Last Saturday I started posting my favorite letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal for the week. I want to continue doing that on Saturdays, but since we took a look at the impending demise of the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program yesterday, I decided not to wait until Saturday to post this excellent letter on the topic. Here it is.
School Reform Talk Is Good, Now Let's See the Walk
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan tells us that "School Reform Means Doing What's Best for Kids" (op-ed, April 22). His cry for "doing what's best for kids" rings a bit hollow when he failed to do what is best for the 1,700 low-income kids in Washington, D.C. who were counting on him. Those kids were given a lifeline -- a voucher to escape schools that continually failed them, schools in a district to which neither Mr. Duncan nor his boss would send their own children. When crunch time arrived, politics trumped educational freedom, at least when it came to poor, inner-city kids in the District of Columbia.
Mr. Duncan speaks eloquently about how the public education establishment must change. He correctly says "we need a culture of accountability in America's education system if we want to be the best in the world." But what greater accountability can there be than that which comes from customers exercising free choices? True accountability in education will only come about when all parents are empowered to choose what they deem is best for their own children, not just those, like President Obama, Mr. Duncan, and most readers of the Wall Street Journal, who have financial means. So my question is, "When will the Obamas, Duncans, et. al. stand up for low-income parents so that they, too, can make choices that are best for their kids?"
Like too many public officials, he puts his trust in a top-down approach that relies on bureaucrats to drive improvement by granting and withholding money. But he turns his back on the most important and best judges of all -- the customers. I say yes, to include those without power and money.
Let parents, not bureaucrats, decide which schools are doing the best job. Let parents determine which schools have earned the right to educate their children. That singular step will demonstrate respect for those the system has failed to serve for too long while unleashing the greatest and most powerful education reform movement in the history of our nation.
Steve Schuck Colorado Springs, Colo.
