Vouchers In Moderation Are No Vice?

With the debate over the future of the D.C. school voucher program in full swing on the Hill, Secretary of Ed Arne Duncan puts himself squarely in the crossfire courtesy of the AP.   Andy Smarick thinks there is less to this than it appears and he’s right (and besides, what Duncan said is hardly unreasonable).  But, as soon as the debate shifts from the binary yes/no posture on the program to some nuance like this the politics could shift, too, because it gets more complicated, the questions trickier, and the lines more fuzzy.   For instance, if it’s OK to keep kids in these schools then why not send others as well?

The strategy of the program’s opponents, who see a real chance to kill the initiative off, was clearly “damn the editorial pages, full speed ahead!”  But between Michelle Rhee’s comments and this it could get harder…especially if the next few days are relatively slow news cycles…

Update:  It’s D & D time…as Durbin (D-IL) and Duncan are not on the same page.   Usually Reliable Robelen has more.  Kaus sees a boomerang.  Petrilli breaks out his new toy.

2 Replies to “Vouchers In Moderation Are No Vice?”

  1. If Durbin, etc., were smart they would have let this “outbreak” live, quietly, but contained. Now they have a repeat of the Holmes-Norton debacle of last summer. The only reason why there is even a discussion about grandfathering students currently attending private schools is because the smash and grab to kill the program was so visible.

    I think the more telling bit here (other than the inherent social injustice) is that congressional dems think that stopping 1,700 kids from using “vouchers” even rises to an actionable level with everything else that is going on in the economy and the country. If it’s “not” their priority, then it is certainly the priority of one of a short list of large school-based interests who seem to be all too willing to pull their strings and flex their muscles on this issue.

    And then…from the White house…silence.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.