The Courage of Mayor Williams

aim.org ^ | July 22, 2003 | Christopher G. Adamo

[dark_mooncat]

...unlike the members of the public education/Democrat political machine, Mayor Williams has a true regard for the supposed objects of the public education debate - the children. For far too long, big government liberals have gotten away with portraying themselves as having concern for the welfare of the children, when what they really seek is an ever-growing budget for the education bureaucracy. "The children" end up merely as fodder to be fed into the system in order to keep its engines running. Worst of all, the budgetary patterns of recent years have established a scheme that essentially guarantees continued academic failure, since the perpetually falling test scores of students provide the single biggest excuse for educrats to demand even more extravagant expenditures on schools than is already the case.

It is in this realm that a voucher program, if properly implemented, would yield a multitude of significant benefits. Taxpayers could conceivably save thousands of dollars per student, with no adverse effects on the quality of education received by the student. And it is also this aspect of the voucher movement that has the public education bureaucracy trembling in fear. For years, budgetary sessions of most state legislatures have been mired down by demands for greater educational funding. It is always presumed that better academic performance from students will magically follow. But the consistent result is merely fancier facilities, more administrators, and a further decline in standardized test scores. So the vicious cycle continues...

[dark_mooncat]

I'm not sure I share Mr. Adamo's assessment of Mayor Williams' motives. I hope that he's right. Hizzonner hasn't been particularly successful in reining in the waste and corruption here in DC. However in fairness, Williams is at least not an embarrassement as was his predecessor...