Cafritz Pans Broader Plan For Vouchers

A proposal in the U.S. Senate (Congress oversees the functioning of Washington, DC) would expand the voucher program in operation in the city to allow students to choose to go to school outside the city, namely in schools within three miles of the district. Predicatbly, the Board of Education president opposes the plan. Here is one comment, which says a lot:

"We feel strongly they shouldn't send our kids outside the city," said Cafritz, who had long opposed private-school vouchers but supported the voucher bill passed by Congress last year. "To send kids outside with public money pushes the envelope to a point beyond what this program was supposed to be."

Reading between the lines we can see that once again, the educrats have lost sight of their ultimate consumer--kids. The fact of the matter is that despite throwing millions of dollars and reform proposals into the DC school system, the system has not improved the education of its children. The fact that a Senator has proposed expanding school choice is offensive to some people. But if you focus on providing kids an education, you find that this solution offers more choices to find a better education.

Any kid who decides to go to a suburban school would have to get their on their own, often meaning a commute of some distance. Therefore, the education provided by teh suburban school must be worth the effort. If the DC schools provided that kind of education, then kids wouldn't need to go outside the city.

The school board president then throws some anti-catholic school bigotry out as reasoning.

"The Catholic schools in [Prince George's County] and around the Beltway -- they need population," she added. "This is part of a larger scheme to rescue that system."

You know what, the Catholic schools don't need "population." Every Catholic school in teh region--to my knowledge, usually is full up with students. Could the schools benefit from a few DC kids attending a suburban Maryland school, perhaps. But one needs to remember that no matter what, the Catholic church has the funds to support the schools.

So what is the real reason: space.

DC Schools are over crowded and

Officials at the Washington Scholarship Fund, the nonprofit group that administers the program, said that as many as 80 students who have been offered vouchers for this fall might not be able to use them because of a shortage of high school slots.

How can a city who cries about letting kids go to a school of their choice not find space for 80 kids? Teh answer, the private schools these voucher kids want to attend are full, because the DC schools are in such disrepair. Again, I go back to my premise, if hte DC public schools provided a high-quality education there would be no need for a voucher program and consequently no need for students to attend suburban schools.

Offer poeple a choice between high, equal quality schools, almost everyone will chose the school closest to their home. It makes getting the kids to school easier. But when there is not choice between high-quality alternatives, people will choose the best alternative--each time, every time they can.

Cafritz Pans Broader Plan For Vouchers