PRESIDENT BUSH'S proposal to set aside federal funds
for an experimental school voucher program in the District and seven or eight
other cities has been greeted with howls from D.C. institutions out to protect
their own interests. Teachers unions, school
board members and elected politicians eager for union support have predictably
raised their voices in opposition to the presidential overture, denouncing it
as everything from an incursion into D.C. self-government to an assault on
public education and an underhanded effort to drain motivated families from the
public schools. But unless we've missed it, no one has accused vouchers of
being injurious to students who use them to move out of failing public schools.
In fact, the failure of some public schools to offer even the semblance of an
education seems to upset voucher critics less than the mere mention of vouchers
does. Such anger is misguided. Rejecting out of hand federal funds that would
test vouchers is hardly consistent with the search for meaningful school
reform. We think the U.S. Department of Education should pursue the voucher
pilot initiative as proposed.
As
envisioned by Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige, the program would not
involve the use of District tax dollars. Neither would it supplant any District
funds currently being spent on public education. The voucher experiment, to be
funded from a pool of $75 million, would provide federal funds to parents so
that their children could attend private schools. If the D.C. government chose
not to administer the program, the Education Department would consider allowing
a nonprofit organization to distribute the funds to D.C. families.
In voicing his initial reservations about the initiative,
D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7), chairman of the education
committee, said there is no indication that city residents are clamoring for
vouchers. "You have to have a groundswell from the bottom up and not from
the top down," he said. There are conflicting poll results concerning
support for vouchers in the District. There also is some confusion about where
Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) stands on all this. It seems to depend on who has
heard from him last. But there is one way to find out where parents stand: Make
the pilot program available. If there is as much D.C. parental opposition to
vouchers as opponents claim, then the initiative will languish and the federal
funds will go untouched. We think, however, that there are parents who will
choose to participate, particularly those with children who are paying dearly
in failing schools. The flight from public schools to public charter schools is
an indication of parental desire for choice.
If the
voucher program goes forward in the District, we hope it will contain enough
funds to meet the cost of private tuition. We would also like to see an outside
evaluation of student performance, the effect of vouchers on the admissions
policies of private schools and the extent to which vouchers increase
competition in the public school system. At bottom, there is something to be
learned from vouchers, for students and taxpayers alike.
