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Posted on 07/08/2003 4:22:33 PM PDT by chance33_98
Black Network Applauds Proposed Voucher Plan for Nation's Capital; Parent Choice Initiative Could Serve as Model for Communities Nationwide
7/8/03 4:47:00 PM
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To: National and Metro Desks
Contact: David Almasi for Project 21, 202-371-1400 ext. 106
WASHINGTON, July 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 applaud congressional efforts to create a school voucher program that will aid impoverished students living in our nation's capital.
A proposal introduced by U.S. Representative Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) aims to provide monetary school vouchers to students who come from families subsisting at 185 percent below the poverty level and attending underperforming public schools. These vouchers could be used to pay for tuition expenses at any other public or private schools in Washington, D.C. In doing this, Flake and his supporters hope to give impoverished families more control over their children's ability to receive a quality education and force underperforming schools to improve their standards at the risk of losing their student bodies.
Washington Mayor Anthony Williams and D.C. School Board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz, both African-American, are backing Flake's initiative. A committee vote on his bill is expected in early July.
"The embattled boys and girls of the District of Columbia Public Schools have a new best friend named Jeff Flake," said Project 21 member Deroy Murdock. "Representative Flake's voucher plan will provide choice, competition and a serious chance for the District's students finally to be challenged and succeed."
President George W. Bush, during a visit to a Washington, D.C., charter school on July 1, spoke out in favor of school vouchers. He said, "I want (Washington, D.C.) to become a model of excellence so that when people see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well in D.C., they realize they can do the same in their own communities." He has called for $75 million to be spent on a national "school choice" incentive plan. Vouchers are already in use in Florida, Maine, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin, and in several cities nationwide.
Despite fierce liberal opposition, voucher programs have been proven to work -- and they are very popular among African-Americans. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies recently reported that 60 percent of African-Americans support vouchers. In contrast, 69 percent of African-American elected officials break with the overwhelming majority of their constituents to oppose them. According to a recent study conducted by Harvard University researchers, black students who received vouchers scored 8.4 percentage points higher in reading and math portions of standardized tests.
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Project 21 has been a leading voice in the African-American community since 1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 371-1400 ext. 106 or Project21@nationalcenter.org, or visit Project 21's website at http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21Index.html.
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If the Republicans will stand on their hind legs and make the Democrats pay politically for opposing choice in DC, $75 million is chicken feed. The benefit to the nation of empowering blacks to vote Republican--of deconstructing political segregation--could be enormous.
A welfare check in the form of a government voucher is not a ticket off the plantation.
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
Parents should be allowed to send their kids to their school of choice, public or private.
Granted in a voucher program, the widely supported tax subsidy for education would go directly to the parent -- rather than an agent of the state -- who would then be empowered to withhold funding from teachers who don't perform satisfactorily.
It's about what one could expect. The dimocratic party isn't a collection of people with common interests. It's a run-on list of special interests who are in a coalition.
Sometimes, the interests of party partners differs. In this case, Teachers Unions and Blacks. Well, if they support vouchers, they lose the Union money/vote and make blacks happy. If they oppose vouchers, they keep the Union money/vote and still don't lose the black vote. At least that's their gamble.
In most any situation in the dimocratic party where blacks interests are in opposition to other party members, then look for the blacks to lose out. They're taken for granted, and I hope we can make greater inroads to the black community on lots of issues, although I think vouchers are the best way to start.
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