An Editorial in the WJS on 10/14/05 reads “Last month the Bush Administration proposed using federal vouchers to meet the educational needs of 372,000 Louisiana and Mississippi children displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Up to $7,500.00 would follow student evacuees “wherever they are enrolled.” Democrat Ted Kennedy doesn’t want to give parents the money directly so they can decide where to send their children to school. Keeping the money in “the system” allows him and his teacher-union supporters to maintain their political control.
Democrat Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, who sent her children to private schools last year and didn’t support a pilot voucher program for the poorest of the poor in the District of Columbia. Post-Katrina, she’s cosponsoring a bill as part of a larger relief package that would use federal dollars to cover tuition at private and religious schools. Even Democrat Senator Dodd of Connecticut, another longtime voucher opponent, now says he could support them on a temporary basis.
The kids in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward could have used the voucher system long ago. Better late than never.” End of quotes.
As I’ve warned before, we have only so many years left to bring our schools systems up to the needs of the current world. If it takes vouchers, private schools and religious schools, to do it let’s get moving.
3 comments:
Vouchers are tricky for me. As a conservative, I'm hessitant to the prospect of trading one government mechanism for another one. I want parents to have the choice of education that vouchers provide, especially given that they are funding it. But heck, the government can't manage a simple flu shot program - how can we ever hope that any unit of government is efficient enough to manage this or any program?!?!
Anonymous,
Vouchers are tricky for me too, but it may be more tricky to try to save #150. I see no planning to reduce what appears to be excessive administration costs but maybe it's in place for next year.
Private schools are growing more popular and my visit with Jeanne Williamson at Dunlap yesterday and a tour of their high school facilities with their Vo-Tech programs, makes me believe it's going to be increasingly harder to "keep them down on the farm."
The challenge may be greater than the ability to overcome.
We at the present time have vouchers in the federal govt. they are called food vouchers also known as food stamps. We do not say to the holders of food stamps which store you can use them. we should do likewise with school vouchers
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