Time for School Choice: National School Choice Week Ends, Struggle Begins

Catholic Online ^ | 1/28/11 | Deacon Keith Fournier

[tcg]

Among the topics President Obama covered in his State of the Union Address was the need for education reform in the United States. The President told both houses of Congress and the millions who watched, "In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program around is a world-class education. And in this country, the success of our children cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential."

The State of the Union address occurred during National School Choice Week. One of the most successful examples of school choice was in Washington, DC, until President Obama ended the program by not funding the Opportunity Scholarship program last year. Objective statistics demonstrated its phenomenal success according to every criteria of evaluation, including cost savings. However, the leadership of the teachers union opposed it.

On Wednesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) held a Press conference to announce his co-sponsorship, along with Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) of legislation to restore the program. Speaker Boehner said, "There's only one program in America where the federal government allows parents from lower-income families to choose the schools that are best for their children, and it's right here in D.C. "The D.C. program provides a model that I believe can work well in other communities around the nation.It should be expanded, not ended."

The Speaker is absolutely correct. Support for parental choice in education is one of the few issues in contemporary politics which enjoys growing support across the political spectrum. To support "Choice in Education" is to affirm that Parents should be able to make the choice of how to best extend their teaching mission because the proper role of State and Federal Government is to support the first government in the home.

[tcg]

The unwillingness of those currently in charge of the Federal Educational Bureaucracy to consider school choice when everyone knows the educational system is broken exposes the difference between rhetoric and reality, real concern for real reform and sophistry. School Choice affirms that Parents should make the choice and State and Federal Government should support the first government in the home.

[samtheman]

Why aren’t Obamas kids in public school?

If public school is so great, why is he sending his kids to private school?