Here’s what is being said everywhere from The Washington Post to The Wall Street Journal:
The Washington Post
April 10,
2012
The
administration’s action — which includes a bizarre provision prohibiting
students who are unsuccessful in the lottery that allocates spaces in the
program from reapplying the following year — would effectively place an
arbitrary limit on the number of children able to enjoy the program’s benefits.
Why cap the number at the 1,615 students currently enrolled when the program
has accommodated larger numbers (1,903 in 2007-08, for example)? Does the
administration really want to send the message — much like the one delivered in
2009 when Democrats tried to kill the vouchers — that there is not much of a
future for the program?
Surely, it
shouldn’t be among the president’s priorities to single out for attack a tiny
federal program that not only works — in the
judgment of federal evaluators —
but also enjoys bipartisan support. If it is, we trust that Mr. Boehner would
step in, as he did last year, to save a program that D.C.’s poorest families
value for their children.
###
Why
is Mayor Gray jeopardizing aid for school choice in the District?
The Washington Post
Here, in the District, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of
providing quality educational options, through innovative charter schools and
our highly successful, federally funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program,
through which more than 1,600 low-income children attend quality private
schools. But all of that is being threatened by Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D).
The release of Mr. Gray’s 2013 budget proposal makes clear that parental
choice is no longer a priority of his administration. In the proposal, he
breaches a promise made to charter school supporters by not closing the funding
disparity between charter schools and traditional D.C. public schools.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Mr. Gray’s proposal also zeroes out the funding for the scholarship
program — matching what President Obama did in his budget…
As the chief executive of the city, it’s Mr. Gray’s job to do what’s
best for the city, regardless of what the president proposes. Why would he jeopardize
funds from the federal government that raise all boats?
We strongly urge the mayor to remember what is important. It is not
where a child is educated, it is about ensuring that every child has equal
access to a high-quality education. That’s the power of parental choice and the
reason that the District has been a model for providing these options to
parents.
###
Obama
Versus the Kids (DC)
The Wall Street Journal
April 13,
2012
You can count on two hands the number of federal programs that President
Obama wants to eliminate, and one of them is the Washington, D.C., school
voucher program for low-income families. The Opportunity Scholarship Program,
as it is called, allows thousands of minority D.C. children to attend private
schools, and it enjoys high satisfaction ratings from the parents.
So why kill the vouchers? Because the teachers unions, a major political
ally of Democrats, see school choice as a threat.
[T]his is an administration that puts the interests of the unions ahead
of everyone. Even kids.
- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG
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