Limits Are Likely On D.C. School Vouchers (Lib truth alert)

The Washington Post ^ | December 10, 2009 | Michael Birnbaum

[khnyny]

Congress appears likely to keep the D.C. voucher program closed to new students but open to current ones, curtailing the hopes of advocates who had pressed for a full revival of the controversial program.

The news is buried deep within a thousand-page omnibus spending bill released Monday by a joint conference of House and Senate Appropriations Committee members. The proposal allocates $13.2 million to vouchers and would tighten accountability measures for schools that participate in the program, which provides low-income D.C. students with up to $7,500 to attend private schools.

Bringing further upheaval to the program, the Washington Scholarship Fund, the nonprofit organization that has overseen the voucher program since its beginning in 2004, sent the Department of Education a letter last week announcing that it planned to withdraw from its role at the end of this school year if the program is not reauthorized by the end of January. Congressional staff members said it is unlikely that there will be a vote by then.

That would leave the Department of Education to find a new group to administer the program.

Fund administrators said that it was unfair for families receiving vouchers to be in limbo beyond January, when the applications season for private schools, charters and out-of-boundary public schools kicks into high gear, and that uncertainty about the program is making it "virtually impossible" to prepare the application and renewal process.

"We can't reasonably help our families, and we can't reasonably run this, if a decision about the future is not made" by January, said Gregory Cork, president and chief executive of the organization.

The Washington Scholarship Fund's plans were first reported by the Weekly Standard.

[khnyny]

The left's concern for the poor and minorities is a sham. This program is working to help poor minority students lift themselves out of the poverty/welfare/crime trap. But, ultimately, politics trumps the left's "concern for the poor".

[Navy Patriot]

Liberal DemoRats do provide extensive facilities for minority youth. They are called “State Prisons”.

[Jeff Chandler]

The children are being punished for the sins of their fathers (voting Democrat). Trans-generational karma.

[khnyny]

From the article: “President Obama has expressed support for keeping the program open only to current students.”

Obama is the product of a very expensive, private education, but of course he doesn’t think that others deserve the same advantage. Obama is throwing poor minority students under the bus to appease his Democratic political base like the NEA and various teacher’s unions.

[Soothesayer]

They can’t let the poor get too educated. Then the their union buddies will get less money because there won’t be a continuous need for “reform”. Also, an independent, educated population won’t need to rely on the government for everything.

[panzerkamphwageneinz]

keep them on the plantation. Tell them just how smart and just how much hope their kids can have. Keeping it real y’all!

[pnh102]

I applaud this. The idiot residents of DC fully deserve their children to be thrown to the wolves at their local public schools because they voted for it.

[Gene Eric]

>> The left’s concern for the poor and minorities is a sham.

They feed only their own. They don’t give two blanks about any minority that does not subscribe to their agenda.