Posted on 03/17/2010 1:00:24 PM PDT by rhema
On Capitol Hill, all eyes have been focused on the House, as efforts to pass healthcare reform have grown increasingly dramatic. But a less-watched debate began in the Senate Tuesday, which offered a second chance for the Washington, D.C. private school voucher program that Congress phased out last year. The effort, however, was quickly squashed by a vote Tuesday night, with most Democrats voting against it along with Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised in January that he would allow debate about the program on the Senate floor. And on Tuesday, the Senate began considering a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, which included an amendment by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., to reinstate vouchers for district schoolchildren.
The amendment was defeated 42-55, mostly along party lines. Lieberman’s amendment would have reopened the program to new students and raised the scholarship awards to low-income parents from $7,500 to $9,000 for elementary students and up to $11,000 for high schoolers. These numbers are still lower than what D.C. Public Schools spend per student each year.
Sens. Robert Byrd (D-WVa.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) had signed onto the amendment as co-sponsors.
Feinstein and Bill Nelson of Florida were the only Senate Democrats to join Lieberman in voting for the amendment (Byrd was absent). “What is everybody scared of? Why not reauthorize it?” said Feinstein from the floor Tuesday, citing the positive achievement reports on the program.
“It’s been very rare when I’ve been involved in a debate in the Senate on a matter, where I haven’t felt there were some respectable good arguments on the other side,” Lieberman said from the floor. “But I must say on this one, I can’t think of a single good reason to be opposed to this amendment.”
Though the majority of the chamber voted against the program, only one senator rose to speak against the vouchers from the floor, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. Several in the Democratic caucus, like Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., have voiced their opposition in the past.
The Secular Coalition for America, a longtime opponent of school vouchers, sent an “action alert” to its constituents, requesting that they call their senators to oppose the amendment. “By continuing this program, those of us who do not wish to subsidize someone else’s church will continue to be forced to do so through our federal tax dollars,” the alert noted, adding that vouchers are designed to “aid struggling Christian schools” and force students “to attend religious schools or remain in the failing public school system.”
A 2002 Supreme Court decision, however, found that voucher programs are constitutional as long as they do not impose or influence school choices for parents.
The National Education Association, representing teachers’ labor unions, also opposes the program.
Congress closed the program to new students last year, cutting enrollment from about 1,700 students to approximately 1,300 students. And voucher advocates are not optimistic that Congress will renew funding for a dying program over the next couple of years to support students that are still attending voucher schools. The D.C. government has not yet moved to fund the program locally, insisting that it is already dealing with serious budget shortfalls.
Meanwhile, President Obama sent Congress his blueprint to reform President Bush’s major education initiation, No Child Left Behind. Broadly speaking, the administration plans to focus less on annual testing scores and more on raising graduation rates.
“Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: All students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career—no matter who you are or where you come from,” the president said over the weekend. He emphasized that priority last week by donating $750,000 of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize award to nonprofit groups promoting higher education and scholarship funds.
DC voted 93% for 0bama. They got what they deserved today.
Uh oh. Feinstein had better watch herself, or she'll spend a few weeks in the NEA re-education camp.
Democrats can't win with an educated, informed and intellectually competent electorate. They'll NEVER support substantive education reform. Democrats love teachers, and loathe students.
When any union boss says, “Sh*t!,” Democrats squat and ask, “What color?”
What matters is that the Republicans (except Snowe) were on the side of the angels. There won't be as many Dem DC voters in November and 2012; the ones who care about their kids' education will start bailing.
http://www.walletpop.com/specials/best-and-worst-public-school-systems-in-us
The Democrat Unions screwed D.C. kids and their parents once again.
Can’t have them straying off the Democrat plantation. They may open their eyes.
They have to reauthorize the FAA?
Wow, Olympia is quite the turd. I guess that paleness is more than skin deep.
“DC voted 93% for 0bama. They got what they deserved today.”
You betcha! ‘Can’t have educated future voters in mostly black cities. It’s not the democratic way.
“Money talks and bullsh*t walks.”
—BOBBY BAKER, LBJ’s Senate Bag Man
On the final day of the National Education Association’s convention last summer, its outgoing general counsel, Bob Chanin, gave a speech for the ages. After sharing fond recollections of his 41 years as the NEA’s top lawyer, he switched gears and started lobbing grenades at “conservative and right-wing bastards,” including Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. The NEA and its affiliates, by contrast, were “the nation’s leading advocates for public education and the type of liberal social and economic agenda that these groups find objectionable.”
Chanin’s glowing portrait of the NEA was wildly wrong, of course, but so was his characterization of the union’s opponents. People of all political stripes—not just right-wing “bastards”—are starting to realize that the single biggest impediment to education reform is the NEA itself.
Take the nation’s 4,000 charter schools—public schools that operate with less red tape, fewer suffocating union rules, and a higher percentage of minorities and poor students than regular public schools do. In California, 12 of the top 15 public schools are charters, including three in Oakland that cater to exceptionally poor children. Los Angeles charters’ median score on California’s Academic Performance Index was 728 in 2008, compared with 663 for regular public schools. . . .
This is pure evil.
GOP Senators always cave.
It cost twice as much for non voucher students (public school) as it does for voucher school students.
Public school students graduate at 50% rate compared to 90+% of voucher students.
The cost per student was public school student $15,000 per semester compared to $7500 voucher student per.
“There won’t be as many Dem DC voters in November and 2012;...”
Good luck with that .. but that you were right. The Dem majority in DC is totally overwhelming, even IF (big IF) the parents of voucher students were to go 100% R.
For an arbitration I belong to the NEA for a few short years and it was the only time I ever had to write on my NEA application which party I belonged to and the amount I was contributing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.