“Senator, you’re no Jack
Kennedy” may be the most famous line uttered during a vice presidential
debate, and now that Paul Ryan has
joined Mitt Romney in the race for the White House, let’s take a look at both the
Paul Ryan’s and Vice President Joe Biden’s support of educational options.
Joe Biden
The Obama-Biden
Administration remains steadfast in its opposition to the D.C. Opportunity
Scholarship Program. Despite having made
a deal to reauthorize the program for five years, the President zeroed out
funding for the program in his budget.
But long before Joe Biden was Vice President Joe Biden, he supported
vouchers:
Even if vouchers were to
take money away from the public schools--and I should point out that not all
voucher proposals do--that does not in and of itself mean that public schools
will be harmed.
When you have an area of
the country--and most often here we are talking about inner cities--where the
public schools are abysmal or dysfunctional or not working and where most of
the children have no way out, it is legitimate to ask what would happen to the
public schools with increased competition from private schools and what would
happen to the quality of education for the children who live there.
Paul Ryan
While the
President’s budget zeroed out funding, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul
Ryan’s budget would fund the program as intended by federal law. And it makes sense, since Ryan hails from the
Badger State, which is home to the nation’s longest running voucher
program. The Washington Times’ Deborah Simmons, praised Ryan’s support of
school choice, writing:
As for the other end of the education spectrum, Mr. Ryan is spot on,
earning an A+ for school choice during all seven of his terms in Congress, especially
for his support of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.
Both of these
officials have seen the benefit of school choice, let’s hope they truly support
educational options in the race for the White House.
- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG
