Choice programs skim the best students from the public system? Davis' bill gives priority to students in D.C.'s 15 worst-performing schools.
Choice programs lack accountability? The academic progress of participants in the program will be measured against the progress of the students who sought but failed to get any of the 1,300 scholarships.
Given all this, why did the D.C. program barely pass? With states' budgets forcing painful cuts, it can be difficult to vote money for D.C. children. Even more important is the fact that the teachers unions are especially effective at the state level, where they establish relationships with legislators -- and 233 current representatives and 42 senators are former state legislators.
In the Senate committee vote on D.C. school choice, two Democrats, West Virginia's Robert Byrd and California's Dianne Feinstein, supported the program. Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat who abstained, explained to some disappointed D.C. parents that the maximum grant under the proposed D.C. program -- $7,500 -- would not be enough to send a poor child to the $21,000-a-year private school her children attend.
Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, recently selected by National Review as ``the worst Republican senator,'' showed why by opposing the D.C. program. His challenger in Pennsylvania's Republican primary, Rep. Pat Toomey, says he ``definitely'' expects conservatives around the country to increase their support for him because of Specter's obedience to the teachers unions that are already campaigning for him.
School choice for poor children is, Boehner says, today's principal civil rights fight. The lottery of life, not choice, determines a child's parents and family situation. There should be choice about schools for children placed by life's lottery in difficult conditions. Otherwise, Boehner says, ``It's like saying you can only buy bread in the grocery store closest to your house -- and the government will run the grocery store.''
It is a pity that ``pro-choice'' Democrats do not remain pro-choice when poor children make it past birth and reach school age.