But D.C. parents might themselves start to feel abandoned by the Democratic majority if Congress indeed decides that this program is just about the only government initiative worth eliminating during this Congressional spending orgy. After all, most parents who currently receive help through this program would have no choice but to send their children back to the D.C. public school system, which is one of the worst in the nation. In 2007, D.C.'s fourth- and eighth-grade students scored lower than kids from any of the 50 states on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a national standardized test. D.C. schools are often violent and have one of the highest dropout rates in the country.
Democrats likely will try to assure D.C. parents that help is on the way, since Democrats are certain to pour more money into the nation’s public school system. After all, the recent “economic stimulus” contained well more than $100 billion in spending for education initiatives. Yet this should be of little comfort to D.C. families: research makes clear that more money doesn’t solve the real problems that plague public school systems. For decades, government has poured funding into public schools with little to show in terms of improved student outcomes. In fact, Washington, D.C. public schools are among the most well-funded in the nation, with higher per pupil spending (about $15,000 per year) than every state other than New Jersey, and that certainly hasn’t changed the system’s poor results.
Another provision in the “economic stimulus” legislation may suggest why Democrats are seeking to eliminate the D.C. voucher program. The bill specifically prohibits the new funds from being used to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary and secondary schools. In other words, Democrats are perfectly comfortable with the idea of spending $21 million for new grass for the Capital—or hundreds of millions for STD education or family planning services—but don’t want a penny to help parents who are struggling to give their kids a quality education and who have been failed by public schools.
Americans are right to be skeptical of the “economic stimulus” and likely going to become even more so as the rest of this Congress unfolds.