It is exhausting work building support for vouchers as a way to pry minority and disadvantaged kids from the clutches of an entrenched public school lobby. After years on the ramparts, school-choice proponents may be feeling worn out–and sold out.
They have learned not to expect much from Democrats who have education policy dictated to them by arm-twisting teachers unions that get more worked up over vouchers than they do about educational mediocrity. The two largest–the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association–contributed more than $3 million to Democratic candidates in the last election cycle, and all they got in return was total obedience.
Nor should the choice crowd be hopeful that relief will come from Congress. The Senate recently approved a $33 billion education bill. It came on the heels of another version in the House of Representatives that tipped the ledger at $24 billion. The two bills have one thing in common: Neither spends one cent to rescue children who are now drowning in low-performing public schools.
That rescue operation was to be carried out by a Republican president. It was on the national holiday marking the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that a President-elect Bush perpetuated the Grand Old Party’s illusion of inclusion by visiting a black school in Houston. There, he called educational attainment nothing less than a “civil right” and promised, for those students who are locked into schools deemed low-performing for three years in a row, a voucherlike escape plan where children could take government-allocated dollars and transfer to another school–public, private or charter.
But once in office and once it had sent its education proposal to Congress, the new administration had no escape plan. And there was no escaping the fact that school choice proponents had been sold out by a president they trusted. Even before Democrats took control of the Senate, the administration had taken vouchers off the table.
The betrayal should come as no surprise. Education Secretary Rod Paige, who personally supports school choice, sailed through his confirmation hearings only after he assured Senate Democrats that vouchers would not be a “priority.”
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There are at least three theories as to why the administration retreated so quickly from the voucher battle, and none of them is inspiring. One suggests that Bush never really had his heart in the fight. While vouchers are a pet issue for many on the right, Bush does not seem convinced that we should give up on public schools. Even Vice President Dick Cheney, who takes a hard line on other issues including energy and defense, has expressed his confidence in public schools.
Another possibility is that Bush counted the votes in Congress and came up short–even in his own party. One explanation for weak support from Republicans is that the Bush vouchers were limited to those who need them most–the poor and the disadvantaged. That was the right thing to do. Parents with means already have the “choice” of sending kids to private schools or moving to pricey suburbs with quality public schools. Still, limiting vouchers to poor and minority kids, while morally correct, may have drained enthusiasm within a party with a reputation for caring most about the wealthy.
Then there is the most depressing scenario: Bush and Co. simply decided that this was not a hill on which they wanted to die. While the administration will go to the mattresses to defend tax cuts and missile defense, it seems to have concluded that a nasty fight on vouchers would eat up too much political capital and undermine the rest of the president’s education proposal.
Kaleem Caire understands political realities. The father of three is executive director of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, a Milwaukee-based organization that works to build public support for providing vouchers to disadvantaged students in failing schools. Though disappointed that Bush broke his promise to minorities and the poor, Caire is optimistic that his side will eventually triumph.
“Their argument has run its course,” he said of voucher opponents. “Time is running out for them.”
Until his time comes, Caire will have to live with the heartbreak of a missed opportunity by an administration that lost its nerve. Too bad. In pragmatic politics, someone has to fight the lost causes. Not this bunch though–which, it turns out, knows a lot about politics and little about leadership.
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