That’s been good for kids. Two reports -- one by Georgetown University, another by the U.S. Department of Education -- show that the program is making a difference. Parents are more involved in their children’s education, for example. The program is so popular it has roughly three applicants for every available slot.
No surprise here, since study after study nationwide has shown that students using scholarships to attend private schools per¬formed significantly better academically than they had while assigned to a failing public school.
As children head back to class this month, parents should ponder whether their public schools are giving students a quality education. When schools are failing children, our entire society is failing them and we’re putting our future at risk. It doesn’t have to be that way.
“If every member of Congress who has sent their child to a private school were to vote consistently with the choices they have exercised, the [voucher] program would continue and be reauthorized with a healthy margin,” Evan Feinberg writes in his report on this year’s Heritage survey of school choice. Furthermore, “37 percent of House Democrats have practiced school choice, but 96 percent of Democrats who practiced school choice voted against the voucher program in 2004.”
With or without Mason Lecky in charge of admissions, St. Albans undoubtedly will remain a popular destination for the sons of policymakers. If lawmakers would extend school choice to other parents, though, more Americans would be able to enjoy the benefits of a quality education.