Last night, I learned
that the Louisiana Federation of Teachers took to Twitter to spread a false,
ridiculous, and offense rumor. They
claimed that the Black Alliance for Educational Options—an organization that
fights to provide a high-quality education to black children—supports teaching
that the Kl Klux Klan is good.
I am offended.
The Black Alliance for
Educational Options (BAEO) is a group that works tirelessly to ensure that black
children have access to the best educational options. The reality is that black children are being
left behind: the achievement gap is far too large and more black men are in
prisons than in colleges in this country.
In Washington, D.C., I
worked side-by-side with BAEO to fight for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship
Program. We worked together because the
children of D.C.—just like the children in Louisiana and all across the
country—deserve a great education. It is
our duty to ensure that all of our children, especially our disadvantaged
children—receive a great education. And
it’s working. In D.C. scholarship
program, more than 85 percent of participating students are African American
and the program has a graduation rate of 91 percent. And just last week, the Brookings Institution
and Harvard University released a study that demonstrated that African American
students who receive a voucher are 24 percent more likely to enroll in college.
We have come so far as
a nation, but we have so more work to do.
Growing up, I attended one the first desegregated high schools in
Arkansas. Today, we have leaders
standing up for our children. Great
leaders, from Condoleezza Rice—who just yesterday called our education crisis
the social justice issue of our time—to Newark Mayor Cory Booker, are fighting
entrenched special interest groups that are more interested in protecting the
status quo than in finding solutions to our education crisis.
I believe in school
choice because the children that we have been left behind need an educational
lifeline and they need it now. Vouchers
provide that opportunity.
The Louisiana
Federation of Teachers owes BAEO an apology.
I have spent my life working—alongside BAEO and all school choice
advocates—to provide a better education for our children. And I didn’t do it to be accused of
supporting a hate group that terrorized a generation of Americans by spreading
hate and fear.
—Virginia
- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice
- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice
Perhaps Virginia Walden Ford was simply not aware of the larger context in which the comments attributed to the Louisiana Federation of Teachers were alleged made. BAEO did, in fact, provide heavy support for the voucher bill in Louisiana. This bill, championed (falsely, I might add) as a way for low income children to escape "failing schools" led directly to the approval of various schools with NO EVALUATION of the schools and the curriculum each of them was using. The textbooks in a number of these schools, did, in fact, allege that the KKK worked closely with local groups to improve the communities. Louisiana Federation of Teachers merely pointed out that BAEO did support the laws that led directly to this outcome. BAEO opposed any real accountability for the schools receiving the tax dollars. BAEO supports and works closely with the Louisiana Charter School Association, a group that has supported schools which are clearly involved in discrimination against African-Americans, against children with special needs, and against low income students. These facts are conveniently ignored as the money pours into BAEO from special interests who do NOT have the interest of African-American students at heart, but instead, have their own profit motives in mind as they ignore the segregation of the charters and private and parochial schools not subject (thanks in large part to BAEO) to any real accountability.
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