Putting teachers unions ahead of needy kids

Deroy MurdockRealclearpolitics.com

President Obama has declared that when it comes to public education, “you do what works for the kids,” said Deroy Murdock. So why was his administration complicit in killing a wildly popular school-voucher program that provides a first-class education to black and Hispanic kids in Washington, D.C.?

The program provides scholarships of up to $7,500 to D.C. kids to attend private or parochial schools instead of the nation’s worst public school system. When Congress decided recently to end the program, not only did Obama go along, his Education Department buried a report showing that voucher recipients have better reading scores than nonvoucher students and that parents of voucher students are much happier with their kids’ education.

If you’re wondering why Team Obama would do such a thing, just “follow the money.” Teachers unions, which are vociferously opposed to vouchers, have funneled more than $55 million in donations to Congress since 1990, 96 percent of which went to Democrats. Perhaps “when poor black schoolkids start making political donations, Democratic politicians will start fighting for them.”