Today in Washington, DC there was a rally for School Choice organized by DC Children F1rst. From Marion Berry to concerned parents to popular R&B recording artists, the message to lawmakers was clear – Put Kids First! What is also clear, is that by effectively killing the Opportunity Scholarship Program will put kids last. The rally overall was very postive because the kids and parents were happy with their education. Why take that away from them? Heritage expert Dan Lips has more about this event on The Corner.
The futures of 1,700 District schoolchildren hang in the balance this week as a stealthy provision to kill the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program – tucked discretely away in the Omnibus bill – makes its way through the Senate. Bill McGurn writes in the Wall Street Journal: Known as the ‘Durbin language’ after the Illinois Democrat who came up with it last year, the provision mandates that the scholarship program ends after the next school year unless Congress reauthorizes it and the District of Columbia approves. The beauty of this language …
Since being sworn into office a little over a month ago, President Barack Obama has found a way to increase the size of government spending in just about every possible way. Except when it comes to government spending to empower parents to better educate their children. George Will notes: In one wee particular, congressional Democrats want to shrink government. At the behest of the teachers’ unions, the $410 billion omnibus spending bill dooms a $14 million (a rounding error on GM’s bailout) scholarship program that enables 1,800 children, mostly low-income …
The Washington Post ran a terrific editorial this morning, urging Congressional leaders to reverse the effort to terminate the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program that’s helping 1,700 low-income students attend private schools in the nation’s capital: We would like Mr. Obey and his colleagues to talk about possible “disruption” with Deborah Parker, mother of two children who attend Sidwell Friends School because of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. “The mere thought of returning to public school frightens me,” Ms. Parker told us as she related the opportunities — such as a …
