Vouchers Free Public School Seats for Congressional Kids By Scott Ott

by John Hawkins | September 5, 2003 4:00 pm

A new school voucher program[1] which passed a Senate committee today, would free up seats in Washington D.C. public schools for the children of members of Congress, and other government officials.

The $7,500 vouchers would go to D.C. families with children who are failing in the public schools, helping them to pay private school tuition.

Democrat members of Congress are said to be “champing at the bit” to put their own children into the newly-vacated public classroom seats.

Senator Mary Landrieu, D-LA, whose own two children have been forced to attend a private school, will soon enroll them in Malcolm X Elementary School.

“Finally, my children can attend school among the kind of working-class people who make this country great,” said Mrs. Landrieu. “We Democrats depend on the votes of minorities and the underprivileged, and now I’ll be sitting in PTA meetings side-by-side with them. And my kids will get to know first-hand the challenges caused by the yawning gap between the haves and have nots.”

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can see more of his work at Scrappleface[2].

***Update***: In the article about vouchers that Scott linked about, I found this quote…

“Another pro-voucher group, D.C. Parents for School Choice, released the text of a television ad it is to air in the District and Massachusetts that accuses Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) of trying to stop a plan to help black schoolchildren and compares him to segregationist Bull Connor, the Birmingham police chief in the early 1960s.

“Senator Kennedy, your brothers fought for us. Why do you fight against us? Are the unions really more important than these children?” the ad says.

Kennedy spokesman Jim Manley said the ad was “outrageous, and I’m not going to dignify it with a response.”

I love that so much because we finally have someone calling the Democrats on exactly what they’re doing — selling out kids — in this case mostly black kids — just to pander to unions. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) said that the D.C. school system was, “the worst school system in America, and it is the most expensive.” So what do the Democrats have to lose by letting the parents send their kids to decent private schools where they can get a decent education?

Dems like Kennedy give every excuse under the sun for opposing vouchers except the real one — the unions are some of the Democrats biggest supporters and the teacher’s unions don’t want to have to compete for their money. So the Dems would rather see the kids lose out than make the unions mad. I’m glad to see that there are DC parents, Republicans, the Black Alliance for Educational Options, and even a few Democrats like DC mayor Anthony Williams who are willing to fight the good fight on this one for the children’s sake…

Endnotes:
  1. voucher program: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27947-2003Sep4.html
  2. Scrappleface: http://www.scrappleface.com

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