School Choice

In light of all that's going on in Baltimore and the recognition of the the plight of inner city kids, I was heartened to see an article in the WSJ this morning about vouchers.  You can read it here.  Be forewarned that it's author is a conservative who is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation which is a conservative think tank, so if you think that that particular side of the political spectrum is full of crap, then you might as well stop now and go do something else that you're interested in.  But for me, the author makes a whole lot of sense.

The story is about a program in Washington DC called the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.  It has helped countless kids by giving them an opportunity to get out of failing schools and into schools where they will have a chance.  It has "so far funded private-school tuition for nearly 5,000 students, 95% of whom are African-American".  But here's the kicker...

"For the seventh straight year, President Obama has proposed eliminating this relatively tiny scholarship fund, which at $20 million accounts for a microscopic 0.0005% of the $4 trillion federal budget."

And there is this...

"Amazingly, these energized parents are opposed by almost every liberal group, even the NAACP, and nearly every Democrat in Congress—including Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the District of Columbia in Congress but opposes a program that benefits her own constituents.

There is little question what stirs this opposition. The teachers union sees the program as taking away union jobs, and it is so powerful that the Democratic establishment falls in line. “It is so sad that our public schools aren’t doing what’s best for the kids,” laments Ms. Ford, but instead are looking out for “the adults.” 

Yes, it is truly amazing.  But pretty common.  I've written previously that I really believe that one of the key ingredients to improving the plight of the poor inner-city youth is education.  And school vouchers are a key to getting that done.  I'm not talking about wide-spread application of vouchers in school districts across the country.  But providing these programs to poor, crime-ridden, drug infested neighborhoods has been proven to work.

"While most affluent and middle-class parents worry if their children will make the travel soccer team, or whether the local school is good enough to get their child into a top university, these poor parents worry every day whether their children will come home safely. A 2009 school-safety report from the Heritage Foundation noted that in that year the Education Department “found that 11.3% of the District’s high-school children reported being ‘threatened or injured’ with a weapon while on school property during the previous year.”

And it's not just academics

"Ms. White believes that beyond the improved academic standards, a big plus with Cornerstone was a curriculum the public schools won’t touch: “character development.” These religious schools try to instill basic values like integrity, honesty, hard work and smart behavior like not getting pregnant before marriage. The students are required to wear uniforms, a rule that she believes is “tremendously important to develop self respect.” 

The standard knock on these kinds of programs is that they take resources from public school programs.  But there are countless studies that show this fear to be unfounded.  And not only that.  these programs have routinely been shown to be economical.

"The left’s rote response to rotten schools is to call for more money, but the D.C. scholarship program shows that a quality education can be had for less money. The Census Bureau reported in 2012 that Washington spent $18,667 per pupil in 2010. The scholarship amounts are $8,500 for elementary-school children and $12,000 for high school. So the voucher program gives kids a better education at about half the cost to the taxpayer."

Bottom line is that these programs work.  They get poor kids out of bad situations and give them a chance.  And the only reason to oppose them is politics.  And that's a disgustingly cynical position to take.

"Public education has traditionally been the great equalizer in America. The tragedy today is that the decline of public schools is one of the leading contributors to generational cycles of poverty. Democrats say they want to make the 2016 election about income inequality, but they stand united in opposition to one of the most effective ways of reducing the gap between rich and poor: better education."