[Vision2020] NEA president supports vouchers for all
Donovan Arnold
donovanarnold@hotmail.com
Thu, 11 Sep 2003 20:58:10 -0700
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<P>Dale & others,<BR><BR> I actually don't disagree with this way of doing school vouchers. But here is why:</P>
<P>This bill did not take funds away from local school districts. Instead it added more funds to education. If we want to increase taxes, such as this bill did, to give students more choices in education I am 100% behind it. What I am against is taking money from one poor school and giving it to a school that is better off in a nice neighborhood. I am against the idea of robbing Peter's education to pay for Paul's education. But if Peter can keep the quality of his education and Paul gets new monies, well than, best of luck to Paul.</P></DIV>
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<P>I hope the government decides to put $87 billion into this voucher program. $87 billion more for education would be a small step in the right direction. I would prefer that we just put the $87 billion directly into the poorer schools in the United States instead. However, Republicans would never agree to directly addressing the education problem without throwing capitalism and survival of the fittest into the equation. If this the only way to get Republicans to invest dollars into education instead of nukular weapons (As their fearless leader Bush says) than it is something that I can deal with as a reasonable compromise.</P>
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<P>Donovan J Arnold</P>
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<P>Donovan J Arnold<BR><BR></P>
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<DIV></DIV>>From: "Dale Courtney" <DMCOURTN@MOSCOW.COM>
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<DIV></DIV>>To: <VISION2020@MOSCOW.COM>
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<DIV></DIV>>Subject: [Vision2020] NEA president supports vouchers for all
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<DIV></DIV>>Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 12:37:56 -0700
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<DIV></DIV>>News and Analysis: NEA president supports vouchers for all
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<DIV></DIV>>In a late-night vote Tuesday, the House of Representatives, by a razor-thin
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<DIV></DIV>>margin, approved the controversial bill to provide $10 million in private
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<DIV></DIV>>school tuition grants to at least 1,300 D.C. schoolchildren next year. As
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<DIV></DIV>>Gadfly reported last week, three prominent D.C. officials, all former
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<DIV></DIV>>voucher foes, came out strongly in favor of the new "scholarship" program.
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<DIV></DIV>>Since then, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), also a longtime voucher
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<DIV></DIV>>opponent, has reiterated her support for the program, claiming that, while
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<DIV></DIV>>she does not support vouchers for her own state, she believes "local leaders
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<DIV></DIV>>should have the opportunity to experiment with programs that they believe
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<DIV></DIV>>are right for their area."
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<DIV></DIV>>This week's vote, which was divided almost exactly along party lines, is
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<DIV></DIV>>doubly interesting in light of a recent Heritage Foundation report showing
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<DIV></DIV>>that 38 percent of House Democrats send at least one child to private
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<DIV></DIV>>school-thus exercising private school choice of their own. This number, of
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<DIV></DIV>>course, does not include the countless others who exercise school choice by
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<DIV></DIV>>buying homes in good public school districts, a luxury that poor families
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<DIV></DIV>>cannot afford. What's good enough for the goose ought, in our view, also be
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<DIV></DIV>>available to the gander.
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<DIV></DIV>>In another interesting turn of events, when queried by Siobhan Gorman for
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<DIV></DIV>>the Washington Monthly, NEA president Reg Weaver came out swinging against
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<DIV></DIV>>the D.C. voucher initiative. When pressed on the details, he couldn't quite
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<DIV></DIV>>explain why the program should not be tried in the District. In the end, he
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<DIV></DIV>>was forced to make the perfect the enemy of the good by arguing that
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<DIV></DIV>>vouchers "would only help a limited number of students [in D.C.]." When
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<DIV></DIV>>asked if he would support a program that gave all students vouchers, Weaver
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<DIV></DIV>>responded, "If they would give [all] 67,000 students a voucher, yeah."
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<DIV></DIV>>Gadfly applauds Mr. Weaver for his generous and visionary boldness and is
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<DIV></DIV>>pleased to note that he seems to have embraced the proposition that
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<DIV></DIV>>education choice for all is the best of all education systems. We look
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<DIV></DIV>>forward to co-publishing with the NEA a new manifesto on behalf of universal
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<DIV></DIV>>school choice. -Kathleen Porter
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<DIV></DIV>>http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/#news1
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<DIV></DIV>>Best,
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<DIV></DIV>>Dale
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