Standing In The School House Door

IBD Editorials ^ | February 4, 2009

[Kaslin]

Education: In their rush to spend, the Democratic Congress and White House are funding everything from mice to miscreants. Yet they refuse to fund the futures of underprivileged kids in the capital.

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Is this a political payoff to the teachers unions, the groups most threatened by vouchers? How else can the Democrats justify shutting off funds to the only federal school voucher program?

For five years, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has helped low-income students attend the schools of their choice rather than the poorly run, low-performing public schools in the District of Columbia. The program expires in June and will be defunded after the 2009-10 school year if the $410 billion spending package already passed by the House is approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama.

It's too soon to declare the program an academic success, as it has been in effect for only a short time and no more than 1,900 students have received vouchers in any given school year.

But parents who have used the vouchers — their average income: roughly $22,000 a year — have said they're happy with it. And taxpayers should be, as well. Somehow the same students that the district school system has been spending more than $24,000 a year on each to educate can get along on vouchers of no more than $7,500.

Trouble is, Democrats, despite their rhetoric, are rarely interested in saving taxpayers money. Indeed, the $789 billion stimulus bill and the $410 billion spending package now in Congress are evidence they rather like spending other people's money.

They also enjoy spending campaign cash handed out by the teachers unions, which spent more than $5 million on the 2008 election cycle on Democrats, but just $263,000 on Republican

[txnativegop]

Get rid of the U.S. Department of Education immediately, especially since Bill Ayers will no doubt have some hand in its operations.

[widowithfoursons]

Can't have the proles attending Sidwell, don’cha know. They could then be in a position to compete with the elite.

[ken21]

the california state teachers advertise non-stop on radio.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I like to ask questions but don’t get good answers to question such as :

Is the state of education in this country better since we had a Department of Education? Do students get a better education since Jimmy Carter created this department?

Is our energy situation better since we have had a Department of Energy?

Government has important roles to play in some areas, but I really wonder if energy and education are better off since previous presidents declared the importance of these areas having cabinet level status.

[txnativegop]

The Dept of Education was created when I was elementary school. After the mid-80’s or so, our kids could barely read or write when they graduated HS. Now they can’t at all (in far too many cases). The answer is NO.

Control of education should be strictly local or at the state level depending upon the wishes of the people living in each state.

As I remember, the DOE was originally created to keep track of weapons-grade fissile materiel. The answer is MAYBE.

Hope that helps.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yet the blacks will still vote overwhelmingly for ‘Rats. The same party of slavery and Jim Crow. Are they just STUPID?