“Pro-Choice” for D.C.’s Black Students

La Shawn Barber

Despite the latest scandals in liberal Washington--the looting of $2 million from members of the Washington Teachers’ Union by its president Barbara Bullock, and the hiring (twice!) of a convicted sex offender and pervert by the District of Columbia Public Schools, Reginald Robinson, Jr.--Democrats in the nation’s capital remain “solidly against vouchers” for low-income black children. School vouchers would give these children the option to attend private schools.

On this issue, Democrats do not believe in the “right to choose.”

The District’s government-run schools are dreadful. According to the Cato Institute, in 13 of 19 high schools in the District, a whopping 90% of students read at Basic or Below Basic reading level on the Stanford 9 achievement test. In 14 of 19 high schools, 90% of students are unable to perform math above the Basic level. Yet, more than 80% of high school students are promoted to the next grade. Despite spending $10,500 per-pupil--among the highest in the nation--students in D.C. rank near the bottom on national tests. The system lacks qualified teachers, safe facilities, and even basic supplies like pencils and textbooks.

Like most government agencies in the District, the public school system is unprofessional, incompetent, bloated and bureaucratic. Instead of competing for and being accountable to students, government-run schools exercise a monopoly over the “education” of children who can’t afford private schools. In order for parents to gain control over their children’s education, they must have a choice in where to send them, something that black liberals ferociously resist.

Why are the District’s liberals so resistant to change? Take a guess. About 99% of political contributions of school choice opponents like the American Federation of Teachers (parent organization of the Washington Teachers’ Union) and the National Education Association go to Democratic candidates. Ironically, some of the same liberals who oppose school choice send their own kids to private schools. With a straight face.

The only respect black students get is from those “racist” Republicans. In 2001, John McCain announced he would offer a voucher proposal on the Senate floor as an amendment to an education bill called Educational Choices for Disadvantaged Children, which would have created a $25 million fund for school vouchers. After a barrage of criticism from liberal D.C. politicians, he withdrew the bill.

Despite the perennial pitiful performance of D.C. schools, the District’s nonvoting (thankfully) delegate in the House of Representatives, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, said that McCain’s plan was “a disservice to the high standards of education accountability for every child the District of Columbia has set for itself.” With a straight face.

In 1998, America’s “first black president”, Bill Clinton, struck down a similar bill proposed by Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey. But out of the madness comes sanity. In his FY2004 budget proposal, President Bush plans to allocate a portion of the $756 million for school choice programs to a pilot school voucher plan for the District. Ms. Norton is reportedly “shocked and disappointed.” After years of being cheated and neglected by money-hungry pen pushers, black students in the nation’s capital may finally have educational options. Thanks to “racist” Republicans.

How desperately do parents want out of the failing school system?

* Every year thousands of low-income students apply for 100 scholarships offered by the Washington Scholarship Fund, which gives students partial scholarships to private schools.

* A lottery approved by the D.C. school board last December will allow parents to enroll their children in schools outside their neighborhood boundaries. Parents who applied for available slots reportedly camped outside the schools of their choice for days to apply for transfers.

* More black families are turning to home-schooling, which is no longer seen as just a faith-based movement. Out of the 1.7 million children home-schooled last year, nearly 5% are black.

According to the National Home Educators Research Institute, about 85,000 black children are home-schooled. More black parents are opting out of government-run schools. The biggest increase has been in Prince George’s County, Maryland, the largest and wealthiest majority-Black county in the country. Black parents cite the lack of strong moral values in public schools as one of the reasons they choose to home-school their children.

In 1963, Democratic governor of Alabama, George “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” Wallace, stood in the door of the University of Alabama to prevent black students from entering. In 2003, the District’s liberal leaders stand in the doors of deteriorating public schools to prevent black students from escaping. Forty years ago, Democrats couldn’t care less about the education of black students.

Forty years later, they still don’t.

©2003 La Shawn Barber

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La Shawn Barber
barbersview@yahoo.com