SCHOOL FOR THOUGHT

Playing politics with kids’ futures

You may recall that President Obama was soundly criticized when he moved to shut down the DC school vouchers that are a lifeline to thousands of poor black children in Washington - all the while shunning the public school that his own daughters would have been assigned to if the Obamas hadn’t been able to afford the $32,000 tuition at the exclusive private school they chose instead. As this article from the Wall Street Journal reports, President Obama has now reversed himself, signing a budget deal with Republicans that includes a renewal and expansion of the DC voucher program. 

If you suspect, as I do, that the President really does care about poor black kids, it must have just about killed him to oppose the DC voucher program. But politics is a blood sport, and the reality is that the President needs the support of the teachers’ unions to get re-elected. The teachers’ unions, arguably the most powerful political lobbying force in the country, are adamantly opposed to any measure that would allow kids to escape their failing public schools. 

Politics, it appears, is not a game for sissies.