The democrats don't seem to be able to respect something that actually works.

[MaggieMae]

The problem here is that it doesn't "actually work". While people who get the vouchers are happier with their new schools, there really isn't any evidence that they learn more.

There's evidence in some cases that they don't, but most do provide a much better environment for the process of learning--smaller classroom sizes means a teacher can devote more time to each student individually where necessary. The attendance hours are also longer.

 

[Foxfyre]

And in the category of concern and caring for the less fortunate among us, our esteemed Democrats in Congress slipped this jewel into a thousand page spending bill along with hundreds of millions in payoffs to their cronies, contributors, and self-serving interests.

In so doing, as custodians of the D.C. school system, they are effectively dismantling one of the few government programs that is actually producing positive and lasting results and they are re-segregating the kids. So much for concern for poor and minority students. If there ain’t enough votes in it, it won’t be done.

The leaders of D.C.’s school choice movement, Kevin P. Chavous (former D.C. Councilman) and Virginia Walden Ford (executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice), today issued the following statement:

“House and Senate Appropriators this week ignored the wishes of D.C.’s mayor, D.C.’s public schools chancellor, a majority of D.C.’s city council, and more than 70 percent of D.C. residents and have mandated the slow death of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. This successful school voucher program—for D.C.’s poorest families—has allowed more than 3,300 children to attend the best schools they have ever known.

The decision to end the program, a decision buried in a thousand-page spending bill and announced right before the holidays, destroys the hopes and dreams of thousands of D.C. families. Parents and children have rallied countless times over the past year in support of reauthorization and in favor of strengthening the OSP.

More here:
DC School Choice Leaders Blast Appropriators' Decision to Kill School Voucher Program

2009 testimony to Congress in support of the D.C. voucher system.
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/051309Williams.pdf

And how much did it cost taxpayers for those 3300 recipients?

Just want all the facts on the table.

I don't know, but according to a couple of folks I know in DC and that I know to be credible, the charter schools weren't costing any more per student than the public schools, and there will be no savings when the funding is pulled from the charter schools. The educators involved believe the education provided by the charter schools was far superior to the almost universally failing D.C. public schools despite more government money going into those failing public schools than go to any other school district in the country.

So, unless somebody has different information from credible sources, I have to assume that the liberals controlling the purse strings simply couldn't stand success and insists on lowering standards, opportunity, and freedom for everybody just to make it 'fair'.

Geez, this stuff will gag a maggot if you think about it much.

If we wanted to make it 'fair', I would suggest a massive public uprising demanding that the President and Congress send THEIR kids to the D.C. public schools. I think then we might have a fighting chance to actually see those poor kids have a fighting chance to have a decent education.

 

[Modbert]

Yeah! Keep your Goddamn Government Hands off my Medicare!

Wait a tick..

 

[California Girl]

Yeah! Keep your Goddamn Government Hands off my Medicare!

Wait a tick..

Could you be any more stupid?

 

[Modbert]

Could you be any more stupid?

It seems you haven't been following the news.

Bob Cesca: Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!

At a town hall meeting held by Rep. Robert Inglis (R-SC):

Someone reportedly told Inglis, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare."

"I had to politely explain that, 'Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government,'" Inglis told the Post. "But he wasn't having any of it."

It's no wonder with "very serious" analysts like Arthur Laffer are appearing on CNN and saying things like this (and getting away with it unchallenged):

"If you like the post office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they're run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government."

Don't know about the article itself, but I feel bad for the people who actually believe the Government should keep their hands off their medicare.

 

[veritas]

DC is an example of the haves and have nots. There isn't much of a middle. Beware lest the rest of the country goes this way.

 

[Foxfyre]

DC is an example of the haves and have nots. There isn't much of a middle. Beware lest the rest of the country goes this way.

Well I am open to being corrected if my logic is faulty, but I'm guessing that DC is an example of haves and have nots purely because it is a city that has been totally dependent on government and has been subject to continuous government interference for a very long time now. So yes, let's all beware lest the rest of the country go that way.