Saturday, November 22, 2008

Choice for Me, But Not for Rhee   [John J. Miller]

During the third presidential debate, Barack Obama and John McCain staged a little contest over who could say the nicest things about DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee. It was an encouraging discussion because Rhee is a reform-minded Democrat who isn't afraid to take on teacher unions. She's also a supporter of DC's limited school-choice program, which lets about 2,000 low-income kids attend private (mostly Catholic) schools with vouchers. As she said about a year ago: "I would never, as long as I am in this role, do anything to limit another parent's ability to make a choice for their child. Ever."

Now we learn that Rhee's schools aren't good enough for Obama's children: The president-elect has chosen to enroll his girls at Sidwell Friends. This is nothing new. The elite opponents of school choice routinely keep their children out of public schools:

In 2007, The Heritage Foundation updated this survey and found that 37 percent of Representatives and 45 percent of Senators in the 110th Congress sent their children to private schools—almost four times the rate of the general population.

Based on the survey results, if all of the Members who exercised school choice for their own children had supported school choice in policy, every major legislative effort in recent years to give parents school choice would have passed.

It's hard to blame Obama for his decision—he just wants his daughters to receive a good education. But it would be nice if more parents had the means to make the same decision for their own kids. And it would be nice if Obama stopped congressional Democrats from eliminating DC's very small school-choice program. It's one small way he can support Rhee, to say nothing of the kids who benefit from vouchers.

11/22 05:57 AMShare