You are right- kids and their families have to value education or all the vouchers in the world won't make a dime's worth of difference.
I run my own summer program that I hope to continue as an afterschool program. The first rule is this: "If you don't want to learn don't come here."
Frelinghuysen disputes WSJ's charge. Here is my response:
Via Facsimile 202/225-3186
The Honorable Rodney P. Frelinghuysen
2442 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
Re: DC School Choice
Dear Congressman Frelinghuysen:
Thank you for your letter of July 15 in response to my letter regarding the July 11 editorial in the Wall Street Journal, “Freeing D.C. Kids.”
You denounce the editorial as “disgraceful and inaccurate” and enclose your letter to the Journal and a July 15 press release declaring your support for DC school choice. Unfortunately, your response is inadequate because you fail to address the central charge of the editorial, namely that you inserted a “poison pill” into the spending bill.
To be fair, the Journal was also remiss in not making this charge more specific. According to the Capitol Hillblogger (
http://hillblog.blogspot.com, copy attached), the measure conditions the appropriation upon authorization. As many appropriations are passed without specific authorizing legislation, it would appear that you may indeed have created an additional and unnecessary obstacle to funding the voucher program.
I would gratefully appreciate your response to the merits of this specific charge. Thank you very much for your time and attention to this matter.
Respectfully,
Merrill Smith
Attachment
Cc: The Wall Street Journal
More on D.C. School Choice
Here's Opinion Journal's take on the D.C. School Choice debate. They are particularly harsh on my hometown Congressman, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) for including a "poison pill" in the D.C. Appropriations Bill. It is unfair to call the provision a poison pill as it appropriates money for the project, but states that the funds are conditioned upon authorization, which is what the bill would do that passed the House Government Reform Committee yesterday. While Frelinghuysen could have worked a little harder to get a stronger provision in the Appropriations bill, the White House and Republican House Leadership were not exactly helpful to the conservatives who were pushing this issue either. After all the talk Bush has given to this issue recently, a call from Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to Frelinghuysen or some junior Members on the Committee would have been helpful. In general I agree with the sentiment of the piece.
# posted by Eric @ 10:15 AM
http://hillblog.blogspot.com/