FreedomWorks

The new school year has begun, and the battle over the despairing performance of the public school monopoly continued this week in the House of Representatives. Despite vocal opposition from the teachers’ unions, the House managed to pass a bill providing school vouchers for low-income kids in the District of Columbia by a razor-thin 205-203 vote. It was a good week for the CSE Freedom Agenda.

The legislation approved by the House will offer impoverished parents up to $7,500 in scholarship funds to let children in the worst public schools attend a private school in Washington, D.C. Because the scholarships will be awarded based on need, as well as the tuition and fees of the new school, not all students will receive the maximum amount. Participating schools must apply to the U.S. Department of Education and ensure that funds are used responsibly, but single sex and religious schools are eligible. A total of $10 million is authorized for the program in the first year, and the program must be reauthorized after five years. It will be a great test of the voucher concept, and the reason the national teachers’ unions are so frightened is that their failed monopoly will be put to real competition.

In fact, the bill approved by the House is very similar to legislation former House Majority Leader and CSE Co-Chair Dick Armey introduced in past. At the CSE Liberty Summit this week, Armey told the audience that the bill “moves low-income children in D.C. a giant step closer to a good education.”

Rep. Tom Davis, who represents some of D.C.’s northern Virginia suburbs, led the fight and authored the current school choice amendment. During the debate on the House floor, Davis argued persuasively:

” Mr. Speaker, it's time to do more than sympathize. This is a moral imperative. The school choice debate should not be about politics. It should be about an honest appraisal of the state of affairs in our public schools, about offering an alternative for students and parents. What is being proposed is not a mandate but a choice.”

Of course, as with all of the good work done by the House, the U.S. Senate still needs to act, but we’ve moved the ball forward. President Bush has led the country with this proposal, and it’s time to make it law. Unfortunately, fourteen House Republicans failed to follow the president and the principles of their party, and voted “No” on the Davis Amendment.

Republicans Voting Against D.C. School Choice

Biggert (Ill.)
Boehlert (N.Y.)
English (Penn.)
Fletcher (Ky.)
Graves (Mo.)
Johnson (Ill.)
LoBiondo (N.J.)
McHugh (N.Y.)
Ney (Ohio)
Paul (Texas)
Platts (Penn.)
Ramstad (Minn.)
Saxton (N.J.)
Simpson (Idaho)

Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) did later switch and vote in favor of final passage of the D.C. Appropriations bill that contained the Davis Amendment.

Frankly, it’s hard to understand where most of these guys are coming from, and a lot of groups like CSE are calling them to the carpet. In fact, on September 3, 2003, the Heritage Foundation released the results of a new survey of members of Congress. Heritage asked individual members whether or not their children attended private schools, and promised to keep the individual responses confidential. Of those who responded, 41 percent of U.S. Representatives and 46 percent of U.S. Senators said they have sent their children to a private school. According to Heritage, over “the past three years, every piece of parental choice legislation would have passed if those who exercised choice in their own families had voted with supporters of school choice” Indeed. For a member to vote to deny poor kids trapped in District of Columbia public schools the same choice smacks of hypocrisy.

Along these lines, what’s truly pathetic is the performance of House Democrats on this issue. Of the 205 Democrats in the House of Representatives, only four found the courage to support the amendment. The rest of the House Democrats were Missing In Action, even though local Democrats like D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, D.C. Council Member Kevin Chavous, and School Board President Peggy Cooper Cafritz all support the plan, along with the left-leaning newspaper the Washington Post. We should recognize four Democrat Members who did rise above partisanship and vote on principle in favor of the bill:

Democrats Supporting D.C. School Choice

Ford (Tenn.)
Hall (Texas)
Lipinski (Ill.)
Taylor (Miss.)

On to the Senate!

Next week, we expect the full Senate to take up the measure. Please call your Senator and ask them to vote for School Choice for D.C. You can use the CSE Member Hotline to be directly connected, toll-free: 1-888-564-6273.