. voucher program aren’t concerned about the children; they’re worried about their jobs, influence, and standing.

Sadly, this cut happened even despite the opposition of many Democrats.  Senators Robert Byrd and Dianne Feinstein, among others, strongly supported maintaining the voucher system.

Now, is this use of government money for private education ideal?  Maybe not.  But if we are going to be taxed in order to pay for the education of our nation’s youth, then we should demand that that money go to give them the best possible education.  The voucher program sought to do just that: provide poor young people with the funds to get a better education at a better school than their local public school.  For all of President Obama’s talk about helping the poor, he left them out in the cold this time.