One of the most successful examples of a voucher program for public education has been the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides vouchers for poor children in our nation’s capital and gets them out of dangerous public schools and into private ones.  Over 70% of D.C. residents support this program.  Emily Belz of World magazine reports that over a three-year period, a Department of Education study showed that students in the Washington, D.C. voucher program moved four months ahead of their public-school counterparts in reading skills, and Patrick Wolf, the lead researcher for the study, argued that this study showed “the largest achievement” of any federal education experiment that has undergone similar studies.  About 1,700 students from low-income families received scholarships to attend private schools from the 2008-2009 school year.  But the Obama administration and Congress have cut off funding for new students and the local government cannot afford to extend the program.  Since 2004 when the program began, over 3,000 students have been served.  Several senators, including Diane Feinstein, Robert Byrd, along with many Republicans, argued strongly and even begged that the program be maintained.  However, as Chuck Colson reports, “President Obama—who was the recipient of education scholarships, and whose daughters attend an elite private school—signed the bill abolishing the program.  His own secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan, publically acknowledged that the voucher program had been a big success.  But he privately told Christian leaders that he could never get it approved in the White House.”  Why did Obama and the Congress kill this amazingly successful program?  Because the most powerful and rawly liberal teacher’s union—the National Education Association—demanded it!  Our politicians in Washington, D.C. have once again pandered to a powerful special interest at the expense of disadvantaged children.  This program worked with amazing success but was killed because one of the Democratic Party’s major supporters demanded that they do so!  Politics trumps needy children.  What a sham and what a shame.  The US Congress and the President of the United States should collectively be ashamed of themselves.
 
The death of the D.C. program comes as other voucher programs have spread around the country—in Louisiana, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Maine, Utah, Vermont and Georgia.  Belz reports that “Public education nationally is trending toward providing more and more options through charter schools as well as through tuition tax credits for families sending their children to private schools.”  This administration came to power arguing that it would use scientific evidence to guide public policy.  The scientific evidence is unmistakable and compelling:  The voucher program for disadvantaged children in our nation’s capital has been a roaring success.  There is no other conclusion one can reach.  But the president and the Congress have killed one of the most successful voucher programs in our nation—as a payback to an interest group that should have the interest of children at its forefront.  The NEA does not and the children suffer.  Again, shame on them for putting politics ahead of children.  This situation has made me quite angry and ashamed at what our government is doing.
 
See Emily Belz in World (13 February 2010), pp. 54-55 and “Breakpoint” (5 February 2010).