Obama education secretary: Gee, maybe banning school choice for D.C. poor kids is a bad idea

By Michelle Malkin  •  March 5, 2009 09:15 AM

I’ve posted several times over the past week on the Democrats’ campaign to kill a federal voucher program for poor children in Washington, D.C. (see here, here, and here).

Well, lookee here. President Obama’s education secretary is feeling the heat — and now says the program should be preserved (some of the beneficiaries, as noted previously, are enrolled in the same elite school the Obama daughters attend).

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday that poor children getting vouchers to attend private schools in the District of Columbia should be allowed to stay there, putting the Obama administration at odds with Democrats trying to end the program.

Duncan opposes vouchers, he said in an interview with The Associated Press. But he said Washington is a special case, and kids already in private schools on the public dime should be allowed to continue.

“I don’t think it makes sense to take kids out of a school where they’re happy and safe and satisfied and learning,” Duncan told said. “I think those kids need to stay in their school.”

…The voucher program in Washington has been an exception in the debate over vouchers. Because of the sorry state of public schools in the nation’s capitol, some Democrats were willing to allow it in 2003 when a Republican-led Congress created the voucher program.

And while big-city school superintendents generally oppose vouchers, Rhee, the schools chancellor, has said she is open to the District’s voucher program

“I don’t think vouchers are going to solve all the ills of public education, but parents who are zoned to schools that are failing kids should have options to do better by their kids,” Rhee told The New York Times recently.

The D.C. program gives scholarships to about 1,700 poor kids so they can attend private schools…The voucher program doesn’t cover the entire tuition at Sidwell, which is around $28,000, according to the school’s Web site. Sidwell and other private schools have financial aid programs that also help pay for tuition.

Billions and trillions for failing banks and financial institutions, but they can’t spare some loose change to give poor kids in D.C. hope for a good education? So much for “progressive” values, eh?

Posted in: Education

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Comments


  1. #639675
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:17 am, ctmom said:

    Michelle O. must be persona non grata at the PTA meetings!

  2. #639679
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:24 am, glockomatic said:

    “I don’t think it makes sense to take kids out of a school where they’re happy and safe and satisfied and learning,” Duncan told said.

    But is *does* make sense to prevent future students from enjoying the same benefits? Ah… liberal “logic”…

  3. #639680
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:24 am, Truesoldier said:

    Duncan opposes vouchers, he said in an interview with The Associated Press. But he said Washington is a special case,

    Translation – It looks bad if we tell poor kids they have to go to schools that my boss would never even think of sending his kids to.

  4. #639681
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:24 am, plymouthacclaim said:

    I’m opposed to vouchers, but I’ll let these stay because I’ll be run out of town otherwise.

    Lib > English Translation Off.

    Libs can be amazingly flexible sometimes to save their own skins.

  5. #639683
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:25 am, twofoot said:

    Keep’em stupid and you can keep’em democrat.

  6. #639685
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:27 am, reutersrutter said:

    What do you expect from a Bill Ayers appointee, to blow away the poor or not to blow away.

  7. #639688
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:29 am, corona said:

    Washington is a special case

    Translation: The media can easily pick up on the hypocrisy of federal government officials who oppose vouchers while sending their children to private schools.

  8. #639692
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:31 am, jangar said:

    Wouldn’t want the poor Obama darlings to have to rub elbows with the commoners, but don’t want to start a riot either. What does one do?

  9. #639694
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:32 am, MNUSMCDavid said:

    You know, these past few months…. nobody , and I mean nobody, could ever come up with all this stupidity as a work of fiction…. absolutely incredible. Hopey Change’s wheels coming off one by one.

  10. #639697
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:34 am, ctmom said:

    Can’t wait for the next press conference. What tangent will Gibby go off on to avoid answering to this?

  11. #639698
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:36 am, jangar said:

    Hopey Change’s wheels coming off one by one.

    Grinding to a hault in a shower of sparks. Nothing would please me more.

  12. #639700
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:38 am, Truesoldier said:

    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:34 am, ctmom said:
    Can’t wait for the next press conference. What tangent will Gibby go off on to avoid answering to this?

    He will probably just go off on whomever dares to ask the question.

  13. #639702
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:38 am, Truesoldier said:

    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:32 am, MNUSMCDavid said:
    You know, these past few months…. nobody , and I mean nobody, could ever come up with all this stupidity as a work of fiction….

    And just think it has only been 44 days.

  14. #639704
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:39 am, txvet2 said:

    They’ll allow it in DC because of the publicity, but they’ll still forbid it to the rest of the country. Everything for the elite, nothing for the peasants. Some “democrats”. The Communist Party, writ larger.

  15. #639708
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:40 am, shimauma2 said:

    You know, these past few months…. nobody , and I mean nobody, could ever come up with all this stupidity as a work of fiction…. absolutely incredible

    Eh, a few weeks ago, Rush was saying God was making a soap/comedy out of Washington. I my guess is that the Author of the universe is setting these demoncraps up for a giant libtard fall. It reminds me of the Southpark episode where Cartman gets a theme park. Maybe next we’ll be seeing barry hussien rolling on the ground with pepperspray in his eyes and a tax bill the size of his presidizzle ego.

  16. #639710
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:41 am, WarEagle82 said:

    It’s all for the children! Hope and Change. Presto change-o! We had to destroy the voucher system in order to save it.

    Ending the voucher program will ultimately teach these kids an important lesson – “Don’t trust leftists.”

    Of course, these leftists will tell the kids that the lesson is – “Whitey be gonna gettcha!”

  17. #639715
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:43 am, seveneleventy said:

    B-b-b-b-but the demoncrats care about teh children, especially Oblameless.

  18. #639718
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:44 am, txvet2 said:

    Eh, a few weeks ago, Rush was saying God was making a soap/comedy out of Washington. I my guess is that the Author of the universe is setting these demoncraps up for a giant libtard fall

    Don’t blame God for this. These people are plenty stupid on their own.

  19. #639725
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:48 am, BlameAmericaLast said:

    Gotta protect those unions!

  20. #639727
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:48 am, iamsaved said:

    “I don’t think it makes sense to take kids out of a school where they’re happy and safe and satisfied and learning,” Duncan told said. “I think those kids need to stay in their school.”

    In keeping with the Attorney General’s comments about the citizens of this country being cowards with regard to discussing racial issues, here’s a thought to ponder – would the above quote be accurate if referring to poor white kids in Appalachia? Or any poor, white neighborhood for that matter?

    Can we get rid of Black History month now?

  21. #639728
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:49 am, Cosmo said:

    I wonder how those poor kids at Attica Elementary feel about not being able to go to Sidwell with the Obamas?

    They probably don’t know anything about it. They’re too busy not being able to read after decades of the liberal/union stranglehold on DC public schools.

    Now, go home, take your ritalin and play Wii until dinnertime.

  22. #639741
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:57 am, bradley said:

    Arne Duncan as Dept of Education secretary is a total joke in itself. Duncan was head of the corrupt and inept Chicago Public School system, a system buried beneath union rules, a system that presents a 50% drop-out rate as “success”, a system where graduates go on to college and graduate at a rate of less than 2%. BILLIONS have been wasted in the CPS, so I guess that’s the reason Duncan was appointed head of the Dept of Ed. He’s USED to waste and inefficiency.

  23. #639742
    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:57 am, jangar said:

    Every day it’s a different fool stepping up to the podium. Can’t wait to see the foreign policy team in action.

  24. #639753
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:03 am, Truesoldier said:

    On March 5th, 2009 at 9:57 am, jangar said:
    Every day it’s a different fool stepping up to the podium. Can’t wait to see the foreign policy team in action.

    You forget we already have seen it. Hillary went to China to beg for more debt and the Obama administration has bledged 9 billion to go to Gaza, but assured us that none of the money would end up in the hands of Hamas…

  25. #639758
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:06 am, John Deaux said:

    But he said Washington is a special case

    Why is that? Do Washington kids have more potential than kids in any other city? I would love to hear someone press him as to why D.C. is any different than Atlanta or Miami or Chicago.

    Can’t you just smell the hypocrisy?

  26. #639762
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:08 am, MarcoPolo said:

    Arne Duncan has always been on record as being pro-voucher. That’s the only positive thing I could find about him.

    People seemed to like him, but all I saw was the condition of the school system that he oversaw.

    We don’t even need a federal department of education. Will any Republican nominee dare run on a platform of returning this responsibility to the states?

  27. #639812
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:37 am, IndyRich said:

    I don’t think it makes sense to take kids out of a school where they’re happy and safe and satisfied and learning,” Duncan told said. “I think those kids need to stay in their school.”

    So….they are admitting that the public schools are not only failing, but they are unsafe for students! Maybe I’m lookinig too hard for a silver lining here, but if that idea would catch on – maybe it’s a baby step in the right direction!!

  28. #639843
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:50 am, PKAmmoTroop said:

    Move along folks, nothing to see here, just another reality check that bounced.

  29. #639844
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:50 am, formerwm said:

    Didn’t Obama have that cute little girl from SC or GA or some southern state who wrote him a letter about her school next to the railroad tracks that would shake when the train went by and the paint was peeling etc, etc…well, I guess the kids in D.C. are just not as cute as this kid sitting next to mom-in-chief! We put millions of dollars into schools but most are failing, sounds like an administration, and accoutability issue to me in the schools. All kids deserve a good education, but they have to want it! Wanting it has to start in the early grades when they are still in wonder of the world. If charter schools are the best then all schools should be charter schools and all parents should have a say where their children go to school. Obama is a dismal failure on all counts and he has been in for little over a month!

  30. #639857
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:54 am, Hannibal said:

    #26 Marco,
    The man is a Chicago, Illinois democrat; I guess I sort of understand your confusion. The above contained the following:

    Duncan opposes vouchers, he said in an interview with The Associated Press. But he said Washington is a special case, and kids already in private schools on the public dime should be allowed to continue.

    It is not possible to make an assumption about a democrat’s policy position without reviewing what they did or said in the past 37 minutes. For clarity, may I suggest that you may wish to retract your statement of “Arne Duncan has always been on record as being pro-voucher.” Things move fast in democratic circles, you have to try to keep up.

  31. #639875
    On March 5th, 2009 at 10:59 am, Dexter Alarius said:

    Things move fast in democratic circles, you have to try to keep up.

    Yes, of course. We’ve ALWAYS been at war with Eastasia. Any talk about ever having been at war with Eurasia is double-plus ungood.

  32. #639902
    On March 5th, 2009 at 11:10 am, MarcoPolo said:

    Hannibal said:

    #26 Marco,
    The man is a Chicago, Illinois democrat; I guess I sort of understand your confusion. The above contained the following:

    I lived in Cook Country up until a few months ago. Prior to being picked to head up the Dept of Education, he was generally on record as being in favor of vouchers. He changed after he got the nod.

    I should have been clearer.

  33. #639908
    On March 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am, iamsaved said:

    He was for them before he was against them…

  34. #639956
    On March 5th, 2009 at 11:37 am, iaguy2 said:

    Where are the lib defenders.

  35. #640147
    On March 5th, 2009 at 12:59 pm, Dimsdale said:

    “I don’t think it makes sense to take kids out of a school where they’re happy and safe and satisfied and learning,” Duncan told said. “I think those kids need to stay in their school.”

    Five words: equal protection under the law. Why are some students more worthy than others? Vouchers for one, vouchers for all! Let the people vote with their feet.

  36. #640188
    On March 5th, 2009 at 1:25 pm, cheapseat said:

    THE ST LOUIS PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM recieves and spends more per student per year than virtually any private school in the are. it also graduates 25% of it’s incoming freshman class on a yearly basis. so per graduate, the school system spends 4 times as much as the country day school per graduate. now if we could just test for literacy, we could find out how much this beaurocracy of failure recieves to teach one of it’s students to read. but it’s all good dog, the crips need street vendors and drive by gangstas, and you don’t need to read to sell dope and pull triggers.

  37. #640430
    On March 5th, 2009 at 3:51 pm, mike.musculus said:

    Billions and trillions for failing banks and financial institutions, but they can’t spare some loose change to give poor kids in D.C. hope for a good education? So much for “progressive” values, eh?

    Progressive Values means they’ll progress to putting the chains around ours and our posterity’s necks after they’ve progressed from putting all we own in their pockets!

  38. #640461
    On March 5th, 2009 at 4:14 pm, Dimsdale said:

    Progressive “values” equal regressive education.

    Homeschooling, here I come!

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