Freeing D.C. Kids Rich Republicans join ultraliberals in defense of failing schools

The Wall St. Journal ^ | July 11, 2003 | Review and Outlook

[Huber]

Five long years after Bill Clinton vetoed education vouchers for the poorest pupils in the District of Columbia, the political stars are realigning. The question now is whether Republicans are going to miss this opportunity to match policy with their we-care-for-poor-kids rhetoric.

[Huber]

This is an area that Republicans are far too quiet about.

We allow our public schools to become nothing more than cultural indoctrination camps for socialism.

Another generation of our youth is led astray, some permanently and others simply wasting years of their lives before they are able to actually gain a real education, whether through self education, or attending a competitive institution of learning.

We look at our suburban schools relative to inner city schools, and declare them "not too bad", when in actuality they could be excellent if opened to competition.

We allow public funds to be channeled through coersive union dues to the NEA, which also is a chief strategist for the Democratic Party.

What gives? What kind of a 2x4 will it take to wake Conservatives up on this issue?!??!!

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[happygrl]

What kind of a 2x4 will it take to wake Conservatives up on this issue?!??!

Conservatives on this forum are well aware of the issue and expressed disgust when Senator Kennedy was able to persude our president to give up in including vouchers on his education bill.

This has long been a conservative issue. We don't need waking up, we need Republican Party leadership to hold those in Congress accountable and not sell out.

[rdb3]

*

[OldFriend]

Seems to me that without the republicans there would be nothing at all done on this issue.

Is there nothing that can stop the lying spin?

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

The District already spends well over $15,000 per student (the national average is $8,500).

Seventy-two percent of black D.C. students read at the "below basic" level, which means they have "little or no mastery of fundamental knowledge and skills.

Thus establishing, in the feeble minds of liberals everywhere, the one-to-one link between spending and performance.

[Risa]

This kind of skirts the central issue, yet I can't help but wonder why the D.C. school system is so ineffective. I wonder if socioeconomic problems within the population it serves plays a roll in the school's poor performance, and I wonder if school vouchers will in fact make a difference.

[DC native]

Tax credits are superior to vouchers because vouchers allow the feds to maintain their financial death grip on the schools and therefore push their socialist, PC agenda. I paid $5000 annually for Catholic high school for my children. Had I received a tax credit equal to what the public school district paid per student, I would have made a profit. However, tax credits would likely not work in DC, where many citizens pay no taxes but live and breed as guests of the State. Therefore vouchers may be the best answer.

That being said, I still can't understand why the schools are blamed so viciously when they have no raw materials to work with. It is the family that drives the success of a student. Many of these children act as if they were raised by wolves, and no voucher is going to solve the problem. The schools are staffed by middle class people with at least acceptable behaviors and values, with basic educations. Sometimes their licenses are only provisional, but they must have a college degree and they must work towards certification by attending classes at night, after they have worked all day. The inner city parents that volunteer in the schools are caring and decent. It is not the crackhead parents that are in the schools. Therefore, my conclusion is that it is the families who are to blame, but God forbid that any politician should utter this blasphemy. These students will fail in any school. No input equals no output. What idiocy to blame the teachers.

[happygrl]

Is there nothing that can stop the lying spin?

Bankruptcy.

That's the one good thing about what is happening in California, for example. Facing receivership brings some reality.

[mhking]

Why the hell are we always portrayed as "rich" as if we were all independently Kennedy-weathy?

Just damn.

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[austinTparty]

It's not the portrayal of ALL Republicans; it's just the 2 idiots who are blocking passage of this legislation.This is almost criminal. There are groups in D.C. who have privately been funding vouchers to underprivileged kids whose parents want a good education for them, one of them is the "Washington Scholarship Fund". Who head up these groups? A mixture, but good ol' patrician Republican (and I mean that in no disparaging way) Boyden Grey is on the board.

These kids deserve better. And for this snot-nosed Pennsylvanian and idiot New Jerseyite to condemn these children to hell is absolutely reprehensible.

[happygrl]

These students will fail in any school. No input equals no output. What idiocy to blame the teachers.

I don't see anyone blaming teachers in this article or in the postings.

If, as you say, there are caring parents volunteering in the schools, vouchers will at least allow them to remove their children from an environment which has been made detrimental by other families' "culture."

Actually, I wish that public schools would be abolished. That way, many of the parents could not take advantage of them for babysitting.

Children who could not be cared for by their parents could be sent to orphanages as it was done in the old days.

The outcome for these children could not be worse than what it is now, as you say "being raised by wolves."

Better yet, these children may actually have a chance.

[STONEWALLS]

...the DC school system is controlled by the Washington Teacher's Union....the WTU is as crooked as a dog's hind leg.

from the Washington Times Editorial back in June:

" While the scandals in Washington have not been quite as salacious, they have been just as startling: • Former WTU President Barbara Bullock is believed to have misspent nearly $1 million in union dues, including $500,000 at a custom-made clothier in Baltimore. • Ms. Bullock's special assistant, former WTU Special Assistant Gwen Hemphill, spent nearly $13,000 in union money to purchase a flat-screen plasma television set. • Between September 1997 and October 2000, James Baxter picked up $130,000 for his work as WTU Treasurer, even though he was concurrently earning over $96,000 as the Director of the D.C. Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining. Mr. Baxter's double salary wasn't picked up on because the WTU hasn't filed its required biennial internal audit of its affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), since 1995. The AFT actively refused such a commonsense responsibility. After a D.C. teacher filed a lawsuit to impose a court monitor over AFT's oversight of the WTU's finances, AFT President Sandra Feldman even sent union attorneys to court to insist that the AFT had no legal obligation to review WTU audits. Since then the AFT has taken greater control of the WTU and the UTD, but additional monitoring is called for in both Miami and Washington.

IMHO very little will come of this because the indicted members of the WTU will be tried by a jury of their peers who will promptly render some "OJ Justice".....

[visualops]

If people wonder what's up with unemployment, they should take a look at the vast numbers of kids every year who aim to enter the workforce, but are almost unemployable. No goals, no drive, no self-discipline, and poor or virtually non-existant basic skills like the three Rs. Those kids then become the defensive destructive irresponsible whiny adults we see so often.

[ninenot]

The merits of "school choice" have been debated in Wisconsin for quite a while--we actually have a working program in the Milwaukee area, up and running for several years now.

Credit where it's due: it was Tommy Thompson (now HHS) who put it together and rammed it through.

HOWEVER, conservatives here in Wisconsin are not exactly happy about the situation, and here's why:

At some point in time, (maybe 10 years out) the "choice" schools will turn into "Gummint" schools. Why?? Because the Gummint will demand accountability for its money (and that's justifiable.) When the Gummint does so, it will de-facto shape the curriculum and philosophy of the "choice" schools--not to mention employment practices (equal opportunity for queer predators and faith-based will go OUT.)

The single most conservative K-12 private independent school in the area will NEVER become a "choice" school, regardless of incentives or clamor--and that's why.

[A_perfect_lady]

Why the hell are we always portrayed as "rich" as if we were all independently Kennedy-weathy?

Because "rich" is a four-letter word meant to demonize us. Other automatic-demonizers (with more letters) are "corporate" and "industry."

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Tax credits are superior to vouchers because vouchers allow the feds to maintain their financial death grip on the schools and therefore push their socialist, PC agenda. I paid $5000 annually for Catholic high school for my children. Had I received a tax credit equal to what the public school district paid per student, I would have made a profit. However, tax credits would likely not work in DC, where many citizens pay no taxes but live and breed as guests of the State. Therefore vouchers may be the best answer.

That being said, I still can't understand why the schools are blamed so viciously when they have no raw materials to work with. It is the family that drives the success of a student. Many of these children act as if they were raised by wolves, and no voucher is going to solve the problem. The schools are staffed by middle class people with at least acceptable behaviors and values, with basic educations. Sometimes their licenses are only provisional, but they must have a college degree and they must work towards certification by attending classes at night, after they have worked all day. The inner city parents that volunteer in the schools are caring and decent. It is not the crackhead parents that are in the schools. Therefore, my conclusion is that it is the families who are to blame, but God forbid that any politician should utter this blasphemy. These students will fail in any school. No input equals no output. What idiocy to blame the teachers.

My thoughts exactly and worth repeating.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Because the Gummint will demand accountability for its money (and that's justifiable.)

Agree.

There is no doubt that tuition vochers in any amount would ease our financial situation.

But...

Deciding to place the kids in private school was a direct response to our satifaction with government education and the ultimate factor when deciding to remove our kids from the environment altogether. I have seen the results of govenment run eduction in my children, and thus responded accordingly.

Thanks, but no thanks.

[beaversmom]

Wow, the article says that $15,000 a year is spent on each DC student! I could get an awfully good education for my son if I had that kind of dough each year. A People for the American Way rep was on Medved the other day--she said instead of vouchers we need to spend more on our students in these failing schools--OMGoodness. Probably $100,000 per student wouldn't be too much for her--if and when they graduate they might be reading up to 4th grade level with that kind of spending.

[verity]

Even God cannot fix the "District."