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D.C. becomes school voucher battleground
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Proposals to give poor students in Washington, D.C., federal money to escape the public school system could open a new chapter in the U.S. debate over school vouchers. They are also reviving a longstanding tug-of-war between Congress, which under the U.S. Constitution has special jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, and locally elected officials protective of hard-won "home rule" rights. "We all want the capital of the greatest nation on Earth to have some of the finest schools on Earth," U.S. Under Secretary of Education Eugene Hickok told lawmakers last month as he testified about President George W. Bush's plan to give poor public school students money to attend private schools. The U.S. capital's schools are notorious for their poor quality. Bush's plan would allot an as-yet-undetermined portion of $75 million to the city for vouchers -- essentially grants to individuals to pay for tuition at a school of the student's choice. A second proposal introduced by Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona would give the city $45 million for vouchers. Both plans are subject to Congress' approval, and it's unclear when a program might go into effect. But the city's sole representative in Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, says D.C. voters rejected similar proposals in the past and she has vowed to fight any attempt by federal lawmakers to introduce a voucher program against local wishes. Opponents of the voucher plans want more funding for the public school system. National voucher debate goes localThe debate over vouchers both nationally and in Washington centers around whether parceling out public education funds to individual students and allowing them to choose their school pushes failing public schools to improve or instead undermines an already underfunded public school system. Some studies have found little or no difference in academic skills between recipients of vouchers and children in public schools. Locally funded voucher programs operate in Florida, Wisconsin and Ohio, but Washington would be the first federal voucher program for kindergarten through the 12th grade. "There is no city in America that more desperately needs a school choice program," said Clint Bolick, vice president of the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that advocates for vouchers. "If it were passed in D.C. it would become the nation's flagship," Bolick said. But the National Education Association, the biggest U.S. teachers union which opposes vouchers because of fears about their possible impact on public schools, says it will lobby against the proposal. The proposal has also divided local leaders in the majority black city, with Mayor Anthony Williams and School Board Chairman Peggy Cooper Cafritz supporting it despite Norton's opposition. Williams, who both as mayor since 1999 and previously as city finance chief is credited with helping reverse decades of urban decay, mismanagement and population flight, said he could not ask parents to wait years for the schools to improve. "Our schools have been damaged for so long ... that I think we have to be open to trying everything that might work," Cafritz told Reuters. A November 2002 report by the school superintendent showed that 70 percent of students in the system performed at or below a basic level in reading and math on one national test. The average score for D.C. graduating public high school seniors in 2002 on another standardized test, the SAT, was 796 compared to a national average of 1020, the report said. Federal statistics also show Washington has one of the highest school dropout rates in the country. Deep social problemsThose statistics bear witness to deep social problems plaguing many Washington students that a federal voucher problem would not even begin to address, said Barbara Patterson, the head of Washington's Black Student Fund. The fund helps needy students apply to private schools and gives financial support to successful applicants. "We've had to buy beds for children because they were sleeping on the floor," Patterson said. "If they would put this voucher money into feeding and clothing and giving the kids eyeglasses and taking care of their teeth they might be able to learn something in school." But to many low-income parents, the voucher proposal appears as a lifeline they do not want to see snatched away. "If Uncle Sam wants to give us low-income families some money, by golly, why not take it if it's going to ensure that our kids have a quality education?" said Barbara Mickens, a mother of two. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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