Joe Pitts, March 13, 2009

Despite the rhetoric of our new President, the politics of special interests won out in Washington, D.C. recently over the interests of about 1,700 low-income children. And the message it sends does not bode well for low-income students in failing schools in Pennsylvania or anywhere else in the country.

When the Senate passed the $410 billion "omnibus" spending bill, clearing the final hurdle in Congress, it included a provision that will effectively kill a popular program that is providing a ray of hope for low-income children in our nation’s capitol.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program provides about 1,700 low-income students with a voucher they can use to attend the school of their choice. For many students, this provides the opportunity to get out of dangerous, failing public schools and into private schools that offer a safe environment and quality education.

Unfortunately, the program has been attacked by some Democrats in Congress whose political base includes teachers unions. Many of the politicians attacking this program send their own children to private schools. In fact, the measure that would kill the program was inserted in the bill by Senator Dick Durbin, himself a product of private school who has chosen private school for his own children.

President Obama, also a product of private school, who has also chosen private school for his own children, signed the spending bill with the provision included. His spokesman later commented that the President "has repeatedly said that school vouchers are not a long-term solution to our educational challenges, but in this instance believes that we should try to find a way to keep from disrupting the students currently enrolled in this program. He looks forward to working with Congress to find a solution."

Talk is cheap. He should have vetoed the bill or told his colleagues in the Senate to remove the provision. Perhaps the ultimate irony of the situation is that two of the scholarship program’s students attend the prestigious Sidwell-Friends private school along with the President’s daughters. He obviously isn’t too interested in working with Congress to find a solution that allows these two young students to remain at the same school his kids attend.

If school choice is good enough for Dick Durban and Barack Obama’s kids, why not school choice for everyone? I am not saying politicians should have to send their kids to public school. On the contrary, I believe all parents should be able to choose where to send their children to get the best education possible.

But don’t take my word for it. D.C.’s Democratic Mayor, Adrian Fenty, and his school Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, have advocated for the extension of the program. As Rhee put it, "I see it as a social justice issue--I want them all to be in excellent schools. The kids in Tenleytown are getting a wildly different educational experience than the kids in Anacostia, so our schools are not serving their purpose," referring to two neighborhoods in D.C. on polar opposites of the socio-economic spectrum.

It truly is sad that these 1,700 children will have to suffer the consequences of an ideology that would take away the choice of parents to send their kids to good schools, just to protect the power of teachers unions. And it is sad that they happen to be a part of the only school voucher program in the country that uses federal funds -- making it ground zero in a national debate over school choice.

Opponents of school choice claim that it is unacceptable because it would take funding away from public schools. Yet D.C. public schools spend more per student than any other school district in the nation, but suffer from low test scores and high dropout rates. Funding is not the only factor at play in quality education.

Accountability is paramount. And the ultimate measure of accountability is the ability of parents to choose the school their children will attend. The evidence behind this fact can be seen in D.C.’s burgeoning charter school system. Chancellor Rhee has heroically refused attempts to stem the growing tide of charter schools even as she has struggled to shut down public schools with low enrollments as families continue to leave the failing system. There is a pattern here. When teachers and administrators know their "customers" -- students and their parents -- can walk away if they are not satisfied, they have to produce a quality product.

Not surprisingly, surveys and interviews of families participating in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program indicate that parents are more satisfied with the safety and quality of their children's school after receiving a scholarship. And according to a 2008 evaluation by the U.S. Department of Education, students who received vouchers realized slightly higher academic achievement than students who were not awarded a voucher. Yet the program is young, in only its fourth year. What are Democrats so afraid of?

The worst part of this whole affair is that 1,700 low-income students seem to have fallen victim to the worst kind of special interest politics that President Obama railed against during his campaign -- with his implicit support. The only reason to kill this program is fear that it will continue to succeed, kicking away the crutch which opponents of school choice lean on -- the notion that school choice does not lead to better schools.

All students should have the opportunity to choose a school where they feel safe and have access to a quality education. For 1,700 students in our nation’s capitol, this dream may well come to an end because power politics won out over sound public policy.

Congressman Joe Pitts, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District, which includes Lancaster County and parts of Chester County and Berks County.