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RD, we're getting worse than nothing of we fall for this liberal, touchy-feely voucher welfare scam. Who says we can't dismantle the DoEd? Why can't we? Conservatives outnumber liberals by a wide margin, as we saw in both of Reagan's campaigns and in the '94 congressional elections.

The department could be gone this time next year if we stood together and demanded it. Instead we're expected to listen to the liberal GOP strategists and "conservative" pundits on TV and keep letting the liberals have their way when they don't have anywhere near the power we have. We have the US Constitution behind us. What do they have? The news media.

Nobody has presented a single thing to show that vouchers will provide any choice for most families. Vouchers are welfare. That's all they are. What vouchers will give us is the gangster kids of welfare witches in the classrooms of our private schools. Once something like that becomes a federal program, then the welfare sucking leisure class has a "right" to it from then on.

Show me where I'm wrong.

What vouchers will give us is the gangster kids of welfare witches in the classrooms of our private schools.

I know you mean well but this is an inaccurate generalization. I have taught at a voucher school myself and know many families who participate in the program.

One of my good friends is the single mother of four (three at home)- she works full time, always has, drives used cars and owns her home. Her income falls within the limits necessary to get a voucher, so her kids go to private schools on vouchers. Her income has also been low enough for her to get food stamps and Medicaid insurance at various times. Her kids aren't perfect (what kid is?) but they're hardly headed for gangstaville either and she feels these private schools have done better by them than the local publik skools.

I could go on and on. I enjoyed part of my day yesterday with a couple that has actively fought for vouchers. Their kids and grandchildren are in both private and public schools. Again, not a junior gangsta or gangstarette in the bunch- one of their grandsons leaves to start college next month. He went to some private and some public schools.

I could go on and on but you get the point- vouchers allow decent, hardworking but still low-income parents to do better by their child's education. Until we can do better, I will support vouchers.

Nobody has presented a single thing to show that vouchers will provide any choice for most families. Vouchers are welfare. That's all they are. What vouchers will give us is the gangster kids of welfare witches in the classrooms of our private schools. Once something like that becomes a federal program, then the welfare sucking leisure class has a "right" to it from then on.

I realize I'm coming in on the back side of this conversation, but this comment struck a chord with me.

First point - the private schools won't put up with the foolishness from the "gangster kids" that the public schools have to, simply because they are required to serve the community. Those monsters will be able to be completely removed from the situation. The private schools have the leeway and (even more importantly) the will to make sure that the students that are there want to be there to learn. They also will discipline appropriately. None of this slap on the hand foolishness. And because they do, the parents ("not my child") who turn a blind eye to this will lose out, simply because the private schools will tell the parents, "Your child cannot stay here." ("Your kid IS the weakest link, goodbye!")

What we are left with is a situation where I am able to send my children to schools where I know they are getting a good education, without breaking my bank account.

Now, if you're telling me that the Feds will demand that the private schools that accept these vouchers will be forced to adhere to rules that remove their autonomy, that's a different matter altogether. There is no empirical evidence in the Cleveland and Milwaukee situations (where voucher programs are already being used) that the Feds have stepped in with that regard (even though the Dems and the NEA want them to -- badly), and no evidence that this would change in regard to programs in other states.

The major problem is that in many states that state officials will refuse to create the programs, or deliberately "dumb down" the programs in order to prevent well-intentioned parents from using them.

Here in Georgia, the Democratic governor, Roy Barnes, along with the head of the state NEA chapter have gone on the record as opposing vouchers, and have said publicly that they will do whatever is necessary to prevent them from being promoted in Georgia. I'm sure that we'll end up with a watered down program that people will find difficult to use at best.

As for your other point - dismantling the DOE - I don't have a problem with it, provided there is a level ground between public and private institutions. If the DOE is gone, then I want to have the freedom to send my children to an institution that will keep up with what the universities are demanding from entering students. Most public schools would quickly fall back from those requirements. Voucher programs - on the state and local level - would allow me to afford to send both my older children to schools where I'm confident that this fall-off won't occur.