Wednesday, April 21, 2004
When People Are Offered Freedom They Take It
From Today's Washington Post editorial page:
Wednesday, April 21, 2004; Page A22
DURING THE SCHOOL voucher debate in the District, critics often contended that residents opposed the idea. Now there is evidence that the critics got it wrong. Last week D.C. Parents for School Choice, a group that worked hard for passage of the new publicly funded scholarship program, provided the Washington Scholarship Fund with names of more than 1,400 families representing 3,000 students who are interested in the voucher program. If ever there was evidence of a demand among parents for educational options, this is it.
The Washington Scholarship Fund, which administers the congressionally approved scholarship program, will still have to work out the details, including identifying parents and students eligible to receive as much as $7,500 a year in tuition, fees and transportation costs to attend private or parochial schools in the city. But parental interest is not at issue.
Even before D.C. Parents for School Choice delivered names to the scholarship fund, it was plain that parents in the nation's capital were looking for alternatives to the troubled D.C. public schools. It is no accident that more than 13,000 children have abandoned the regular public schools for public charter schools, or that the District, with 37 public charter schools, is among the leaders of the nationwide charter-school movement. Parents are looking for something other than a public school system plagued by cost overruns, mismanaged payrolls, and an administration incapable of purchasing enough toilet paper and books. This fall, hundreds more low-income District students, armed with federally funded vouchers, will search for another educational home. For that exodus, the school board -- and D.C. Council members who voted yesterday to preserve the discredited status quo in school governance -- can thank themselves.
� 2004 The Washington Post Company
PermaLink | 6:16 AM |
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Wednesday, April 21, 2004; Page A22
DURING THE SCHOOL voucher debate in the District, critics often contended that residents opposed the idea. Now there is evidence that the critics got it wrong. Last week D.C. Parents for School Choice, a group that worked hard for passage of the new publicly funded scholarship program, provided the Washington Scholarship Fund with names of more than 1,400 families representing 3,000 students who are interested in the voucher program. If ever there was evidence of a demand among parents for educational options, this is it.
The Washington Scholarship Fund, which administers the congressionally approved scholarship program, will still have to work out the details, including identifying parents and students eligible to receive as much as $7,500 a year in tuition, fees and transportation costs to attend private or parochial schools in the city. But parental interest is not at issue.
Even before D.C. Parents for School Choice delivered names to the scholarship fund, it was plain that parents in the nation's capital were looking for alternatives to the troubled D.C. public schools. It is no accident that more than 13,000 children have abandoned the regular public schools for public charter schools, or that the District, with 37 public charter schools, is among the leaders of the nationwide charter-school movement. Parents are looking for something other than a public school system plagued by cost overruns, mismanaged payrolls, and an administration incapable of purchasing enough toilet paper and books. This fall, hundreds more low-income District students, armed with federally funded vouchers, will search for another educational home. For that exodus, the school board -- and D.C. Council members who voted yesterday to preserve the discredited status quo in school governance -- can thank themselves.
� 2004 The Washington Post Company
PermaLink | 6:16 AM |
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