Forbidding the Poor from Choosing Good Schools

(FRC) Congressional Democrats, in a foretaste of their likely education agenda for 2009, have signaled to poor families in the District of Columbia that their school choice vouchers aren't going to be renewed this fall. The news comes as a bitter blow to nearly 2,000 such families in the District, where Congress instituted a pilot school voucher program using federal funds in 2004.

District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who supports axing the program, says she met with families receiving the choice funds and "they look completely befuddled." It's no wonder why. The average yearly income for the families that participate in the program is just $22,736. Children enrolled in the program can use their vouchers, or scholarships, to attend a private school, a religious school, or one of the city's charter schools, as an alternative to the public system. Read more…